Apathy’s a tragedy and boredom is a crime

On a day where Steve Cohen faced the media and said he was frustrated with the state of the team, the Mets dropped another game to the Brewers by a score of 5-2. The Mets missed a golden opportunity to score against opposing starter Wade Miley and then were shut down by the formidable Brewers bullpen, while their weak bullpen once again coughed it up.

This game took a very familiar path for the 2023 Mets. The first inning woes that have plagued the Mets all season befell them once again tonight. Kodai Senga got in to trouble early on, letting up a leadoff double to Christian Yelich to start the game. He followed up with back-to-back strikeouts of the next two hitters, but then his control betrayed him. He walked Willy Adames, and then surrendered a two-run double to Jesse Winker to give the Brewers the early 2-0 lead.

The Mets, of course, couldn’t score in the first inning, and that dropped their first inning run differential to -37 on the season. It’s at +21 in innings 2-8.

Senga didn’t allow any other runs across his five innings of work, but he was his usual wild an inefficient self. He hit a batter in the second inning, and then loaded the bases on two hits and a walk in the third, but worked out of trouble in both innings. He finally delivered a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, but had already worked up a pitch count of 102 at that point, and was done for the night.

On the positive side, Senga did strike out eight batters, and the forkball continued to befuddle hitters all night long.

The Mets clawed back a run on a Tommy Pham solo homer in the bottom of the second to close the gap to 2-1. In the fourth, they had a golden opportunity when Brewers starter Wade Miley completely lost his command. He surrendered walks to Francisco Lindor and Tommy Pham bookending a Pete Alonso single to load the bases with nobody out.

Francisco Álvarez then drew another walk to score the run from third. The game was tied at two and the Mets were set up to not only take the lead, but put up a crooked number with the way the inning was setting up.

However, Miley found it enough to strike out Brett Baty and get Mark Canha to ground into a double play to end the frame and keep the game tied. The Mets had just blown a golden opportunity against a starting pitcher on the ropes.

It was still tied at 2-2 going to the sixth, when it became a battle of the bullpens. And the Brewers have one of the best bullpens in baseball, while the Mets, uh, don’t.

Grant Hartwig came on in the sixth for the Mets and surrendered the go-ahead run on a Blake Perkins RBI single.

The Mets could not threaten in the 6th or 7th, and then Adam Ottavino came on for the 8th, trying to keep the score at 3-2. He recorded the first two outs, and then it all fell apart. He surrendered a double to Brian Anderson, walked Perkins, and then hit Joey Wiemer on a pitch that he might’ve actually swung at. The Mets dugout went crazy, but Wiemer was awarded first base.

Of course, because it’s this season, that call came back to bite the Mets, as Yelich then laced a two-run single up the middle to extend the Brewers lead to 5-2. Buck Showalter then came out to yell at first base umpire Ron Kulpa about the no-swing call, and got ejected for the third time this season.

Outside of a single from Pham, his third hit of the game, the Mets couldn’t make any noise against the Milwaukee bullpen, and lost again by a score of 5-2.

Usually this is the part where I mention how this game affects the standings, but it really doesn’t matter anymore. The Mets have died a hard death in the month of June. Maybe Pham can get them something surprisingly nice at the trade deadline.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Tommy Phame +27.6% WPA

Big Mets loser: Adam Ottavino, -18.3%

Mets pitchers: -22.6% WPA

Mets hitters: -27.0% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Alvarez walks to tie the game in the fourth inning, +11.2% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Jesse Winker hits a two-run double in the first inning, -20.0% WPA