Thank you, disillusionment

I’m going to start this recap by pulling back the curtain here a little bit. I have been writing recaps of Mets games for over seven years now for multiple websites. When Mets teams are bad—which, I find, is often—and the games start to be completely meaningless as the season winds down, I try to find a narrative or an interesting tidbit to center game recaps around because, frankly, no Mets fan wants to read a strict play-by-play of a fairly uninteresting baseball game of a team playing out the string and only counting the days down until the offseason.

But sometimes, the team is so bad and plays such an uninteresting game that you can’t even do that. Sometimes the performance is so listless and unremarkable that you can’t even pull anything out of it to talk about.

So here’s the story of tonight’s game: the Braves, who have run circles around the Mets since August of last season, came to town to begin a series that once looked like it could be a heated battle for a division race, but is now just a sad exhibition of the dramatic difference between the two franchises.

Charlie Morton started for the Braves and didn’t really have it. He walked seven over 5.1 innings. It didn’t matter, though, because he didn’t allow a run. In fact, the Mets drew nine walks and collected seven hits on the night, but scored zero runs. They left 14 runners on base and went 0-for-12 with RISP. They’re the first team in the modern era to ever do that. So at least they made some history this year.

Tylor Megill looked okay early on, pumping 98-99 MPH in the first few innings, and at one point retired eight in a row. But he quickly ran out of gas, as he is wont to do, and the velocity backed up, as we’ve seen so many times before. He wound up surrendering six runs (five earned), as the Braves started squaring him up.

Jimmy Yacabonis came in for relief in the sixth inning and went the distance from there, tossing 3.2 innings in relief. He allowed another run on an Austin Riley homer, but otherwise pitched respectably.

Also of note: Francisco Lindor was scratched before the game with side tightness and will undergo imaging tomorrow. That ends Lindor’s consecutive games streak at 223. Lindor is sitting at a 123 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR; it would be nice to see him finish off his good season in an otherwise lost year.

Daniel Vogelbach took a golden sombrero. He was booed after every at bat, and was even booed when he walked up to the plate in the ninth inning.

37,366 people paid to watch this game.

The Mets are 21.5 games back in the NL East.

Only 47 games to go.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Rafael Ortega, +10.3% WPA

Big Mets loser: - 26.9% WPA

Mets pitchers: -26.8% WPA

Mets hitters: -23.2% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Rafael Ortega singles to left in the fifth inning, +5.1% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Eddie Rosario hits a two-run single in the fourth inning, Marcell Ozuna scores on an error by CF Brandon Nimmo, -29.9% WPA