Phillies Taking Advantage of Mets’ Current Struggles
Who’d have thought that after the Mets swept the Phillies last week, the Phillies would be 1.5 games ahead of the Mets the week after?
The Mets shut out the Phillies for two, only two, hits in their series opener on May 30th and took the next two games to improve their record to 30-27 and drop the Phillies down to 25-31.
Since that series, the Mets have lost 8 out of their last 9 games, with a seven-game losing streak during that stretch. On the other hand, the Phillies have won 7 out of their last 8 games, along with a six-game winning streak during that stretch.
The visiting Blue Jays immediately swept New York after the Phillies left Citi Field with only 5 total runs in the series. The Mets then took a road trip to Atlanta to face off against the Braves.
In the three-game series between the NL East rivals, the Braves brought out the brooms as they outhit the Mets 43-24 throughout all three games combined.
The bullpen collapsed for New York, and the starting pitching didn’t do their jobs. Most notably, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, two pitchers the Mets paid a lot for in past offseasons, struggled in their starts on the mound. Scherzer allowed 11 hits and 5 runs through 5.2 innings. Verlander fared much worse as he allowed 7 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), and 4 walks through just three innings of work.
Verlander started in the Mets’ most frustrating game of the season in the closer against the Braves on Thursday. By the 2nd inning of that game, the Mets scored 5 runs off of star pitcher Spencer Strider and were up 10-7 by the end of the 6th inning. The Braves ended up scoring 6 unanswered runs in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings as David Robertson blew the save in the 9th, and Ozzie Albies hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 10th to sweep the Mets.
To make matters even worse, it was announced that star first basemen and MLB home run leader Pete Alonso would miss multiple weeks after being hit in the hand by a pitch.
Somehow, it got worse for the Mets as they traveled to Pittsburgh to face off against the Pirates. On Friday, the Mets lost 14-7 to extend their losing streak to seven. At one point, they were down 14-2.
Luckily for the Mets, they ended their losing streak the following day but still lost their series against the Pirates with another loss on Sunday.
The Phillies currently stand in 3rd place in the NL East and 2nd place in the running for Wild Card. The Mets trail behind them at 4th in the NL East and 4th in the Wild Card race.
While the Phillies have been riding very high at the moment, the Mets have been riding very low. In baseball, tides turn quickly.
Right now, while Phillies are surfing the biggest wave, the Mets have been lost at sea.
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