Mets Season At Cross Roads After Ugly Loss to Brewers

Nothing went right for the Mets in Milwaukee.

Sean Manaea faltered. The offense stagnated. The defense was dull. Francisco Alvarez left with back spasms due to a normal-looking slide into third base.

Heck, even when the Mets got base runners on, home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus had some egregious calls to kill Mets’ rallies, leading to Carlos Mendoza getting tossed in an 8-4 loss.

It was an all-around dud from the entire team. And it started with Manaea in the very first inning. The lefty threw 26 pitches to get two outs, loading the bases in the process. Manaea then served up a grand slam to the familiar Mets killer Rhys Hoskins, putting the Mets in a hole they could never climb out of.

Manaea only got through 3 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) and forcing a rested Mets bullpen to record 16 outs. The combination of José Buttó, Danny Young, Adam Ottavino, and Alex Young navigated the rest of the game, but allowed two more runs in the process.

“It sucks,” Manaea said on his start. “We’re fighting for our lives over here and to do that doesn’t feel good .This team’s resilient and we’ll get ’em tomorrow.”

On the other side, the offense failed to get anything going. Mark Vientos clubbed home run No. 27 early to bring the Mets within three runs, but the rest of the club no answer for Frankie Montas and the Brewers pen.

The team went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, highlighted by double plays from J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker that killed potential rallies in the second and sixth innings.

The worst, however, came in the fourth for the Mets. Winker and Jose Iglesias reached base with two outs, bringing Alvarez up as the tying run.

The young catcher battled the entire bat, fighting off 98-mile-per-hour fastballs and spitting on offspeed pitches. But on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, a slider at his shins was called a strike to end the inning.

That moment seemed like the tipping point for the Mets. Instead of bases loaded and the Mets’ hottest hitter Tyrone Taylor at the plate, the inning was over.

“They have a tough job,” Mendoza said on Ramon De Jesus. I know they’re working really hard. He didn’t have a good game behind the plate. We gotta move on.”

Carlos Mendoza is ejected after Francisco Alvarez was called out on a questionable strike three. pic.twitter.com/n7LkG6wIAo

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2024

Mendoza got ejected. The Brewers tagged on run six in the bottom half of the innings. It was quickly 7-2 by the sixth.

To put it frankly, the loss was a similar gut punch that the Mets took in Atlanta Tuesday. The offense couldn’t produce, Luis Severino struggled early, and a team that had been the best in the majors since June reverted back to their May selves.

The loss is even strong enough to invoke memories of the past. In 2022 it was the collapse in September. In ’07 and ’08 it was the final weeks of both seasons that saw the club fail to make the postseason.

And now, there’s 2024. The Mets have lost in ugly fashion the last two games, allowing the Braves and Diamondbacks to stay alive for the final two spots.

There’s a three-way tie currently between the clubs, and the Mets have four more games to write history. Will they join the three aforementioned clubs, falling short in the final week despite controlling their own destiny?

Or will they revert back to the club that has been resilient all season and has dominated the majors to a 65-37 record since May 30?

Only time will tell, which is running out the ’24 Mets.

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