The New York Mets continue to waste Jacob deGrom
It's suppose to be a new era for the New York Mets, but Monday night was the same old thing in a Jacob deGrom start
On Monday night, the New York Mets played their delayed season opener against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jacob deGrom got the start, obviously, and put together a typical outing (6.0 IP, three hits, seven strikeouts, two walks). The Mets had a 3-0 lead when he left the game.
Miguel Castro pitched a fairly clean seventh inning out of the Mets bullpen (one hit allowed). The eighth inning was a different story. This note from Dayn Perry of CBS Sports is a good starting point for the proceedings.
…after free agent addition Trevor May struck out Adam Haseley for the first out of the eighth the Mets had an 87.4 percent chance of winning the game.
May then allowed two singles, with a walk in-between. Aaron Loup came in and the two combined to allow five runs (two earned), aided by an error from third baseman Luis Guillorme. Loup got charged with a blown save in a disappointing loss.
deGrom won back-to-back NL Cy Youngs in 2018 and 2019, and he finished third in the voting last year. Counting Monday night’s outing, he has a 2.07 ERA over 77 starts since the start of the 2018 season. Monday night was his 33rd no-decision over that span.
deGrom has a 1.76 ERA in those 33 no-decisions since 2018, and the Mets’ bullpen has given up 11 leads he left with. Facing the opposition’s No. 1 starter sometimes has to be noted, but being below .500 when arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball starts is remarkable enough to feel impossible. But the Mets have pulled it off, as I regurgitate the stats to try to make it make sense.
The Mets are in a new era, with a new owner in Steve Cohen. But the start of the 2021 season was the same old thing, wasting the efforts of deGrom like virtually no other team has ever wasted the efforts of an ace.