Mets Poor Defense Clearly Shows How This Season Is Going To Turn Out

In a 5-1 victory against the New York Mets on Friday night, Taijuan Walker threw six good innings, Trea Turner got two RBIs, and the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of two defensive errors by the Mets.

Mets Poor Defense Clearly Shows How This Season Is Going To Turn Out

If there are two key causes for the Mets’ sub-.500 record this season, they are their troubles in the first inning and their egregious defense errors. You will lose more games than you win if you start out slow and make mistakes frequently.

That held true on Friday night as the Mets lost 5-1 to the Phillies after falling down early due to many defensive errors.

Over the past several weeks, there have been many instances of poor defense. A critical mistake was committed by Francisco Lindor two weeks ago in Pittsburgh. Last week, in the Subway Series against the Yankees, Brandon Nimmo was unable to reach a popup, costing rookie left-hander Josh Walker the victory.

The first instance of this happened during the game’s opening at-bat for the Phillies when Brandon Nimmo lost a fly ball from Kyle Schwarber, resulting in a leadoff baserunner. Kodai Senga fought for the remainder of the inning, throwing 28 pitches and allowing two unearned runs on a bloop single by Bryce Harper and a sacrifice fly by Bryson Stott.

Walker once again suffered against the Phillies’ subpar defense (39-36). The Mets (34-41) turned to the bullpen after Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm hit consecutive singles off Senga with one out in the sixth inning and a 2-0 deficit.

When Josh Walker entered the game, it seemed as though the Mets would be getting a key second out in the inning while maintaining the runners on their respective bases. However, Josh Walker quickly forced a high pop-up barely beyond the infield in left field. Francisco Lindor seemed to call for the ball and wait underneath it before ducking out of the way at the last second,  thinking it was Tommy Pham‘s ball. The ball fell to the ground and allowed the runner on third to score.

The first pitch that was hit to Nimmo in the top of the first was dropped. Schwarber made a brief flare that was judged to be inaccurate. Senga then delivered a wild pitch to bring up Schwarber, and Turner was subsequently brought up by a walk.

Neither Brett Baty at third base nor Pham in left field appeared to realize where the two-time NL MVP was popping up to shallow left field. It scored twice, giving the Mets an early deficit. The Mets have been outscored 56-21 in the first innings this season, continuing their first-inning struggles.

This error, which was counted as a single, was the second pop-up in the contest with at least a 95% chance of being caught by Met defenders, both of which contributed to runs. For failing to catch the ball during the play, Lindor admitted fault after the game, saying, “It was on me, I should’ve taken full charge of the ball.”

Buck Showalter backed both Nimmo and Lindor, saying: “You’ve got a majority of individuals that typically execute things pretty well… Just miscommunication by two people who normally make those plays easily.”

Walker recorded the second out as it was pouring heavily before walking Schwarber to load the bases. After that, reliever Jeff Brigham allowed Turner to single in two runs, giving the Phillies a 5-1 advantage.

With a current record of 34-41, the Mets are further away from a postseason place than they are from having the poorest record in the National League. The Mets have not yet seen the type of turnaround they had hoped for as the month of June draws to a close because things keep getting worse.

 

 

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