Mets' prolonged stretch of mediocrity raises a big question: How good are they?

New York Times

16 hours ago

NEW YORK — By the time Cleveland Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana dropped the ball on a relay play from right field, New York Mets third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh had already told hard-charging Tyrone Taylor to hold up.
Taylor obeyed Sarbaugh's order, hitting the brakes after a hard turn and retreating to third base. Long afterward, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he approved the decision not to send Taylor home on Francisco Lindor's double in part because of the circumstances. Tie score. Bottom of the ninth inning. One out. Juan Soto up next. Pete Alonso up after that. If this were blackjack, the dealer advises to stay.
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'I thought it was 100 percent the right (call),' Mendoza said.
But from there, Taylor never moved from third base. The Guardians intentionally walked Soto. Alonso struck out. Jeff McNeil lined out. Inning over. Chance gone.
Questions like whether or not to send Taylor home tend to carry an outsized impact after games when a bigger issue is at play.
The real question after New York's 7-6 loss in 10 innings on Monday night at Citi Field is: Just how good are the Mets?
New York rallied from a five-run deficit on Monday only to lose because of poor starting pitching, Brett Baty's throwing error in the 10th inning and an inability to cash in more runs late in the game.
The Mets are 63-50. They are one and a half games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East. Three teams earn wild-card bids into the playoffs, and the Mets sit in second, four games ahead of the fourth-place team. It is the first week of August; not time to panic. Yet the Mets find themselves in such a position mostly because of how well they played over the first two months of the season, not the last two months.
Since June, the Mets are 27-28. They are a different team than the one they were in May. Back then, the Mets received solid starting pitching. Even early on, getting consistently deep into games was an issue, but at least it wasn't something that all but one starter was allergic to.
These days, the Mets' rotation is a problem.
For as much as Frankie Montas' struggles have dominated the discussion, concerns over Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea hold more importance. The Mets need Senga and Manaea leading them, along with David Peterson — they profile as the club's playoff starters. Regardless of the plan by then calling for designed shorter starts or not, the Mets need to first reach the postseason. And to do that, they are relying on Senga and Manaea being healthy and productive.
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Both pitchers returned from the injured list last month. Senga has made four starts, failing to record outs beyond the fifth inning in any of them. On Monday, Manaea made his fifth start, looking poised to pitch deep into a game until his performance unraveled in the sixth.
With two outs in the sixth inning and within a few jogging steps out of the dugout, Mendoza pointed toward the bullpen. On the mound, all Manaea could do was casually toss the ball to himself as he waited for the inevitable. With that, the concerning trend continued: Another failed attempt by a Mets starter to pitch at least six innings. No Mets pitcher other than Peterson has accomplished the feat since June 7.
Manaea was rolling — until he wasn't. Using a heavy amount of four-seam fastballs and not much else, Manaea needed just 57 pitches to hold the Guardians scoreless through the first five innings. However, in the sixth inning, he allowed five hits, five runs and hit a batter. Shortstop Gabriel Arias delivered the major blow when he crushed a changeup over the middle for a three-run home run that traveled an estimated 440 feet.
'It happened fast,' Mendoza said.
Added Manaea: 'No way around it — that sucks.'
The Mets need Manaea to pitch like a top starter. As for Montas? The expectations are far, far lower. The Mets need Montas to resemble a back-end starter capable of throwing five innings while keeping his team in the game.
The days of dreaming for anything more stopped on Sunday when Montas failed to complete five innings for the second consecutive start. Indeed, the bar is low for Montas. After three major additions to their bullpen, the Mets have just one spot that is up for grabs. They are using it as a shuttle when they need a fresh arm. With such a current roster formula, the Mets' best path for success includes Montas simply doing his job.
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That is why, despite possibly using an opener on Saturday, the Mets plan on Montas absorbing innings on that day.
The issues in the rotation wouldn't be as pronounced if the offense performed as touted. For parts of Monday, the lineup not only looked strong but also capable of covering up shortcomings elsewhere, which was the Mets' plan this season all along.
After Manaea exited with the Mets trailing 5-0, the offense, which has been inconsistent all season, responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sure, they got some help; Lindor reached on a strikeout after the third strike got away and Soto reached on a fielder's choice after hitting what looked like a double-play ball. But Alonso made the Guardians pay for their mistakes with a three-run home run, moving him one home run shy of matching Darryl Strawberry for the club's all-time mark. Alonso went 4-for-5 with four RBIs.
In the eighth inning, the Mets ambushed talented reliever Hunter Gaddis with four singles on his first eight pitches. They ended up tying the score at 5-5.
But it was too little, too late. In the 10th inning, their defense, yet another season-long concern, let them down. After fielding a hard bunt, third baseman Brett Baty made an errant throw to second base, where Lindor was covering but couldn't reel in the ball, which went into right field. The Guardians scored one run on the play, then added another on a sacrifice fly. Mendoza said Baty made the right decision with runners on first and second with none out, but the execution was off.
'I've just got to make a better throw on that play,' Baty said.
It was a shame for the Mets to lose because they followed the script that should have worked for them. Their lineup supplied runs. Their bullpen was stingy. It's how the Mets are now built for October.
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But there are still eight weeks left of the regular season. The Mets are 1-3 since the trade deadline. They have lost three of their last four, six of their last seven. There were plenty of questions worth raising on Monday night. None bigger than wondering how good a team they actually are.
(Top photo of Sean Manaea: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)