Before the start of their crucial series against the Phillies on Friday night, the Mets designated Billy Hamilton for assignment, assuring fans that they would not have to watch him make bone-headed baserunning decisions for at least a little while. Hopefully a contending team can take Hamilton off the Mets’ hands and we can move on from a forgettable cameo.

During Hamilton’s time with the Mets, he didn’t hit a lick and made two critical errors as a runner, one of which cost the Mets a game against the Phillies. That’s not good when your one purpose is to give your team an advantage on the base paths.

Giving Hamilton the boot wasn’t going to save the Mets from mistakes, though. In their loss to Philadelphia last night, Dominic misplayed a throw from J.D. Davis that allowed the Phillies to extend their lead from 3-2 to 4-2 in the eighth inning.

Smith made up for the error by driving home a run in the bottom of the frame, but Robinson Cano subsequently hit a line drive right into Rhys Hoskins’s glove and Pete Alonso popped up to cut the rally short. The Phillies ended up winning 5-3.

Michael Conforto stayed hot with a two-run, opposite-field home run and Rick Porcello had a strong game with two runs allowed in six innings, but silver linings aren’t very encouraging when the Mets are on the outside of the playoffs during the easiest season to make the playoffs ever. In fact, only three teams in the National League have worst records than the Mets. The race is pretty hard to break down because the eighth-seeded Cardinals have only played 29 games (14-15) while the Mets have played 39 (17-22). The most important thing to know is that the Mets have to start winning yesterday.

At least we have other sports to distract us during these troubling times. In the NHL, Dallas won its Game 7 against Colorado in overtime after the teams traded goals in a span of just 10 seconds in the third period. In another Game 7, Las Vegas beat Vancouver 3-0 in a duel that was scoreless for the first 53 minutes.

Tonight, the drama continues with the third Game 7 of the second round. Can the Flyers complete their comeback after falling behind in the series 3-1 or will the Islanders finally finish them off and bring their small but obnoxious fan base one step closer to the Stanley Cup? Either way, I’ll probably just be watching Seth Lugo work his magic against the Phillies. I need more televisions.