Boooooooo. Boooooooo. Booooooooo.
That’s what you would have heard from the Citi Field faithful if there had been fans in the seats last night. The Mets lost to the Phillies on Labor Day, but at least they showed a lot of fight by overcoming a 6-0 deficit. Tuesday was a different story with Baltimore in town. Michael Wacha allowed five runs in the first four innings, and then Robert Gsellman did what he does best and poured gasoline on the fire to ensure that the Mets had no chance at a comeback. The Orioles cruised to an 11-2 win and New York is now three games out of the final National League wild card spot.
At least Mets fans can’t say their team lost to the terrible Orioles, because the Orioles are decent this season. Guys like Anthony Santander, Pedro Severino, and Ryan Mountcastle are breaking out at the plate. If John Means can string together a few more starts like last night’s, Baltimore might develop enough pitching to compete with the top of the American League. At 20-21, they are now tied in the loss column with the Yankees and a half game away from qualifying for the postseason.
Jeff McNeil and Jake Marisnick each had two hits and a home run for the Mets, but that was it for the highlights. Can we move on to the Yankees now?
J.A. Happ came through in a major way with 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings with two runs allowed, but the Yankees offense was shut down by Taijuan Walker and the Toronto bullpen. The Yankees walked five times against Walker in just four innings, but they only mustered two hits against him and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position for the game. The Blue Jays won 2-1 and now the Yankees are 21-21 and hanging on to that last playoff spot by a thread.
I still think they will get their act together over the next two weeks, but if the Yankees miss the postseason, it would be considered a monumental disaster.
Speaking of disasters, the Bucks are now eliminated from the NBA Playoffs after finishing the regular season with the league’s best record. Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play in Game 5 against the Heat, and Khris Middleton was held to 8-for-25 shooting by Miami’s defense. Middleton was the game’s leading scorer, but the balanced and beautiful Heat are moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 103-94 win.
In the West, the Lakers and Rockets went back and forth all night in their Game 3 clash, but Rajon Rondo scored eight straight points to spark a 10-0 Los Angeles run in the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference. Rondo finished with 21 points, and LeBron James led everyone with 36 in the 112-102 Lakers victory.
The NHL Western Conference Final is now tied 1-1 thanks to Las Vegas flipping the script last night and shutting out the Stars. The Golden Knights won 3-0 with three second-period goals after losing 1-0 in Game 1.
The focus switches back east tonight with the Islanders trying to bounce back from their embarrassing Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Lightning. In the NBA, the Celtics have a chance to eliminate Toronto from the playoffs while the Nuggets try to draw even with the Clippers in Game 4.
Inside Yolk 