Inside Yolk

I had a feeling that getting rid of that negative vibes machine Yoenis Cespedes would lead to good things for the Mets. It wasn’t just because Jacob deGrom was on the mound last night. Besides, there was scientific evidence that something had shifted in the Mets clubhouse, because they finally got some hits with runners in scoring position.

Michael Conforto, Robinson Cano, and Wilson Ramos all hit RBI singles in the third inning to spot New York a 4-0 lead. With deGrom on the mound, that was plenty. The back-to-back Cy Young Award winner was money as usual, completing six innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk, and two runs allowed.

However, the Mets came not-so-shockingly close to giving up the lead in the seventh when Atlanta loaded the bases against Jeurys Familia. Good thing the old standby sacked up and struck out Ozzie Albies or we could be telling a much sadder story. Justin Wilson came on and got Freddie Freeman to ground out to end the threat.

The Mets made a big change yesterday. After three straight days of losing game they should have won, they finally lost a game that they were supposed to lose. It was a welcome relief from watching the bullpen melt down night after night. In Saturday’s 7-1 loss to Atlanta, we didn’t need to worry about blowing any leads or Luis Rojas making any poor decisions. Instead, Michael Wacha gave up five runs in the first two innings, and that pretty much was that. Franklyn Kilome made his Mets debut and gave the rest of the team’s relief pitchers a rest while mopping up for four innings while allowing two runs.

The only real offense the Mets put together came in the fourth and fifth innings. In both frames, New York put the first two batters on base, but not much came of it. The Mets are now 3-6 after losing four in a row, tied for last place in the National League East with the 1-2 Phillies. Both Philadelphia and Miami haven’t played all week, but they will hopefully be back in action in the next day or so if MLB’s latest schedule updates hold.

MLB designed a system that was designed to keep baseball rolling despite a couple of positive tests here or there, but that hasn’t been the case. Besides the Marlins situation in which half the team tested positive, no other group has suffered what one would qualify as an “outbreak”. And yet, the Phillies, Cardinals, and Brewers, have all been shut down for several days. Not many fans are confident that MLB can complete its season, but getting all the teams back in action this week would be a big step towards that goal.

You won’t believe what happened to the Mets last night. They lost to the lousy Red Sox again! For the second straight night, Boston catcher Christian Vazquez was the nemesis, driving in three of his team’s four runs on two home runs. Both were off of Steven Matz, who didn’t look as sharp as he did in his first start of the season.

Even so, Matz wasn’t a disaster. He only gave up three runs in five-plus innings and left with a one-run deficit thanks to Jeff McNeil’s two-RBI single in the third. The Mets had two big opportunities to get the tying run across in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed miserably both times.

In the seventh, Robinson Cano continued to make himself useful by lacing a pinch-hit single to right. Future All-Star Andres Gimenez came on as a pinch runner and stole second base with nobody out. However, he never even reached third because Wilson Ramos, Brandon Nimmo, and Amed Rosario were all retired by Heath Hembree without hitting the ball out of the infield.

It was only a slightly different story when the Mets faced Matt Barnes in the eighth. Pete Alonso led off and got hit by a pitch. With one out, he busted his ass from first to third on a J.D. Davis single. Michael Conforto had a chance to tie the game with a sac fly, but he struck out in a big spot for the second night in a row. After Yoenis Cespedes walked, Gimenez grounded out to end the threat.

Bad news first. The Marlins won’t be playing until Monday at the earliest because even more of their players tested positive for COVID-19 today. It sounds like MLB is okay with every team not playing exactly 60 games, and now the expanded postseason looks like a good idea because we’re less likely to have good teams miss out for virus-related issues.

The good news is that no Phillies players have tested positive even though they just finished a series against Miami. Hopefully they’ll be back in action soon. If the MLB can remain flexible and players can remain calm, we can have a baseball season.

Will baseball season make it to October? That’s what everyone is asking after two baseball games were postponed today due to COVID-19. The Orioles vs. Marlins and Yankees vs. Phillies games won’t be played in the near future because a whole bunch of Miami players came down with the virus. Baseball will still continue for now, but you have to wonder when Miami and Philadelphia, who played in a three-game series over the weekend, will be able to get back in action. If they miss too many games, it’s going to be hard to make all of them up.

The Mets don’t have a virus problem yet, but they do have a baseball problem. That problem is that the team is not playing very well right now. Luis Rojas’s boys just lost to Atlanta 14-1 in front of a national audience on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The defense was so bad that Rick Porcello gave up seven runs in two innings without allowing a home run. But don’t worry, because relievers Corey Oswalt and Paul Sewald gave up plenty of those, including a bomb by Austin Riley that is still hasn’t started to come down.

The New York offense, meanwhile, has scored five runs in three games. I think the bats will come around, but I’m worried that it won’t be enough to overcome poor defense and a pitching rotation that has been hampered by injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman. Hopefully Michael Wacha can throw some quality innings in Boston tonight and give fans hope that the back of the rotation won’t be a dumpster fire.

The Red Sox will be starting a left-handed “opener” named Josh Osich who is expected to give way to Zack Godley after one or two innings. Since Boston just dropped two of three games to the lowly Orioles, the loser of tonight’s game will have a one-way ticket to Panic City.

I heard Panic City is handling COVID-19 surprisingly well, though, so there’s that.