Is This Rock Bottom? Mets Crushed by Pirates for Third Straight Loss

Posted on June 29, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

It’s hard to imagine the Mets’ season getting to a lower point, but then again they are still 48-37 and just two losses behind Philadelphia in the National League East. It’s possible this gets a lot worse before it gets better, but it’s also possible that the Mets make a couple of trades to help the pitching staff and get the offense ramped up again before any hope of the Postseason melts away in the summer sun. Which fate will the Mets become? We don’t know, and that’s why we watch.

This weekend was a Frank the Tank rage tweet come to life with the Mets deciding that it wasn’t enough to lose 9-1 to the last-place Pirates on Friday night or to lose again 9-2 on Saturday. Carlos Mendoza’s squad had to let go of the rope and fall 12-1 on Sunday afternoon to maximize despair. The 30-4 aggregate score was the worst run differential that the Mets have ever suffered in a three-game series, and it happened to a “good” Mets team against the second-division Pirates. That’s baseball, Suzyn.

Frankie Montas appeared to be on his way out of the first inning when Brett Baty made a great snag on a Spencer Horwitz line drive to keep two runs off the board, but Montas let those runs in anyway when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-out, two-RBI single. Based on Hayes’ overall stats and his stats against the Mets, I’m starting to think that he doesn’t have a hit against any other team this season. Anyway, Oneil Cruz and Tommy Pham followed Hayes’ knock with back-to-back home runs to make the score 5-0 Pittsburgh after one.

As has been the case recently for the Mets, they couldn’t do much on offense against the opposing starting pitcher. Mike Burrows and his 4.15 ERA limited New York to just one run on a Luis Torrens solo shot in four and a third innings. Former Met Genesis Cabrera followed up with a scoreless frame and Carmen Mlodzinski kept the Mets off the scoreboard for the final three and two thirds innings.

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Mets Players Hold a Meeting After Another Horrible Loss in Pittsburgh

Posted on June 28, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets followed up their 9-1 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night with a 9-2 loss on Saturday evening. This one got off to a decent start with Francisco Lindor hitting a leadoff double and scoring on a seeing-eye single by Juan Soto. However, after the game was delayed by 90 minutes due to rain in the top of the second, Carlos Mendoza made the decision to keep Paul Blackburn on the mound in order to save the bullpen. That turned out to be disastrous as Blackburn allowed five straight singles without recording an out. Jose Butto came in to put out the fire, but Adam Frazier hit a sac fly off of him to charge a third earned run to Blackburn and give the Pirates the run they needed to win the game.

Butto, Brandon Waddell, and Reed Garrett all did a good job keeping the Mets in the game, but they only scored once more when Pete Alonso doubled with one out in the fifth and was driven in on a Brandon Nimmo single. The Mets blew a golden opportunity an inning earlier when Brett Baty led off with a double, but he was tagged out on a bizarre play when Luis Torrens hit a chopper to third that was misplayed by Ke’Bryan Hayes on the infield grass. Baty would have advanced to third easily if Hayes had fielded the ball cleanly, but instead Isiah Kiner-Falefa picked up the ball behind Hayes and tagged Baty out while he was sliding into third. Even the least superstitious person on Earth can look at that play and say, “Wow, these Mets are cursed.”

Carlos Mendoza was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz in the fourth inning, but New York only mustered one hit the rest of the way following Nimmo’s RBI single in the fifth. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, would get a lot more hits because Huascar Brazoban has devolved into the worst pitcher on the planet. He walked Joey Bart and Spencer Horwitz in the bottom of the eighth to set up Ke’Bryan Hayes’ RBI single that added a key insurance run for the Pirates.

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Mets Suffer Most Pathetic Loss of the Season in Pittsburgh

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets were supposed to come to Pittsburgh to grow their winning streak that began with two big wins over the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field, but instead the Pirates handed New York a 9-1 loss that is the most pathetic of the season. David Peterson has been so great for the Mets this year. He’s been a de facto ace of the no-name starting rotation that has been the strength of the team. He should have at least flirted with a complete game against Pittsburgh’s feeble lineup, but instead he allowed a four-run rally in the second inning that the Mets did not recover from. You just can’t allow guys like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jared Triolo, and Alexander Canario to rack up consecutive base hits when the first two are below .300 in both on-base percentage and slugging while Canario was let go by the Mets in spring training.

New York’s offense wasn’t much better as Mitch Keller allowed just one run on a Juan Soto solo shot. Part of the reason why Soto hits so many home runs with the bases empty is because opposing pitchers fear him and don’t give him much to hit when there are ducks on the pond, but it’s also ridiculous how unproductive he is with runners on base. The Mets were gonna need a crooked number to catch up in this one, and Soto’s bomb did not provide it.

Blade Tidwell was also disappointing in this game and he allowed Pittsburgh to get very comfortable on Bryan Reynolds’ three-run home run in the sixth inning. Tidwell keeps proving that he doesn’t belong in the big league rotation or the bullpen, so hopefully someone else is tabbed to fill Griffin Canning’s role when his spot comes up. I am thinking that Justin Hagenman will get the first crack at the job, but you can’t rule out a bullpen game.

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The Mets Return to First Place but Get Hit with Another Pitching Injury

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets shut out the Braves 4-0 on Thursday night and vaulted back into first place thanks to the pathetic Phillies only scoring one run during their entire three-game series in Houston. Staying in first place, however, will once again prove to be a stiff test since Griffin Canning went down with an Achilles injury in the third inning. I usually try not to speculate on injuries, but in this case I don’t think we need to wait for the Twitter doctors or the regular doctors to confirm that Canning is out for the rest of the season. The Mets already have Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill on the injured list, while Sean Manaea recently suffered a setback to his recovery from a strained oblique he suffered at the start of spring training. Thank goodness for Frankie Montas, right? But even with Montas in the rotation, the Mets need someone to step up and fill Canning’s role.

That will probably come down to Blade Tidwell or Justin Hagenman since both guys have helped out the Mets with spot starts this season. I am thinking that Hagenman is the guy since he was solid in two big league appearances this season while Tidwell failed to finish the fourth inning in both of his starts. The Mets have an off day on Monday, so they can probably drag their decision out until the Yankees come to Queens on Independence Day Weekend.

Starting rotation depth could be an issue for the Mets in the long term, but at least they thrived in the short term. A lot of credit goes to Austin Warren, who completed the third inning for Canning and then pitched two more scoreless innings after just being called up today. Dedniel Nunez looked like the guy who took New York’s bullpen by storm last year. He pitched two scoreless frames of his own and struck out the side in the seventh inning. No matter who the fifth starter ends up being, that guy will probably need a lot of bullpen help, so having Warren and Nunez step up is a big deal.

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Celtics Respond to Jayson Tatum Injury with a Pair of Smart Trades

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Boston Celtics were supposed to start a dynasty when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks to win the 2024 NBA Finals. Boston had a pair of young stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to build around and all of their great role players were under contract for the near future. A lot has changed in the year since then with the Celtics blowing two big leads at home to my New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. That led to Boston’s early exit from the Playoffs, but perhaps more troubling for the future of the franchise was the torn Achilles tendon suffered by Tatum in Game 4.

The injury puts a serious dent in Boston’s chances to compete for the Eastern Conference title in 2026, but instead of sitting on a team that is still talented enough to make some noise in the Playoffs, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is pivoting and raising Boston’s ceiling for a future where Tatum is at full strength.

On Monday, Stevens sent Jrue Holiday and the three years remaining on his contract packing and got back an exciting playmaker in Anfernee Simons as well as two second-round draft picks. Holiday has disappointed during his two years in Boston and still has over $100 million left on his contract. Maybe he would have stepped up his game with Tatum out of the lineup, but I think the cap space that the Celtics get from sending him to Portland more than makes up for it in the long term. Boston also gets Simons from the Trail Blazers, and while he’s not the most efficient scorer, he is on an expiring deal and should help replace Tatum’s production in the upcoming campaign.

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The Mets Continue to be Pitiful on Offense in 3-2 Loss to Braves

Posted on June 24, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

I was all set to blame the latest Mets loss on Paul Blackburn. He got off to a slow start on Monday night against the Braves with three runs allowed in three innings, and it could have been a lot more. Jeff McNeil saved one run for Blackburn when he threw behind Ronald Acuna Jr. for a tag out at third base after the Atlanta superstar froze on Marcell Ozuna’s hard-hit ground ball. Acuna made up for the mistake by launching a home run to begin the third inning and celebrating all the way around the bases. That made the Braves’ lead 2-0 since the inning before Ozzie Albies was hit by a pitch, stole second base, and was driven in on a sac fly by Michael Harris II.

The real trouble for Blackburn started when he walked Ozuna and Austin Riley following the Acuna bomb. That loaded the bases with nobody out and it looked like Atlanta could put the game out of reach, but Blackburn got Albies to pop up and Sean Murphy had to settle for a sac fly when his line drive to left field was caught by Brandon Nimmo. Harris also hit the ball very hard, but his was snagged by Pete Alonso on the infield to end the threat with the Braves leading 3-0.

Blackburn would settle down in the fourth and I thought he had a shot at the quality start, but Carlos Mendoza took him out in the fifth and let Jose Butto finish the frame before retiring the side in order in the sixth. The Braves wouldn’t score the rest of the way, which made the real villain of this game the Mets’ offense. It’s been putrid lately with the exception of that 11-run outburst on Saturday night in Philadelphia, but it appeared to be on the upswing when Juan Soto followed a walk by Nimmo in the sixth with a two-run blast to left-center field. If only Francisco Lindor hadn’t taken himself and Brett Baty out of the equation with a double-play ground out, the home run might have given the Mets an extra run or two.

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OKC and LSU Win Championships While Tommy Fleetwood’s PGA TOUR Slump Continues

Posted on June 23, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets might have laid an egg on Sunday night, but there was still plenty of excitement in the sports world with the NBA and college baseball naming champions and a thrilling finish on the PGA TOUR. Let’s see what everyone is buzzing about on a hot, hot summer Monday.

Thunder bring first NBA title to Oklahoma City

What a monumental upset it would have been if the Indiana Pacers had one more surprise left in them. Unfortunately for all of you sick and twisted people who were hoping for an Indiana victory, the Oklahoma City Thunder used a strong third quarter to vanquish the Cinderella Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and claim a championship for the first time since the franchise moved from Seattle. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and handed out 12 assists while earning Finals MVP honors, but what most people will remember about this game is the horrible injury that Tyrese Haliburton suffered after making three three-point shots in the first quarter. Haliburton was already playing through a calf injury, but he appeared to suffer an Achilles injury when he went down while trying to dribble past SGA.

The score was tied 16-16 at the time of Haliburton’s injury, so we’ll never know what would have happened if he had played the full time. Indiana got 24 points and 13 rebounds from Bennedict Mathurin off the bench as well as 15 points and six assists from Andrew Nembhard, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Thunder, who led by more than 20 in the fourth quarter. If the opinion of the Twitter doctors is confirmed by MRI and Haliburton has suffered a torn Achilles tendon, he’ll be the third player in these NBA Playoffs to go down with that injury. It already happened to Damian Lillard in the first round and Jayson Tatum in the Eastern Semifinals. As much as I rag on Haliburton, it sucks to see him get hurt so seriously when he is close to his dream. I wanted to see him stay healthy and go 0-for-10 from the field. It’s going to be tough for Indiana to return to the Finals if he’s out next season, but the East remains wide open.

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The Mets Get Back to Winning and Drop Seven Bombs on Philly

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets finally busted their seven-game losing streak on Saturday night with a triumphant 11-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. With President Trump announcing a military strike in the middle of the game, it reminded me of the Mets playing in Philadelphia on May 1, 2011 when Osama Bin Laden was killed. The Mets won that night as well, but they didn’t hit seven home runs like they did in the present day. Brandon Nimmo led the charge with a solo shot in the first, and he added another two innings later as part of back-to-back-to-back home runs with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. The third-inning barrage was supplemented by Soto adding his second home run in the fifth inning, and the massive blast allowed the Mets to keep the lead for the rest of the night.

Griffin Canning got off to a slow start by allowing three hits in the first inning, including an RBI double by Nick Castellanos, that led to two runs. The Phillies added another run in the second inning when Otto Kemp doubled and came around to score on Brandon Marsh’s soft ground ball and a wild pitch that Francisco Alvarez failed to get his body in front of. That gave Philly a 3-1 lead, but the Mets answered with three straight home runs as well as Soto’s second bomb to go ahead 5-3 in the fifth. Canning failed the shutdown inning after Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo nearly collided on a fly ball hit by Trea Turner. He would score on Alec Bohm’s RBI single to bring the Phillies within one, but Lindor answered with a two-out RBI double in the sixth that Castellanos overran badly in the right field corner.

That sixth inning may have been more impressive than the three home runs in the third because in the sixth, the Mets got singles from both Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio to set the table. That seems like a very rare feat based on how those guys are playing. As for McNeil, it’s nice having him play center field because he gives the Mets some offense at the position, but it is asking so much for him to communicate with Nimmo properly? They’ve only played together for six years!

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Bullpen Blowup in Seventh Inning Costs Mets in Seventh Straight Loss

Posted on June 21, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

It wasn’t surprising that the Mets extending their losing streak to seven games last night with Blade Tidwell starting at pitcher against Zack Wheeler. What was so disappointing about the 10-2 defeat in Philadelphia was that the Mets got past the starting pitching portion of the game and quickly tied the score 2-2 on back-to-back home runs by Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil. They were the first two batters faced by Taijuan Walker when he relieved Wheeler in the top of the sixth. The Mets seemed to have momentum on their side with Wheeler gone and Jose Butto shutting the Phillies down the fifth and the sixth, but the game turned in the seventh because Reed Garrett could not get anyone out.

Brandon Marsh, who had previously given the Phillies a 2-0 lead with an RBI single off of Jose Castillo, led off the frame with a double, and he was quickly doubled home by Trea Turner to give Philadelphia the lead. Garrett then walked Kyle Schwarber and allowed an RBI single to Alec Bohm before being replaced by Justin Garza without recording an out. Garza has been solid for the Mets so far, but he couldn’t stop Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott from blowing the game open with big RBI hits.

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Pacers Force Game 7 and Mets Get Swept Again

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

I really thought that the Thunder were going to take care of business in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Everything was going according to plan when Oklahoma City jumped out to a 10-2, but after those first four minutes, the Indiana Pacers dominated the game like they have not dominated before in these NBA Finals. Pascal Siakam and company led by three at the end of the first quarter and then outscored OKC by 19 in the second. At halftime I was hoping for a Thunder comeback so I could mock Tyrese Haliburton with the choke sign, but OKC never got close and Mark Daigneault pulled his starters at the start of the fourth quarter with the deficit at 30. The Pacers went on to win 108-91.

The Thunder ended up shooting 8-for-30 from beyond the arc, but most of the makes were from bench guys in the final period. I think OKC only made a single three-point shot while the game was competitive while Indiana got long-range accuracy from Obi Toppin (4-for-7) and Andrew Nimrod (3-for-5). Those guys combined for 37 points on the night and were Indiana top two scorers. That goes to show you how deep of a team the Pacers are and also what an overrated bum Haliburton is. He was probably the fifth-best player on his own team in Game 6. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Indiana would be better off having Haliburton back up T.J. McConnell and not the other way around. McConnell was at it again on Thursday night with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and four steals in just 24 minutes. He is more than just a pest; he is a difference-maker.

The Thunder has to get its act together in Game 7 and win at home like it did in Game 2 and Game 5. I can’t deal with watching the Pacers win an NBA title after beating the Knicks because of the luckiest shot in league history. I’m having a hard enough time watching the Mets play worse and worse every night while blowing their five-game lead in the National League East in a week’s time.

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