NO SIGNS OF
Lefty bounced by Bombers in 4th, struggles
Steven Matz stood on the bullpen mound last week just taking the ball out of his glove and pulling his arm back over and over again. The Long Island lefty repeated that small step for at least five minutes with Dan Warthen watching closely.
Amidst the longest slump of his young career in the big leagues, Matz and the Mets pitching coach have gone back to the basics of his delivery to try and get him back on track. They have “wringed the rag dry” of ideas to help him get out of this funk. So far, nothing has worked. Matz started his night Thursday by throwing away a ball for a two-run error, and it didn’t get much better from there. He was chased by the Yankees after allowing a career-high tying seven runs, six earned, on seven hits. He walked two, struck out four and hit a batter. Matz got through just 3.1 innings of the Mets’ 7-5 loss to the Yankees at Citi Field.
“I’m not really sure,” Matz said of his struggles. “We’ve been trying different stuff and it’s not really translating to the mound.
“The biggest thing is with guys on, that’s when I am getting hurt.”
And Matz put himself in a hole early on with Yankees leadoff hitter Brett Gardner reaching on Matz’s twobase throwing error. He walked the next batter and then, after striking out Aaron Judge, he gave up a three-run homer to Gary Sanchez.
He couldn’t get out of the fourth after giving up four straight singles, including three to the bottom of the Yankees order and then a two-run single to Gardner. After getting a groundout, he hit Judge with his last pitch of the night.
It was Matz’s career-high sixth straight loss and he has a 10.19 ERA over that span.
As ugly as Thursday night was, it is just the third-shortest start of his season.
While Matz and the Mets insist he feels fine, the questions about him are mounting this season. After a long history of injuries, including multiple surgeries on his left elbow, is this what the Mets can expect from the 26-year-old? What do the Mets dare hope to get from him in 2018?
The Mets will revamp their expectations for not just Matz, but all of their starters in 2018. They had all but one of their expected seven starters on the disabled list this season, and in 2016 they had three end the season early with injuries.
After two straight seasons upended by injuries in their rotation, Sandy Alderson said that going into next season, the Mets will not look at their rotation as the foundation of the team. The Mets GM said the goal will likely be to get five innings out of their starters and then turn to, what Mets fans have to hope, is a much-improved bullpen.
Still, Matz has to be able to give them five solid innings to factor into that equation.
Right now, he is struggling to do even that.
He and Warthen worked on his delivery over the last few weeks trying to eliminate the hitches. Those flaws, Matz admitted, could be remnants from pitching with pain last season, but they also continue to raise questions about the lefty’s durability.
Part of what Warthen and Matz are working on is getting full extension on his pitches.
Less than full extension is what can cause a pitcher to torque his elbow and therefore create discomfort, and if he