Tough love for Met kid
Hard lessons for Flexen
HOUSTON — Chris Flexen had to climb the dugout stairs and run back out there with enthusiasm. The Mets righthander had just gotten hit, and he was hit hard. Flexen had coughed up five runs the inning before and his pitch count was climbing, but even if this game looked out of reach, there are things that can still be learned for a young pitcher. There are lessons yet to be learned this season. “You got to go pitch. You got to learn how to deal with it. You got to learn how to pitch around it and you got to learn,” Terry Collins said when asked if he worried there was a point the Mets’ struggles could be too much for their young players. “That’s exactly why we ran him out there in the fourth after a tough third. He had to go out there and battle through some stuff. That’s part of the process. You can’t just throw your hands up and say woe is me.
“You got to go out and grind it out and grind out innings and that’s why we sent him out there.”
This season is not going to get better. With an 8-6 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park Sunday, the Mets dropped to 20 games below .500. They limp home from a 3-8 road trip.
There is no sugar-coating this. A disappointing, and ugly season that began back in spring training with seven ace pitchers in the rotation and plans of World Series games at Citi Field in October will play out like an extended instructional league.
For the young players, there are still things to learn. Sunday, it was a lesson in how to come back after getting beaten up pretty bad.
“We talk(about) he’s got to realize part of the whole process is to deal with the failure, got to be able to deal with it and move on past it and not let it bother you,” Collins said. “He has to continue to work and continue to get better.”
Flexen isn’t alone in taking his lumps and learning on the job.
Amed Rosario, the Mets’ top prospect, has shown promise but has also shown that he needs to learn a better approach at the plate and to be more aggressive in the field. Dominic Smith, the Mets’ projected first baseman of the near future, has surprised some with his power and shown he has the skills to be a solid major-league hitter, but he needs to put in some work, too.
Guys like Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Plawecki, Matt Reynolds and Gavin Cecchini have had a little more experience, but still are being thrown into the fire, given every opportunity to prove that they belong here down the stretch.
The final weeks of this dismal season will be ugly to watch for Mets fans and hard for the young players. The Mets’ only hope for the future is that these kids come through it having learned something that will bring them back stronger and better. Sunday, it was another tough lesson for Flexen. He allowed seven runs on nine hits, including two home runs. He walked two and struck out one in four innings. It marked the second straight game that he allowed seven runs and couldn’t get into the fifth inning. The second home run he gave up was to George Springer to lead off the fourth inning, when the Mets sent him out there “to figure it out.” Then he got three straight outs to finish off on whatever positive he could find.
“It’s a difficult learning process,” Flexen said. “It’s challenging, but it’s good, I think the more opportunity they give me.
“It’s definitely hard at times. It’s a tough way to learn. But the more and more I learn, I think that’s going to help further down in my career. It’s absolutely a positive experience under my belt for years to come.”
On days like Sunday, those years ahead in his career can’t come soon enough for Flexen or the Mets.