JUNE DOOM
Winning remains elusive as frustration builds for Jacob deGrom and NL-worst Mets
MIAMI — The visitors’ clubhouse at Marlins Park was quiet Saturday evening. No yelling or screaming. There were no tables overturned or even chairs displaced from in front of the lockers. After the Mets lost their second straight game to the Marlins to officially become the worst team in the National League, there was just a quiet frustration.
“I’m tired of losing, to be honest,” Mets ace Jacob deGrom said. “Everybody else in here I’m sure is. That’s not what we want to do.”
“We came here to win baseball games and we’re not doing that,” deGrom continued. “We have to find a way to do that.”
One game shy of the halfway point in the season, the Mets have not figured that out yet and you can see it is taking its toll. Those comments are about as harsh as deGrom has made in four years in the big leagues and he has every reason to be frustrated.
DeGrom allowed just three runs over six innings Saturday and the Mets fell to the Marlins, 5-2, as the team continues it’s free fall.
The Mets (32-48) have lost three straight and have the worst winning percentage (.400) in the National League. They are now tied with the Marlins (34-50), a team unabashedly rebuilding, at 13.5 games back in the National League East.
They are 521 in June, the worst record in that month in franchise history.
Despite the embarrassing milestones Saturday, first-year Mets manager Mickey Callaway felt no sense of urgency to shake things up.
“We just have to keep on having daily conversations and try to right the ship,” Callaway said. “It’s difficult right now. I know the players are feeling it right now. I know the fans are feeling it. We’re going to continue to do everything we can as a staff, the organization, the players, to try to get to a better spot than we are, because this isn’t acceptable to anybody.”
Callaway has been emphatic that losing his cool or criticizing his players publicly is not going to help the situation. Saturday, he said that behind the scenes, the coaching staff is working hard to turn things around.
“No, no, I don’t think that’ll do anything. We approach the way they play or the mistakes or the things they do good every single day. You guys just don’t see it,” Callaway said. “We’re out there working with them trying to get them better, we’re talking to them about this or that. That’s the way to approach it in my mind.”
But almost halfway through the season, the Mets had their third worst month in franchise history, are a seasonworst 16 games below .500
and have the fewest wins in the National League.
Even with their ace on the mound, like Saturday, they struggle. The Mets are just 6-11 when deGrom starts, despite the fact he is putting up Cy Young-worthy numbers this season.
Even Saturday, when deGrom ran out of gas in the sixth inning, he still gave them a chance to win.
DeGrom gave up a two-run home run to Brian Anderson and then issued a two-out walk to Justin Bour and a single to Starlin Castro. With runners on the corners, Wilmer Flores waited for J.T.
Riddle’s swinging bunt up the first-base line to go foul, allowing the runner to score and riddle to speed past him to safely reach first.
Just add that to the many ways the Mets have found to lose games this season. They seem particularly adept at losing games started by deGrom, who went into Saturday’s game with the best ERA in the big leagues and just five wins.
Degrom, who had to push back his regularly-scheduled start to deal with a family issue Friday night, said it was nothing that carried over to his start on Saturday. He apologized to Callaway and pitching coach Dave Eiland because he felt like he didn’t have anything left.
He also took the blame for the loss.
“I kind of stay the same way. Nobody in here likes losing as I’ve said before. Tonight is on me, I got to field that bunt and we got a tied game. Left a pitch up and couple of mistakes,” deGrom said. “It’s not fun. That was not the goal when we came in. The goal was to have the best winning percentage. This is the complete opposite.
“Nobody happy with that.”