IT MAKES YA WANT TO HURL

Amazin’ rotation crumbles without Jake since break

SAN FRANCISCO – The Mets’ rotation has been in a free fall of its own ever since the All-Star break, or ever since Jacob deGrom was shut down with elbow inflammation. Mets starters have a 3-12 record and a 5.46 ERA in 31 starts since the All-Star break. It’s the NL’s fifth-worst ERA in that span, and the second-worst among teams that have a .500 record or better.

Rotation arms also haven’t gone deep into their starts, evident by the Mets relief corps logging the second-most innings in MLB in the second half. Starters have recorded just 137 innings, good for 26th in MLB. Comparatively, the Dodgers rotation has produced the deepest outings of the second half, registering 172.1 innings pitched since the All-Star break.

Trade deadline acquisition Rich Hill and long-awaited rotation addition Carlos Carrasco have done little to improve length from Mets starters. Hill has recorded just 21.2 innings, with a 4.98 ERA, in his four starts (five games) with his new club. He’s averaging just 4.1 innings per start, but that should be no surprise to the Mets front office that acquired him. Hill arrived from the Rays frequently being pulled from his outing before facing the order for a third time. While the Mets certainly projected Hill to go deeper than four innings every five days, his workload is not that far off from what to expect from the oldest active pitcher in baseball.

Carrasco has struggled to find any sort of consistency upon returning from a hamstring strain that had him on the injured list until July 30. He has a 10.32 ERA in four starts and just 11.1 innings. The Mets had the intention of ramping Carrasco up through his major-league starts, but that’s been difficult to achieve when the veteran righthander was pulled from each of his last two starts after one and two innings, respectively, due to his lack of command and mechanical issues. Carrasco has surrendered 10 earned runs combined in his last two outings against the Nationals and Dodgers.

The Mets bullpen, another key strength of the first half of the regular season, has been forced to pick up the slack.

“I know it’s been tough. They’ve been working a lot,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said of his relief arms. “We are aware of their usage. Having Trevor Williams in our bullpen gives us a blow, if there’s a chance for them to probably not pitch. Our long guy is going to be the one to give the guys a blow here and there for the upcoming days.”

The problem with that is, the Mets would need a big lead to make Rojas feel comfortable enough to go to a guy like Williams to eat up innings. If you’ve watched the Mets at all this season, you know the offense doesn’t operate in big leads. It’s tight games, come from behind wins, or bust.

As we saw on Sunday, in the Mets’ humiliating 14-4 blowout loss to the Dodgers, Rojas tried to rest his key relievers by turning the ball over to long men like Geoff Hartlieb and Yennsy Diaz, who combined to give us six earned runs in three innings. Rojas had to go to position players Brandon Drury and Kevin Pillar to wrap up the game, further emphasizing how badly the Mets bullpen needed a rest.

As such, the fallout of the Mets rotation is far-reaching. Taijuan Walker is logging more innings than he has in four years. Marcus Stroman has held his own with an excellent 2.79 ERA across 132.1 healthy innings, with an 8-11 record that is indicative of the Mets weak offense. Tylor Megill (1-2, 3.42 ERA) has been a welcome surprise, and soon a necessary addition, to the rotation. And Hill and Carrasco have been disappointments ever since the Mets ace went down with his fifth malady of the season.

DeGrom departed for the injured list on July 15, and the team’s biggest strength of the first half of the regular season left with him. The rotation posted the second-best ERA (2.98) in MLB to enter the break, just behind Los Angeles starters’ 2.94 ERA. Of course, DeGrom’s otherworldly 1.08 ERA in 15 starts and 92 innings had a lot to do with the Mets’ terrific first-half stats. he fallout of the Mets rotation is a part of the current downfall of the club’s third place standing, but it’s not the fatal flaw. It’s just another disappointTment

in a long list of them for these 2021 Mets.