Amazin' ace needs to pitch like one
DETROIT — He has lost that Cy Young sheen, and really, how much more can these Mets afford to lose?
Noah Syndergaard hasn’t been horrible lately. He didn’t pitch terribly Friday night at Comerica Park in a 4-3 loss to the Tigers. Detroit, with 523 runs scored, owns the seventhbest offense in all of baseball.
Yet when the Mets’ severely compromised offense actually took a fourth-inning lead off Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who is enjoying his best season since 2013, the team could have benefited greatly from Syndergaard channeling his early season self and providing a shutdown inning or three. Instead, the right-hander gave back the advantage before recording an out, and the Mets managed just two baserunners the rest of the way.
“As soon as we took the lead, that was great,” said Syndergaard, who allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings, walking two and striking out seven. “I went out there in that fourth inning just thinking in my head, ‘Don’t give up a lead, don’t give up a lead.’ It’s just like trying to tell someone not to think about a pink elephant. It doesn’t work out like that.
“I dropped the ball on that one mentally. It can’t happen. After all that happens, you’ve got to take a deep breath, go back on the mound and make quality pitches.”
It marked a surprising admission … until you remember Syndergaard doesn’t turn 24 until later this month. These growing pains are particularly painful for a Mets team aiming to win right now and failing to string together two straight victories since July 6-7. At 56-53, they fell two games behind the Cardinals (58-51) in the race for the second National League wild-card spot.
In his first 13 starts of 2016, Syndergaard clocked a 2.00 ERA in 76 2/3 innings, striking out 95 and walking 12. In his last eight starts, he has a 3.59 ERA in 52 2/3 innings, striking out 62 and walking 15.
It might be that the bone spur in Syndergaard’s right elbow is inhibiting the big right-hander. It might be nothing more than a market correction, a regression to the mean. Or maybe, as Syndergaard and Terry Collins said, this is all about the short-term cost of a long-term benefit.
“I feel like this past month has been like a good learning experience,” said Syndergaard, who threw 112 pitches to get through six innings.
“Even though it’s tough, I think it’s good for him,” Collins said. “If you’re going to learn how to pitch at this level, you’ve got to learn how to pitch through tough times. Right now he’s going through tough times. He got ahead of a lot of guys and couldn’t make the pitch to get them out.”
It was Kelly Johnson, previously 0-for-15 lifetime against Verlander, who yanked a curveball over the right-field wall, propelling the Mets ahead, 2-1. Then, with Syndergaard not properly mentally engaged, the Tigers went to work. Miguel Cabrera lined a 1-2 changeup into left field for a single. Victor Martinez crushed a 1-0 change into the right-field stands, catapulting the home team ahead 3-2, and the Tigers added an insurance run that came in handy when the Mets scored a run in the ninth off old pal Francisco Rodriguez.
Hence the Mets’ quest for a run, to climb atop the modest competition for the wild card, hit another snafu with their one All-Star starting pitcher on the mound.
“It’s just been frustrating this past month, because I have the confidence to go out there and I feel like I have the stuff to go out there and dominate,” Syndergaard said. “But something hasn’t been clicking.”
Don’t consider this a search for Mets scapegoats. Rather, the Mets need heroes. And for now, it feels like Syndergaard made his biggest hero deposits back in the spring.