Rotation far from Amazin’
MILWAUKEE — The Force is not with Terry Collins and the Mets. The starting pitching is the worst in the majors. An Amazin’ disappointment. The Mets’ arms used to be blasters. Now, they are throwing batting practice, if they can manage to get the ball over the plate.
One night after Matt Harvey turned to dust on the mound, Robert Gsellman was horrific, surrendering six runs in only four innings as the Mets were pummeled by the Brewers, 11-4, Saturday night at Miller Park on Star Wars Night.
The starters came into the night owning a 5.00 ERA. Only one other team was higher, the Reds at 5.10. And it got worse as Gsellman surrendered six runs, five earned, over those four innings to move the starters’ ERA to 5.14, the worst in the game.
“It’s shocking to me, shocking,” Collins said of the Mets’ starting pitching collapse. “We’re having a tough time getting to the fifth inning … we should be pitching better than we are. We haven’t had a starting pitcher get us the [22nd] out yet. That’s an unbelievable stat on this pitching staff.
“It just tells you that for some reason we are really scuffling,’’ Collins added. “My conversation with [pitching coach] Dan [Warthen] is they probably put too much pressure on themselves instead of just pitching. They know a lot is expected. Therefore, they heaped all that self pressure on themselves, that we are supposed to be able to do this. You just have to go relax and pitch your games.”
Warthen told The Post he believes the starters “are trying too hard” and as a result have lost their command.
The time for excusemaking is over. The starters need to do their job.
They were handled with kid gloves throughout spring training, and that has blown up in the Mets’ faces.
As for having the highest rotation ERA, Collins said if he were told that before the season, “I would not believe that, not for a second. Not with the rotation we came out of spring training with, I would not have believed it.” But it is reality. Things got so ugly after the Brewers put up an eight-spot in the fifth, Jose Reyes went to center field, his first game in the outfield after 1,534 games as an infielder.
The Mets are going to need all the speed they can get to cover ground. Gsellman is 2-3 with a bloated 7.07 ERA, 9.22 on the road. Steven Matz and Seth Lugo need to return as quickly as possible.
Sure, injuries have hurt, but even with all the injury issues, the starters have been one giant flop.
When the Mets needed Harvey the most in the sixth inning Friday night to carve his way through the bottom of the order, the right-hander once known as the Dark Knight could not retire a batter as he surrendered back-to-back home runs that inning to Eric Sogard, who was just called up Friday, and Orlando Arcia.
What once was the strength of the Mets — remember all the hype — now is a terrible weakness.
Collins has made his share of mistakes this season, but if the starting pitching were better, the Mets would not be in the mess they are in at 16-19, teetering on the edge of disaster this road trip that goes on to Arizona.
The Mets are working with Harvey on trying to regain his command by attempting to smooth out his delivery that has been hampered by two major surgeries.
Until the Mets starting pitching gets better they will struggle. Harvey is 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA.
The Mets have lost three straight, including a 6-5 loss to the Giants on Wednesday, Jeurys Familia’s last outing before undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot in his right arm. He is likely out for the season.
Losing Syndergaard was a killer but the rest of the starting staff has to step up. Once again the Mets have shown you can never have enough starting pitching.
And if you don’t command your pitches you are doomed. The Death Star is just around the corner.