IT’S ALL BUT OVER NOAH GETS HIS WAY
LOSS TO ROCKIES DROP AMAZIN’S 5 OUT WITH 12 TO PLAY METS GIVE IN, WILL GIVE SYNDERGAARD CATCHER OF HIS CHOICE
DENVER — The Fat Lady is clearing her throat, preparing to sing a rendition of “Meet the Mets.”
They are not mathematically eliminated, but the Mets have clearly entered a realm in which a miracle will be necessary to secure the National League’s second wild-card berth.
On a night the two teams directly ahead of them won, the Mets took their act 5,280 feet above sea level and fainted, losing 9-4 to the Rockies at Coors Field.
The Mets lost for the third time in four games and fell five games behind the Cubs in the wild-card race with 12 remaining. Tailing the Cubs is the Brewers, who remain one game behind and might have the easiest schedule of the bunch, without a single game against an opponent with a winning record.
Math does not favor the Mets. If the Cubs finish 6-6, the Mets would need an 11-1 spurt to catch them, and that is provided the Brewers don’t move into the driver’s seat with their easier schedule. The Mets’ elimination number — better known as their tragic number — is eight.
“We can’t worry about what it feels like,” manager Mickey Callaway said, when asked if it felt like the season was slipping away. “We have to take the same approach we have taken all season and focus on the next game.”
With two or three fewer bullpen letdowns the Mets would have been sitting in a strong position heading into this final road trip, but Robinson Cano wasn’t thinking in those terms.
“There is no frustration,” Cano said before the game. “We have to be happy how far we came so far. Those situations, there is stuff you can think about and take it for next year. We’re humans here. We’re never going to be successful all the time, this stuff is going to happen.”
Steven Matz got pummeled on this night, allowing six runs in the fourth inning, and the Mets never recovered. It followed a ninth-inning loss to the Dodgers on Sunday night, after the team’s two most-trusted relievers, Justin Wilson and Seth Lugo, each surrendered a run.
Matz was removed after four innings in which he surrendered seven earned runs on six hits with two walks. The left-hander rolled into the fourth with a 4-1 lead and got two outs in the inning with two runners on base, but an avalanche ensued.
Garrett Hampson blooped an RBI single to right that sliced the Mets’ lead to two runs. After Drew Butera
walked to load the bases, pitcher Antonio Senzatela stroked his first hit of the season, a two-run single that sliced the Rockies’ deficit to 4-3. And then came the knockout punch to Matz: a three-run homer by Trevor Story that extended Colorado’s lead to 7-4.
“It just comes down to the pitcher,” Callaway said, referring to Senzatela, who was 0-for-44 at the plate since last September. “Then we give up a hit. Matzy was cruising. I was really impressed with the way his breaking ball was performing in this atmosphere and it looked like he was going to have a really good day today and the pitcher comes up and gets a big hit.”
It was just the latest difficult road outing for Matz, who had a 6.08 ERA in his previous 14 appearances away from Citi Field. At home, Matz has pitched to a 1.94 ERA.
“I feel the same going into every start,” Matz said. “I’m not really sure why [the road struggles]. I know what I have to do to get guys out and sometimes I don’t do that, and it happens to be on the road sometimes.”
Amed Rosario’s RBI double in the fourth had given the Mets a 4-1 lead. Pete Alonso singled to snap an 0for-21 drought — his longest career skid — to begin the rally.
Jeff McNeil smashed a two-run homer in the third to snap a 1-1 tie. Tomas Nido singled leading off the inning and McNeil unloaded with two outs for his 21st homer of the season.
Ian Desmond’s two-out homer in the second gave the Rockies their first run. Matz had gone his previous two starts without allowing a blast before Desmond and Story homered Monday.
In his homecoming of sorts, Brandon Nimmo (he hails from 90 minutes away in Cheyenne, Wyo.) smashed his fourth career leadoff homer, a shot that just cleared the left-field fence.
DENVER — Robert Gsellman is “very” optimistic he can pitch again for the Mets this season, based on a recent progression in throwing.
The right-hander threw about 10 pitches in a bullpen session before the Mets opened a series against the Rockies on Monday and is prepared to repeat the process this week. Gsellman indicated if he passes that test he could see action in a simulated game by the weekend.
Would Gsellman’s potential return hinge upon whether the Mets are still alive in the NL wild-card race?
“We haven’t talked about that yet, but we probably will at some point,” Gsellman said.
Manager Mickey Callaway indicated it’s probably not too late for Gsellman, who has been on the injured list since since Aug. 14 with a partially torn lat.
“I think anything is possible,” Callaway said. “It depends on how you want to use him.”
➤ Callaway shuffled the lineup against the Rockies to get four left-handers — Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto and Robinson Cano
— at the top. Pete Alonso was dropped to fifth for the first time this season, but Callaway said that switch was more about stacking the left-handers than the fact Alonso entered in an 0-for-20, the longest slump of his career. Left-handers were batting .349 against Rockies starting pitcher Anto
nio Senzatela, prompting the lineup change.
➤ Dominic Smith, who is recovering from a stress fracture in his left foot, traveled to Port St. Lucie to increase his baseball activities, according to Callaway. Smith, who has been sidelined since late July, is not eligible for removal from the 60-day IL until Sept. 25. At that time he will have to receive a scan on the foot before he is cleared to resume. Smith will likely begin taking batting practice in Port St. Lucie, according to Callaway.
➤ J.D. Davis crashed into the left-field fence in the eighth inning but remained in the game, saying he got the wind knocked out of him. Among those to check on Davis was Alonso, who jogged out from first base. Alonso said he had to check on the “Sun Bear” — evidently the complement to Alonso, who carries the “Polar Bear” nickname.