By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer
NEW YORK — There’s no sugarcoating it: The Mets are stoppingworking to satisfy the minute. Again.
Max Scherzer stoppedworking when the Mets required him the themajorityof, both last weekend in Atlanta and Friday versus San Diego. The Mets offense stoppedworking to capitalize early when they had the opportunity versus dominant right-hander Yu Darvish.
The rowdy fans, the postseason-logo-ed field, the jazzy environment — the phase was set in Queens. But this was no playoff-ready group.
The Mets lost to the Padres 7-1 in Game 1 of the Wild-Card Series on Friday at Citi Field.
“The wheels fell off,” Scherzer stated. “I wear’t understand why.”
Scherzer was frustrating for a 2nd successive outing, and in a spectacular scene, he was booed off the mound when he was pulled in the 5th. The veteran and future Hall of Famer — who was provided $43 million per year by the Mets for this extremely minute: to shut down opposing lineups in the playoffs — coughed up 7 made runs throughout simply 4⅔ innings. All 7 runs were a item of the Padres’ clobbering 4 house runs off Scherzer.
Scherzer is now the 2nd pitcher in Major League Baseball history to enable 4 house runs and 7 made runs in any postseason videogame. The other was Cincinnati Reds pitcher Gene Thompson in Game 3 of the 1939 World Series versus the Yankees.
“It was a little bit unexpected,” Mets catcher Tomas Nido stated of Scherzer’s 2nd straight car.
Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado, Josh Bell and Trent Grisham all took Scherzer deep in the series opener. Bell’s two-run shot silenced the Citi Field crowd as early as the veryfirst inning, and the Mets were routing the Padres priorto Darvish tossed his veryfirst pitch. Trailing 2-0 may haveactually been workable for the Amazin’s, however then came the house run Scherzer permitted to San Diego’s No. 8 player, who has a fondness for power. The 94 milesperhour fastball to Grisham was right down the middle, and the Padres outfielder pounced on it for a solo shot to .
Scherzer retired his next 7 successive batters priorto enabling 2 more house runs, consistingof a three-run dinger to Profar, in his 5th and last inning. Combined with his last trip of the routine season — when the Mets lost the 2nd of 3 videogames versus the Braves last weekend — Scherzer has allowed 11 made runs, 6 house runs and 16 strikes over 10⅓ innings.
“I wasn’t able to command that fastball the method I normally can,” Scherzer stated. “That’s my bread and butter to be able to set up whatever else. When my fastball’s flat and then running, that’s typically when I get strike a lot. Obviously, tonight I got struck a lot. Don’t understand why that is.”
When 2 essential videogames were in front of him, Scherzer pitched 2 of his worst trips as a member of the Mets. That’s not at all what Mets basic supervisor Billy Eppler had in mind when he persuaded the group’s billionaire owner, Steve Cohen, to pay $130 million to Scherzer throughout 3 years.
And the most unpleasant part of Friday was that later, Scherzer was as puzzled as everybody enjoying about why he couldn’t carryout his fastball. It spells problem for the Mets — needto they make it to the NLDS versus the Dodgers — duetothefactthat Scherzer’s efficiency has now been missing for 2 directly begins.
The Mets offense was simply as uninspiring Friday. They threatened to attack Darvish early with an aggressive videogame strategy of taking bases. Francisco Lindor was struck by a pitch in the veryfirst inning and immediately took 2nd base. He reached 3rd on a Jeff McNeil single, however Pete Alonso and Daniel Vogelbach couldn’t money him in.
The exactsame thing occurred in the 2nd inning, when Starling Marte led off the frame with a single to . He took 2nd and 3rd, however Darvish retired Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar and Tomas Nido to hair Marte 90 feet from house.
New York went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 6 guys on base. Besides Eduardo Escobar’s solo house run off Darvish in the 5th inning, the Mets had simply 2 extra-base strikes all night.
“I understand our people will come out and present themselves well,” Mets supervisor Buck Showalter stated. “I’ve got a lot of self-confidence in them.”
What started as an chance for a fresh start for a tortured fan base ended with the house crowd darting for the exits by the end of the seventh inning. The DJ the Mets workedwith to post up next to the Shea Bridge in center field didn’t read the space. The Mets were tracking 3-0 when he began playing “We Are The Champions” by Queen. The crowd — enthusiastic however useful fans — reacted with some half-hearted claps, however it was mainly shocked dealswith and silence.
No one was in the stateofmind for the DJ’s tries to choice up the energy. Only the Mets might do that.
“We’ve been actually excellent, and now we get to see what we’re made of,” initially baseman Pete Alonso stated. “I’m delighted for tomorrow. I’m thrilled to get to the ballpark and play a ballgame. This is enjoyable. It’s not terrific losing — it’s neverever enjoyable losing, specifically the veryfirst videogame of a playoff series like this one. But this is enjoyable baseball. I’m actually delighted to go tomorrow.”
The day priorto his veryfirst playoff start for this group, Scherzer spoke about his mindset heading into his trip. He was excited to get out there, and he comprehended that whatever was on the line. This is the playoffs, he stated. This is no time to mess around. It’s win or go house.
Well, simply like that, the 101-win Mets are less than 24 hours away from flaming out and playing what might be their last videogame of the year. On Saturday, Southpaw Blake Snell will be on the hill for the Padres.
The Mets stated they would wait upuntil the result of Game 1 to reveal their Game 2 starter, recommending that Jacob deGrom would take the mound if the Mets lost. He has pitched in an removal videogame priorto — 7 years ago, to be precise. In the 2015 NLDS Game 5 versus the Dodgers, deGrom provided up 2 runs and struck out 7 throughout 6 innings. The Mets would take that Saturday, when it’ll be on deGrom to shot to conserve his group’s season.
“That’s what we love doing: contending and going out there in huge scenarios,” deGrom stated. “You shot to leave it all out on the field. You appearance at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and understand you provided 100 percent. That’s all you can do. But I’ve been in an removal videogame priorto and was able to fight through that one. Got to go out there and simply attempt to perform.”
Deesha Thosar is an MLB author for FOX Sports. She formerly covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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