The storyline of the New York Mets giving the best pitcher in baseball very little support has gone far beyond comic relief and instead a “this is just depressing” area. It happened almost again on Saturday afternoon in Colorado against the Rockies, but a seventh inning saved the first half of their double header (NYM 4, COL 3). Maybe things will turn around now? Let’s see how it unfolded.
Jacob deGrom does his thing. You know, where he just goes out and completely dominates his opponent. It’s just about every outing at this point. This time, deGrom hit nine straight hits, tied with the second longest streak in history, and one of Tom Seaver’s records.
Here is deGrom’s company with nine straight K’s:
Of course, for those of us who got used to the Mets screwing up so many jewels from deGrom, the Mets who only led 1-0 were a little worrying. We all sat there waiting for the proverbial other shoe to sag. And then it happened. A foundation put an end to the elimination series and a throw-in error by Jeff McNeil enabled a frontrunner to start the fifth innings.
Then, yes, deGrom hit hard on a Dom Nunez RBI triple, but look at this misplay by right-hander Michael Conforto making a doubles in a triple:
The run scored was therefore on the base by an error and the runner in third place was there due to a weak defense. The next batter hit a pocket fly. These are two runs that were not deGrom’s fault. Then deGrom made a mistake by allowing a solo homer with two outs. That one was on him.
Yet all three runs in the innings were undeserved. Through six innings, the Mets could only offer two runs in support of deGrom in the infamous stroke-friendly Coors Field against one of the worst teams in baseball.
deGrom’s final line: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K
He now has a 0.45 era, and the Mets were almost 0-3 in his start, which again was a pretty depressing trend. In 2020, they found a way to start 8-4 in deGrom’s start. A big part of that, of course, was his 2.38 ERA. That season seems to be the outlier here. In 2019, the Mets were 14-18, while deGrom posted a 2.43 ERA. In 2018, the Mets went 14-18 at the start of deGrom, posting a 1.70 ERA.
The most confusing thing here was that the Mets were actually – before the bedspread – 5-1 when deGrom did not start in 2021. This whole picture made absolutely no sense and it was ridiculously out of control. We witnessed an amazingly long period of time, and the Mets were on the verge of being just 36-43 while deGrom did.
Saturday, however, was different. deGrom would have taken second place in first place from seventh place. After a James McCann single, he was lifted for Jonathan Villar, and the Mets came through deGrom. Villar doubled to level the game, and after a single from Brandon Nimmo in the field, Francisco Lindor took the lead. Edwin Diaz closed the door in the bottom half. The Mets won a game that Jacob deGrom started. He even achieved the victory.
The Mets are now 1-2 at the start of deGrom. He is 1-1 with a 0.45 ERA and 0.67 WHIP. It should be 3-0, but hey, you need to start somewhere. Perhaps the Mets’ late return to Coors will shake the baseball gods in shape regarding deGrom’s support.