The Mets traveled to Miami to take on the Marlins for a three-game weekend series. The goal was to right the ship after losing 3 of 4 to the Philadelphia Phillies. After this series against the last-place Marlins, though it’s only May and it seems that the 2024 Mets season is on the precipice and about to fall into irrelevance.
The Marlins won the series by taking the first two games, with the Mets salvaging the last game of the series. The Mets now stand at 21-25, 12 games behind the first-place Phillies. While they are only 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot, they do not currently pass the visual test to look like a playoff team.
It is not just that Miami won the series, it’s also how they won the series. More importantly, it’s about how the Mets lost the series. As normal in these articles, we’ll take a look at each game’s rundowns and then move to Krom’s Korner. This week we’re focused on Edwin Díaz, who finds himself front and center with the team’s recent misfortunes.
Game 1: Marlins 8, Mets 0
Entering this game at 13-32, the Marlins stepped up big time to deliver a statement win against Mets, shutting them out 8-0. Ironically, that was the third straight shutout victory for Miami following 1-0 and 2-0 victories over the Detroit Tigers. The Mets entered the game following an extra inning victory over Philadelphia that included a Diaz blown save.
Offensively, it was a no-show for the Mets as they could not put much together against Marlins opening day starter Jesus Lazardo. J.D. Martinez was the only member of the lineup to deliver a multi-hit game, going 2 for 3. Lazardo certainly was “on” during this contest, going 6 strong innings of 5-hit, shutout ball. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out 7 across an efficient 89-pitch performance. Anthony Bender, Burch Smith, and Anthony Maldonado contributed an inning each to complete the shutout and surrendered only 1 hit and 1 walk across those 3 innings.
It is hard to remember that Christian Scott has only made 3 starts in his MLB career, including this one. In his home state of Florida, this start was by far his toughest. After giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk in 4 innings, his ERA increased substantially to 4.32. Scott’s record is 0-2 with a WHIP of 1.32. He has seemed calm, cool, and collected so far. It will be important to see how he comes back from this start which is scheduled to be Friday 5/24 at Citi Field against the San Francisco Giants.
Game 2: Marlins 10, Mets 9 (10 Innings)
The Mets led in this game, 7-2 at one point and 9-5 in the ninth inning. They go on to lose by a score of 10-9 in extra innings.
For the Mets, the bullpen has been a strength so far this year. On this day, Diaz was not up to the task. He blew the 9-5 lead in the bottom of the 9th, with the Marlins tying the game 9-9 to force extras. With the wind out of their sails, the Mets went 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th before an Otto Lopez RBI single ended it in the bottom of the 10th to give the Marlins the win.
Starting this game for the Mets, Luis Severino did not have as great of a start as one would expect against the Marlins. His final stat line for the game was 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks, with 3 strikeouts across 95 pitches in 6.2 innings. One of the runs occurred after he left the game, replaced by early season sensation Reed Garrett who gave up two straight hits in the bottom of the 7th before retiring the side with the Mets holding on to a 7-5 lead.
In the bottom of the 9th, Diaz was replaced by Jake Diekman after giving up 4 runs to tie the game at 9-9 while only recording one out. This was not an official blown save, since he entered with a four-run lead, but is not a good sign for Diaz after blowing his last two save opportunities and 3 of his last 4.
Putting up 9 runs against this Marlins team (who had 3 straight shutout wins entering this matchup) was impressive and should have been enough to win. The offense was paced by Starling Marte’s 3 for 4 day at the plate with an RBI. J.D. Martinez, Harrison Bader, and Jeff McNeil each contributed 2 RBI’s for the Mets.
This loss took the Mets to 5 games under .500 for the first time since they started the season 0-5.
Game 3: Mets 7, Marlins 3
The series finale was taken by the Mets, led by the de facto stopper, Sean Manaea. Manaea went 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 4. His record stands at 3-1 with an ERA of 3.11 on the season. As has become commonplace for Mets starters, he was not overly efficient though, needing 95 pitches to get through the 5 innings.
The bullpen, excluding Edwin Diaz, continues to perform fairly well. Sean Reid-Foley replaced Manaea and threw a scoreless sixth inning, and Jake Diekman came on for the seventh and gave up a solo home run to Christian Bethancourt to bring the margin to a 4-3 Mets lead. Reed Garrett came on for the eight inning and went the final two frames. His dream season continues, as he gave up only one hit in the two shutout innings where he struck out 4, lowering his ERA on the season to 0.72.
Manager Carlos Mendoza has shuffled the lineup a bit. Regardless of the virus that is going around the locker room, one such change was moving Francisco Lindor up to the leadoff spot for the second game in a row. He went 2 for 4 and scored 2 runs, raising his average to .197. Brandon Nimmo was the DH, with J.D. Martinez missing the game due to the illness going around the team, and added an insurance 2-run home run in the ninth inning. Tyrone Taylor also played well, starting the scoring off with a 2-run double in the top of the first inning. He went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI’s on the day.
Krom’s Korner
Over the past few weeks, Edwin Díaz has morphed from All-World Closer to a guy who can’t close, right before our very eyes. It is important to remember that Diaz is coming off a serious knee injury that cost him all of 2023 after getting hurt celebrating at the World Baseball Classic. So, it takes time to get back into the Hall of Fame-type stratosphere where Diaz found himself. However, Diaz started the season extremely strong as he picked up 4 saves without much issue and stands at 5 on the year. His issues at this point might be between his ears instead of physical.
When things go well, it can easily build momentum and turn very well. Alternatively, when it’s bad it can quickly get very bad. Here are a few quotes that help reinforce the mental aspect:
The NCAA tournament and other sporting events frequently feature “upsets.” For instance, 32 Number 13 seeds have beaten #4 seeds in March Madness. Sometimes, “Ya Gotta Believe!”.
In 2024, the first blown save by Diaz occurred on May 5th in Tampa against the Rays. Since then he’s converted a save opportunity against the Cardinals, won a game against the Braves, and then has most recently blown three straight opportunities (2 of which were save chances).
In my Al Bundy rant for the day, my athletic playing day exploits only went through high school but I can still recall that when I “knew” I would get a hit or block a shot, more times than not that’s exactly what happened.
John Smoltz famously worked with a sports psychologist in his career, which helped him think through his pitching techniques and worked well. Not saying Diaz needs that at this point, but let’s hope he’s able to get his mind right and back on the path to dominance.
For his part, Diaz is a great teammate and says all the right things. He has even offered to move from the closer spot if it helps the team. Given he is in the midst of a 5-year, $102 million contract, his contributions will obviously be better from the Closer spot.
Upcoming: Trip to Cleveland to Take on the Guardians
After the series against the Marlins, the Mets finish their road trip in Cleveland against the Guardians. The Guardians enter play in first place in the AL Central with a record of 30-17. They’re fresh off a series sweep against the division rival Minnesota Twins, with Sunday’s series finale won by a Will Brennan walk-off 3-run home run.
Game 1 of the series is currently intended to showcase the return of Tyrone Taylor. Megill’s season has been stalled by a shoulder strain. He only has one start so far this year, against the Milwaukee Brewers. His record is 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA.
Game 2’s scheduled starter is Adrian Houser. This is in the “Let’s try this again” category, as he was scheduled to make a start against the Phillies but did not because he warmed up in the bullpen the day before to potentially enter the game. Houser is 0-3 with a 7.44 ERA.
Game 3 will likely see Jose Quintana take the hill for the Mets in the series finale. Manaea has had an up and down (but mostly down) year as most Mets have, and his records stands at 1-4 with a 5.21 ERA.
Written by: Jason Krom
Stats by espn.com
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