Brewers 8 Mets 4 (American Family Field, Milwaukee, WI)
Mets record: 87-71
Mets streak: Lost 2
WP - Joe Ross (3-6)
LP - Sean Manaea (12-6)
SV - Trevor Megill (21)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
I wanted to give home plate ump Ramon de Jesus the seat because I have questions for him. I'm sure Ralph would have some too. But we didn't have a graphic. And I doubt that Major League Baseball would have made umpires available for Ralph in the 80's. So Rhys Hoskins it is, as his grand slam in the first inning set the wheels in motion for an ugly loss in Milwaukee with four more games to go.
Need to Know
Combined with the Braves win over Kansas City, the Mets are now tied with the Braves for the final wild card spot.
Sean Manaea had his worst start since August 10th in Seattle, lasting just 3 and 2/3's innings giving up six runs (five earned) on 7 hits and two walks while only striking out one batter.
Rhys Hoskins' grand slam in the first was his fifth career, his third this season, and the Brewers' 10th of the year.
Jose Iglesias' single in the 2nd inning extended his hitting streak to 18 games, which is a career high.
The Carlos Mendoza ejection was his second ejection of the season.
Francisco Alvarez came out of the game in the 7th after his back locked up on a simple slide going from second to third on a ground ball.
The Mets are 1-11 in their last 12 games against the Brewers.
Francisco Lindor returned to the starting lineup for the first time since September 15th. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and made an error in the field. Lindor didn't take ground balls before the game and had said that his back issue wasn't going to fully go away for the rest of the season.
Turning Point
THe Mets were down 5-0 after the Hoskins grand slam and an unearned run in the second. But Mark Vientos got two back for the Mets with a home run, and then got Francisco Alvarez up as the tying run in the 4th when he battled Frankie Montas during a long at-bat with two outs.
This might have been the turning point win or lose. If the Mets had come back after this monstrosity, then I would have crafted a narrative that the Mets "played angry" or some nonsense.
But they lost, and this is still an easy call. First off, the pitch was clearly low. Second, if Ramon de Jesus got fooled by the frame somehow, then he shouldn't have a job. Contreras moved his glove up a foot and a half, almost comically.
Third, it's September. Emotions are high. The Mets are in a playoff race. And Mendoza got zero leeway from de Jesus. Keith Hernandez was saying for two full innings that de Jesus had a short fuse since he had a very aggressive conversation with Lindor at the plate.
I thought Keith was overplaying that aspect a bit at the time, but I was wrong. He was spot on.
Three Keys
Sad Manaea Day
I don't know if it was the extra day rest that did him in, but Manaea was off from jump. With one on and two outs, he walked William Contreras and Willy Adames to bring Hoksins to the plate with the sacks full and two outs. He was throwing sweepers that started way outside to those righty hitters and then curving around to only reach the outside edge.
By the time Hoskins hit the slam, Manaea was already in for 32 pitches, so you knew it would be a short night for him. And Keith noticed that he might have been shaking his arm more than usual. Maybe he's hurt? Maybe he has a dead arm? Or maybe he was just trying to wake his arm up after the extra day's rest. But at some point during his start, Ron Darling noted that watching Manaea tonight was like watching him pitch in May.
Tonight wasn't the night for May rearing its ugly head again.
From Bad To Worse
One of the low points in my life was being at my chiropractor's office, lying prone on the ground unable to move. My pain had gotten so bad, I had surgery about four weeks after that day.
Not to suggest that Francisco Alvarez's injury is anywhere close to as serious as what I was feeling. Chances are, it's not. But seeing Alvarez prone on the ground in that very moment brought me back to the day where I was in the chiropractor's office, unable to move. As you can imagine, that's not a good thing.
Of more immediate concern to the Mets, if Alvarez can't go tomorrow, they'll need to find a back-up catcher from somewhere, and options are limited. Back problems for two of their most important players is a horrible development in the final weekend of the season.
One Final Gasp
The Mets scrambled for some hope in the 8th. With one out, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso singled, and Jose Iglesias was hit in the ankle by a pitch to load the bases. Harrison Bader then hit a fly ball to left field that was threatening to put a huge dent in the Brewers' 7-2 lead.
Instead, it was merely a spectacular sacrifice fly to make it 7-3. Considering that the next batter reached when Brice Turang dropped an easy fly ball to make it 7-4, that Chourio catch was monstrous. After the Turang error, the Brewers brought in Trevor Megill to face Luis Torrens, who was in for Alvarez. Torrens skied the first pitch to right to end the inning. Follow that with a home run by Gary Sanchez to make it 8-4, and the last bit of hope was fumbled into the sewer.
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