Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
On the mound for the New York Mets on Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs was Matt Harvey. He did everything that was asked of him: seven innings, no runs, nine strikeouts. He departed with a no-decision, and the Mets with a loss.
The Mets gave Harvey a lead in the sixth when Michael Cuddyer drove in Curtis Granderson on a ground out, but that would be all the Mets would manage. A run in each of the eighth and ninth innings by the Cubs would be enough to take the victory, 2-1.
Despite the six hits the Mets mustered, they never really had any great scoring chances after the first inning when they loaded the bases with one out, but a fly out and strikeout ended their hopes. And while they struck out six times — neither a very high nor a very low total — when they did make contact they didn’t drive the ball. Albeit a strong wind in at Wrigley Field is often difficult to overcome.
Nonetheless, the team that won 11 straight games, and consistently came up in the clutch is long gone. The Mets of the past two weeks resemble the teams in recent years past that were among the worst offensive teams in baseball. But that’s what happens when a team adds only one everyday player to the lineup. Nothing against Cuddyer, but he’s far from a game-changing player. And with David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud missing time, the Mets are really left without two of their best hitters. Lucas Duda has the potential to carry a team but he hasn’t found his power this season.
Games like this — with Harvey on the mound, posting seven shutout innings — are the ones the Mets should be winning. It’s a tough blow when a team can’t close out a win like this.
For their eighth time in 10 games, the Mets failed to score more than three runs. With a pitching staff as good as the Mets’, three runs might not win every game but it will almost always give them a chance. Tonight, three runs may have been enough.
With each game, it’s becoming more and more apparent how much the Mets miss Wright and d’Arnaud. However, neither of them are even playing baseball yet so the rest of the Mets will be on their own for a little while longer. The starting pitchers were always the strength of this team, so if the hitters can only turn it on (even a little bit) this team might be able to hang around a little longer.
Matt Turner is a New York Mets Writer for www.RantSports.com. “Like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @MTurnerNY, or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google.
