Final Score: Phillies 5, Mets 1

I swear to God I’ve been trying so hard not to blame the Mets injuries this season for all the team’s problems. I’m really trying. I’ve written countless times about how this team has had healthy stretches where the roster just underachieved. I’ve blamed Terry Collins for bad managerial choices, and I’ve blamed Sandy for his roster construction. But the bottom line is we’ve seen what this lineup can do with a hot Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera. We saw it in April and some of May when this team was launching home runs and winning baseball games. And we saw it yesterday when Yo, Neil and Cabrera were the heart of the order for a 12 run outburst.

I went to sleep looking forward to another slugfest on Sunday. When I woke up Yo was scratched with his lingering quad injury and Neil was scratched with his lingering back injury. Then in the second inning Asdrubal Cabrera hurt his hand/arm on a collision with the first baseman. He stayed in the game and promptly re-aggravated his knee injury running to second base. He was pulled out immediately and just like that the heart of the Mets order was dunzo. And that was it. Once Cabrera was out of the game the Mets never had a real chance to score. And of course they didn’t. Those are the three best hitters in the lineup. Jose Reyes is the only one left, and he’s a lock to aggravate some injury before the season is done.

I realize the Mets aren’t the only team with injury problems. The Dodgers are setting DL records, the Marlins lost Giancarlo Stanton, and the Cardinals have a full DL. But the Mets have it the worst. I don’t care what anyone else says. They had three guys starting today from the 2016 Opening Day lineup. Three!!!! I realize the Mets won the series, and I realize all the other Wild Card teams lost today. But this was a winnable game that the Mets would have won if their best players suited up. And that seemingly may never happen for more than a couple games in a row this year.

Caveman and Zombie Robles: Geico Gaveman Robert Gsellman pitched a nice ballgame. He went 6 innings and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits. That may not be a quality start by definition, but if these young guys keep the team in the game we need to find a chance to capitalize and win. Period. And the numbers are deceiving. He gave up a run in the fourth inning, but other than that he was solid until he ran out of gas in the seventh inning. He gave up 3 straight singles in the 7th to load the bases, and Terry yanked him and brought in Hansel Robles. And dead arm zombie Hansel Robles did exactly what you’d expect at this point in the season. He gave up a two run double. Then he intentionally walked Freddy Galvis to set up the force play with the bases loaded only to follow that by hitting the pinch hitter Peter Bourjos with a pitch. That forced in a run to make it 4-1. Then Jerry Blevins came in and gave up a sac fly to make it 5-1. Robles has absolutely nothing left in the tank.

Stinky Hair deGrom: After studying the hair of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Robert Gsellman I’ve come to the following conclusions. Jacob deGrom has the best groomed hair. Clearly he lives in a nice house with a wife who buys awesome hair products and shows him exactly how to clean and maintain the long locks. Thor has naturally gorgeous hair, but it looks like a cheap wig because he clearly doesn’t brush it often. It constantly looks tangled and a little greasy. I doubt he has any conditioner in the bachelor pad that he once shared with Michael Conforto before he was banished to Vegas forever. Robert Gsellman on the other hand is such a 23 year old. His hair is the most disgusting and greasy of the whole lot. I’m pretty sure that dude hasn’t washed his hair in 2 years. It probably smells horrendous. In terms of cleanliness, Gsellman is the Pig-Pen to deGrom’s Charlie Brown.

Terry’s Biggest Sin: Curtis Granderson went hitless again in this game. He’s been awful. He doesn’t deserve to play anymore. Bring Michael Conforto up and stop this madness. Arguably Terry’s greatest sin this season has been giving Grandy 162 games of rope because of his 2015 performance. He doesn’t deserve to play right now, and he’s hurting the club every single game.

Every Team Lost Because They All Suck: The Mets remain 2.5 games behind the Cardinals in the Wild Card because all these teams are injured, flawed, or both. The Cubs will trounce all of them come playoff time.

Tomorrow: Rafael Montero starts against Jose Fernandez tomorrow. Cross your fingers and hope that our three best players Yo, Neil, and Cabrera all magically heal overnight and all the other players somehow avoid postgame injuries.