Final Score: Giants 3, Mets 0

The Mets lost the NL Wild Card game last night to MadBum and the Giants. The season is over. Pray for the Metssiah. The game itself was a true nail-biter and basically the Mets’ worst nightmare. MadBum pitched a complete game shutout, and once again reminded the baseball world why he is the postseason GOAT. He kept the Mets off-balance all night and his dominance was really the only storyline that mattered in the end. 

First Time Through: The first time through the order the Mets were extra aggressive against Bumgarner. I suppose they figured they’d see hittable pitches early in the at-bat before MadBum was able to get ahead in the count. The plan backfired, and Bumgarner had an incredibly low pitch count after three innings. 

Loney Stinks: The Mets started James Loney in this game and made their typical claim that he’s a better defender than Duda. He isn’t. He stinks. He can’t hit either. Rene Rivera led off the third inning with a single, and then James Loney hit into a double play on the first pitch of his at-bat. Pathetic.

Umps Stink: In the fourth inning, Thor issued a leadoff walk to Denard Span. As expected, the Giants were running on Thor. Span immediately stole second base, but he was called out on the field for some reason. On replay it was clear that Span was safe, but the umps reviewed and upheld the out call (wrong call) on the field. It was a gift blown call for the Mets. The umps sucked all game. The home plate dude had an inconsistent strike zone. Bumgarner was barking at him non-stop. Hopefully Rob Manfred rolls out robot umps in the offseason. I’m sick of these mooks. 

Squandered Chance: In the fifth inning T.J. Rivera doubled. Then Jay Bruce came up with a runner in scoring position and struck out. He not only failed to come through with a hit, but he also failed to advance the runner. Awful. Then Rene Rivera hit a ball to shortstop and T.J. Rivera was caught off second base. Rene managed to get to second base while T.J. was in a rundown but it was awful base running by T.J.

Late Battling: Span singled and stole another base in the 6th inning (that time it counted). But Thor was able to escape the inning thanks to an unreal two out Grandy catch in center field. In the 7th inning with two outs, Thor walked Brandon Crawford. Then Loney made an awful effort on an Angel Pagan infield ground ball that led to a single. But with runners on first and second base Noah Syndergaard buckled down and retired Panik to end the inning. 

Thor: Noah was really dominant in this game. He pitched 7 scoreless innings, gave up 2 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 10. Against almost any other pitcher this game is going down as a legendary Syndergaard start. Unfortunately MadBum outdueled him, plain and simple. 

Familia/Reed Dead Arms: I’ve raved on and on for months now about how Terry has killed his best relievers by overusing them. The fatigue of Reed/Familia showed a bit in late September, and it showed last night. Addison Reed gave up a leadoff single and struggled in the 8th inning with walks and passed balls. He ultimately intentionally walked Buster Posey to load the bases with two outs for Hunter Pence. By some miracle Reed was able to strike out Pence and escape that jam.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Ty Kelly singled but Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera failed to come through with a big hit. Then Jeurys Familia had nothing in the 9th inning. He gave up a three-run shot to Mr. Nobody Conor Gillaspie. It started with a leadoff double by Brandon Crawford. Angel Pagan followed that by failing to get a bunt down, and he struck out on a foul tip. Then Familia walked Joe Panik. Honestly the Mets should have considered walking Gillaspie to load the bases. At least it would have forced the Giants to pull Madison Bumgarner from the game. Maybe it wouldn’t have. In the end Gillaspie hit the three-run shot and that was that. The ump blew some close strike zone calls for Familia. The umps sucked. Waddya gonna do?

Final Game Thoughts: 

• Thank God for Thor. He gave the Mets every chance to win. Not only in this game but all season long. 
• Yoenis Cespedes was ice cold at the end of the season, and in this game. Without Yo we don’t go, but this you already know. I’m sure the Mets will use Yo’s cold ending combined with the fact that he didn’t talk to the media after the game as an excuse to let him walk. Pray that doesn’t happen. Sign Yo. 
• The Wild Card is a joke crapshoot ratings ploy by Major League Baseball, and I hate them for it. 
• It wasn’t the year for this Mets team because ultimately there were too many key injuries. I’m happy they rallied and at least made the playoffs, but in the end the season was a failure. Year two of “the window” has officially been flushed down the toilet. 
• The Mets ran into the MadBum buzz saw. They weren’t the first team to suffer that fate and won’t be the last. 

The Metssiah Will Rise Again: I’m taking a break for a few days to grieve for the lost season. Pray for me. But I assure you, The Metssiah will rise again with expanded end of season thoughts before fully converting to offseason mode. There are also some big announcements coming for the site and for The Metssiah personally. Stay tuned. Let’s Go Mets!