Mets get tangled up in Dodger blue with more offensive ineptitude

When you have a tough day, the hope is that you wake up the next morning in a better mood. Yet after watching two tough losses, it’s going to take me more than one night to fully recover. If Pascal Siakam scored 29 points, you’d say, “Wow, he had a really good game.” So why on earth is he scoring 39 points on the road in the playoffs? If your relievers post three straight scoreless innings with the zombie runner on second base, how bad are the planets aligned against you when your team goes four straight innings with the zombie and not score a run?

The goal with 360 is not to be needlessly negative. But two choices are staring me in the face right now. One of them is to be negative and the other is not to write at all. You can be the judge that if what follows is needless or not.

Francisco Lindor – A .509 OPS in his last nine games
Juan Soto – a .419 OPS in his last 51 PA
Pete Alonso – In his last 65 PA, he has 4 BB and 25 Ks. And a .403 OPS
Brandon Nimmo – Currently riding an 0-16 stretch. Plus, he left last night with a stiff neck
Mark Vientos – Has a .440 OPS in his last eight games and is battling abdominal soreness
Francisco Alvarez – Over the last eight games has a .327 OPS
Luisangel Acuna – His .466 OPS over his last 57 PA has put him under the Galvis Line with a season-long 78 OPS+ - despite a .323 BABIP

You know things are bleak when Starling Marte bunting and scoring on a sacrifice fly despite being tagged out at the plate counts as one of the bright spots.

Of the seven players listed above – how many do you think will turn it around? We have first-hand knowledge of Lindor rebounding from a poor stretch. You’d think that Soto’s track record will win out in the end but will it take until 2026 for that to happen? We can no longer shake off Alonso’s strikeouts due to a few tough calls going against him. It feels like Nimmo got old overnight. Vientos is in jeopardy of becoming a bench player. Ditto with Alvarez. People want so much for Acuna to be a star that they don’t recognize he’s not even a good utility player right now. Hopefully in another week he gets replaced on the MLB roster by Ronny Mauricio.

Friday night should have been an uplifting game. The story should have been how the Mets rallied from being three runs down in the bottom of the ninth against the Dodgers to win. It would have been great if it happened in the ninth. Or 10^th or 11^th or 12^th or 13^th, too. Instead, we got a bologna and liverwurst sandwich with extra onions. We’re left with something that was nasty going down and now we’re dealing with a horrible aftertaste.

“And when it all came crashing down
I was already south
I didn't know whether the world was flat or round
I had the worst taste in my mouth
That I ever knew
Tangled up in blue”

May David Peterson come to the rescue with bottles of Listerine and Scope, giving us a start with both quality and quantity, to put last night’s debacle in the rear-view mirror. And if any of the seven hitters listed above want to pitch in and help the cause, that would be wonderful. Just don’t hold your foul-smelling breath on that happening.