The Mets, finally done with a brutal 13-game stretch against the dynamic Giants and Dodgers, likely felt a sense of relief when they welcomed the lowly Nationals to Citi Field on Friday night.
But the departure of two of baseball’s best teams didn’t bring back any sense of offense, as New York once again struggled with quiet bats in a 2-1 loss to a Washington team that has slipped to fourth place in the NL East after trading nearly all of its regular contributors at the deadline, save for Juan Soto.
“We chased a lot tonight,” manager Luis Rojas said. “It’s been happening to us for a while, just chasing, sometimes overly aggressive…one of those in-between approaches, and we’ve seen that in the past.
“Once again, another one-run game that just can’t flip it because of our offense.”
The Nationals bullpen held the Mets scoreless through four innings, with a Javier Baez home run being the only source of offense all night. The slumping bats have been a prevailing narrative throughout what has been a dreadful second half of the season, as New York ranks in the bottom five in the league in almost every offensive category. With another close loss that could have been avoided with some timely hitting, the Mets are once again left looking for a way to ignite an offense that could have helped the team avoid this dreadful losing skid with even marginal improvements at the plate.
“It’s not like we’re down about that,” Baez said. “It sucks to be in this streak losing but were trying and giving our best…we just gotta keep our head up. Just gotta come back tomorrow and try again. It’s gonna bounce our way one time.”
Even if the effort is there, the results are not. The Mets offense hasn’t been dynamic by any means for all of this season, as previously established hitters like Francisco Lindor, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith and James McCann have all struggled this season, but now, the slumping seems to be completely across the board, and the team is no longer scratching out hits in scoring situations to mask the other deficiencies that are now glaring.
“We had different guys that stepped up and got the big hit when it was needed, and we just don’t have that right now,” Rojas said. “It’s just not happening.”
It hasn’t been happening for awhile now, and as a result, the Mets are staring at an 8.5 game deficit in the NL East with nearly 35 games to go. It might not be enough time to save the season, even if the bats were to suddenly awaken, though there doesn’t seem to be much sign of life anyway, even against seemingly inferior opponents.
“We’re just trying too much,” Baez said. “I’ve been here before, and you just gotta let the game come back to you and take it pitch by pitch.
“Sometimes you just want to fix your timing or at-bats with one pitch. Sometimes you just gotta see a pitch and track it…even with me, I’ll go out and still swing at the first pitch. It’s hard to do, but as long as we control it, it’s gonna come back to us and we’re gonna take off.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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