The Mets lost two of three games at Citi Field over the weekend and lost the World Series, four games to one, to the Royals.
The Mets won Game 3, 9-3, on Friday night. On Saturday in Game 4, the Mets blew a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, due in part to Daniel Murphy‘s fielding error, and ultimately lost, 5-3.
Sunday in Game 5, Matt Harvey threw eight scoreless innings, but faltered in the ninth inning. Jeurys Familia relieved Harvey with a runner on second and none out in the ninth, and the tying run scored on a ground ball to third base when Eric Hosmer broke for home and scored after the ball was thrown to first base. The Royals then scored five runs in the top of the 12th inning and shut the Mets down in the bottom of the frame to secure the World Series title.
Yoenis Cespedes left the game early after suffering a knee contusion during an at bat.
Matthew Cerrone
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I’m actually far angrier about Sunday’s loss, and losing the Series, this morning than I was last night after the game, when I was more measured. Again, I’m thankful for what was a fun season. I never expected this, while watching the team in St. Lucie during February. It was an amazing ride that I’ll never forget. And, I think that’s why this hurts. Because, I don’t necessarily feel like the Mets got outplayed by the Royals this past week. Instead, the Mets outplayed the Mets, they had multiple chances to win this Series, and that makes it more difficult to accept the result.
The fact is, the Mets had the opportunity to win more than they lost the previous five games. They had late-game leads in Game 1, 4 and 5, yet lost all three. The Royals deserve credit for taking advantage of mistakes, but it can’t be denied that the Mets repeatedly made those mistakes, not just in the field, but in the dugout as well.
Lucas Duda has to make that throw home. Daniel Murphy has to turn that double play, and he can’t let the ball go through his legs. Yoenis Cespedes can’t get picked off first or be late to a ball in the field, booting in 20 feet in the air. In all of these situations, the play was in front of them. This was basic, fundamental, situational baseball, stuff these guys have been practicing since Little League. They know what to do and not to do. They’re big leaguers in the World Series, yet they didn’t execute.
Again, the Royals deserve credit for seizing the moment, 100 percent, but the debate about whether Terry Collins should have stuck with Harvey, or whether he should have done this, that, or the other thing is irrelevant if Duda makes am accurate, routine, straight forward throw to home. The game is over, the Mets win and they’re boarding a flight to Kansas City if that ball is direct to Travis d’Arnaud.
It’s an interesting paradox, though, because, despite the Mets making a number of meaningful mistakes that directly cost them games, and despite them having the lead during so much of the series, it also feels like they never had a chance to win. I can’t objectively look at what happened and say the Mets deserved to win. In the end, it’s like the Royals were just toying with the Mets, who were never as close to a Championship as it seemed.
Again, to back to the boxing metaphor I used at the start of the series, it’s like the they were just sparing with the Mets, who were fighting as hard as they could the entire series. The Mets got in a lot of early punches and felt good, like they were making progress, and the fight kept going deep, but the Royals were always poised to make the knockout blow. It was just a matter of time. The Mets needed to score enough early to outlast the eventual runs that Kansas City would undoubtedly score late in games, but they really only did it once during Game 3. Otherwise, even though they were losing in the game, the Royals seemed to always have the advantage. And yet, the truth is, had Duda made a clean throw to home, the series is still being played today…
They and we are going to have to live with this and replay these mistakes and moments over and over again in our heads until at least the Mets win another World Championship. Until then, I’ll always look at this as the World Series win that could have been, even though I’m not sure we ever really had a chance…
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