By Rich Mancuso/ Sports Editor
Blame Edwin Diaz. Put the blame on Dellin Betances, Drew Smith. Simple, the Mets always find ways to lose in the Bronx. Except, Sunday was a fiasco and further questions a direction where this team is headed with the Yankees coming to Flushing Thursday.
Face it, this is Mets baseball. And if you are not accustomed to the inconsistency and losing to the cross-town Yankees, well wake up. There is no shock, the Mets are not a good team though at times they can make us look like fools.
And in the Bronx? The Mets continue to perplex and find so many ways to lose a ballgame during the history of this Subway Series.
Friday, is an example of the inconsistency. A doubleheader sweep in the Bronx and the first walk-off home run from a visiting team at Yankee Stadium. Amed Rosario, off an Aroldis Chapman slider and all is good for the Mets.
Then, Dellin Betances throws the wild pitch and the Yankees get the walk-off win to break a losing streak. Now, the Mets have a losing streak and the inconsistency continues.
Good teams build winning streaks. And with this unusual 60-game season, winning streaks are more vital to play baseball in October. The Mets need to put a streak together, soon, and trailing the first place Braves by 4.5 games is significant.
Remember, 60-games is not 162. As of Monday, the Mets have the 11th best record in the NL League. They have some work to do, or becoming one of the eight that qualifies for the postseason won’t occur.
And that work begins again this week, Without Steven Matz, Betances, and some other missing pieces. The trade deadline approaches and there appears to be nothing but the rumors.
Nothing heard from GM Brodie Van Wageenen. Rumblings about the Mets seeking a catcher, starting pitcher and bullpen help. But, this is a more difficult type of trading deadline, again due to no minor league schedules. Teams are reluctant to give up and borrow a player under the circumstances of this weird 2020 baseball season.
In the meantime, face the facts. The Mets can’t figure a way to beat the Yankees. They can’t do it at Citi Field or in the Bronx. With a Yankees makeship lineup on the field Sunday, the Mets could not do it.
Sunday, they failed twice, and once again the question revolves around Edwin Diaz, the bullpen, and some of those defensive miscues. Throwing bad pitches, or making errors against the Yankees in the Bronx is a no-no.
It leads to a disaster. So, Instead of taking four of five, or possibly a sweep of the Yankees, it will take Jacob deGrom to break this three game skid Monday at Citi Field in a makeup game against the Marlins at Citi Field.
The Orioles for two on the road and another with the Yankees at Citi Field on the schedule this week.
Pitching is thin, the bullpen is taxed, and until the implosion this weekend had thrown more than nine innings of scoreless ball.
But it was the Yankees that ruined all the momentum. And it seems the Yankees are always beating the Mets in the Bronx. A jinx, perhaps. But it is obvious the Mets are not that good. They could not take the series.
Three of the five games got away. The season could slip away if the consistency does not start this week.
Oh, Edwin Diaz. He had a good couple of weeks. That is, until the Edwin Diaz slider went haywire again. It did not locate with the dramatic home run from Aaron Hicks.
Gone and goodbye are the Mets in the Bronx for 2020. A lost weekend. But there is that optimism. One more game with the Yankees in Flushing.
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