After planning to make some noise, the Mets go quietly into the offseason
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NEW YORK — Right around the time crew chief Alfonso Marquez reached behind Joe Musgrove’s left ear, feeling for the answer that Buck Showalter and the New York Mets were looking for as to why they had mustered just one hit against him through six disappointing innings, reality settled in at Citi Field.
It was about that time that it became obvious the Mets had tried everything to stave off the end, which arrived anyway in a 6-0 loss to the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of their National League first-round series. The Padres will advance to the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday. The Mets will go home.
The once-hopeful Mets were so desperate that Showalter asked the umpires to check on why Musgrove’s ears were so shiny — in case that was why the Mets couldn’t find a way to score a single run with their season on the line. Not long after, instead of running into a darkened stadium to the sound of trumpets to preserve a lead and their season, dominant closer Edwin Díaz ran into the eighth inning of a game his team trailed, lights on, aura of invincibility absent. He surrendered a two-run single to Juan Soto that put the game out of reach, the ultimate anticlimax for a team that had hoped it was built to perform some October magic at last.
The umpires didn’t find anything behind Musgrove’s ears. The Mets never found any answers — and couldn’t manage another hit.
“Hats off to Musgrove — he flat out beat us,” said Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who said some players in the dugout thought something looked different about him but that it was Showalter’s decision to have the umpires check.
Months after the arrival of Showalter, a new general manager and proven free agents such as Max Scherzer, Starling Marte and Mark Canha brought the promise of a brighter era, the difference between promise and reality became painfully clear to everyone at Citi Field. The Mets were better this year than last, better — at least in terms of wins — than any Mets team since they won it all in 1986. But they were not better than the Atlanta Braves over 162 games. They were not better than the Padres over three games when it counted this weekend.
Throwing financial resources and star power at a major league roster is not always a foolproof way to build a World Series winner. The Padres, perhaps more than anyone, could have told them that. This is their first playoff series win in a full season since 1998 but just the latest in more than a half-decade of rosters bolstered by blockbuster deals that led to quick spikes in hype but not long postseason runs.
These Mets were not exciting because they were the best team from top to bottom. They were exciting because they were better than before, because new ownership promised big spending and Showalter promised steady dugout leadership. They were exciting because their homegrown core of Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil finally got to play in October.
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They were exciting because pairing Scherzer with Jacob deGrom gave them a duo so formidable that it stirred memories of Koufax and Drysdale. In a short series, what were the chances anyone could beat both? In a seven-game series, what team had a chance if those two started four games between them?
But duos like these always look unbeatable on paper. Scherzer, of course, paired with Stephen Strasburg in Washington for six-plus years and won just one World Series title. Clayton Kershaw and Scherzer teamed up on the Dodgers last year, and they could not win the pennant. And, of course, neither Scherzer nor deGrom could take the mound for them Sunday night.
Instead, that job belonged to Chris Bassitt, who made almost as many starts by himself this season (30) as deGrom and Scherzer did combined (34) and pitched to a 3.42 ERA. Bassitt came to New York from Oakland, and he admitted this week that pitching in the New York spotlight tested him. The 33-year-old said he thought he passed that test, that he had learned he could handle the booing and the pressure and the questions. He had not yet pitched a winner-take-all game with the Mets’ season in his hands.
At first, he looked just fine. He powered through Soto and Manny Machado to get through the first inning with no trouble. But in the second, he struggled to put Padres hitters away. A Josh Bell single and two walks later, the bases were loaded for the No. 9 hitter, catcher Austin Nola, who yanked a curveball through the left side and gave the Padres a 2-0 lead.
Two innings later, Bassitt walked No. 7 hitter Ha-Seong Kim. Trent Grisham, who has homers against Scherzer and deGrom in this series, singled him home after a stolen base. Showalter pulled Bassitt after four innings in which he allowed three runs on three hits and three walks on 61 pitches, the kind of showing that probably would have earned him a few more innings under normal circumstances. But Sunday night’s circumstances were not normal, in part because Musgrove made three runs feel like 30.
Musgrove is the closest thing that the Padres, largely cobbled together via blockbuster deals, have to a homegrown star — even though he debuted with the Houston Astros and came to San Diego by way of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But Musgrove is from the San Diego area. He grew up a Padres fan. Last season, he became the first Padres pitcher to throw a no-hitter. This year, the Padres signed Musgrove to a five-year extension to ensure he will anchor their rotation for the foreseeable future.
So Manager Bob Melvin called it “fitting” that the task of prolonging the Padres’ season fell to Musgrove, who finished the season with a 2.93 ERA and began the night by retiring 12 straight Mets. When Alonso singled to start the fifth — a crisp, hard-hit ball that suggested maybe the Mets could square up Musgrove after all — they seemed to have a chance. But it didn’t happen.
By the sixth inning, Musgrove had thrown fewer than 60 pitches. The Mets, who pride themselves on driving up pitch counts, were not anywhere close to driving him from the game. So perhaps in an effort to hasten the process, Showalter asked the umpires to check Musgrove for sticky substances.
The game halted as the umpires convened, then headed toward Musgrove. They checked his glove. They checked his hat. At one point, they rubbed behind his ears, which were shiny with sweat but apparently nothing else. He stayed in the game. The moment passed. He finished the sixth at 70 pitches, leaving the Mets to look for other ways to stay alive. They could not find one even after he exited following the seventh.
“I’m charged with doing what’s best for the New York Mets,” Showalter explained afterward, referencing spin rate and other data the team has access to in the dugout. “If it makes me look however it makes me look or whatever, I’m going to do it every time and live with the consequences. … I felt like that was best for us right now. There’s some pretty obvious reasons why it was necessary.”
But it didn’t work out, and the Mets are likely to have a hard time finding a clear conclusion about this season, too. They planned to be better, and they were. They won 101 games, tied for third most in the majors. They led the NL East for most of the season. They forged an identity as a scrappy offense. They watched Lindor reverse a brutal first year in Queens and endear himself to a once-skeptical fan base.
But they did not advance past the first round of the playoffs. They did not win the championship that billionaire owner Steve Cohen has made clear he covets. They were better than they used to be. They tried almost everything. But they were not ready to win the World Series. Then again, only one team ever is.