FUNDAMENTAL FAILURE: The Mets made several mistakes yesterday, from Jordany Valdespin (left) unable to field a throw on a stolen base to allowing Ryan Howard (inset) to hit a pair of home runs. (
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PHILADELPHIA — So much has to improve with the Mets. You can start with their baseball IQ. If the Mets ever want to become a contender, they need to pick up all parts of their game, not just raise their talent.
The Mets came back from a 7-1 deficit to tie the Phillies, 7-7, yesterday, only to lose 8-7 on Kevin Frandsen’s walk-off home run against reliever Carlos Torres at Citizens Bank Park.
But it was the Mets starting pitcher, Dillon Gee, who put his team in a deep hole, giving up six runs, five earned over the first five innings. Gee surrendered three home runs, two to Ryan Howard. Howard owns 10 home runs this season, four have come against Gee. Lifetime against Gee, Howard is 7-for-15, (.467) with six home runs and 14 RBIs.
No other player in the majors has more than two home runs or six RBIs against Gee, so the handwriting is on the scorecard.
It’s time Gee starts pitching around Howard instead of trying to beat him with fastballs.
After the game, manager Terry Collins said he was encouraged his team came back from such a huge deficit, but he also knows his players have to be smarter.
“That was an absolutely unbelievable comeback with the four in the seventh inning and then the two off [Jonathan] Papelbon [in the ninth],’’ Collins began. “We had not been hitting the ball well. I’m very proud of the way they hung in there and played.’’
As for Gee, Collins was direct and to the point, but was not scolding. He continues to try to teach his Mets and not lose his cool. This is about getting better, not finding scapegoats.
“The one thing, like Dan [Warthen] and I talked, [Gee] knows Ryan Howard kills him,’’ Collins said. “You just can’t give him balls to hit. You’ve got to almost pitch around him and make someone else beat you.’’
Collins made sure his pitching coach and Gee were on the same page.
“Dan said, ‘We talked about that before the game was over, he hit two homers on fastballs and you shouldn’t be giving him fastballs for strikes,’ ” Collins said.
Gee needs to learn from this. All the Mets pitchers can learn from this.
“That guy definitely has me,’’ Gee said after the carnage was complete. “It seems like no matter what I throw he hits it out of the ballpark.”
This was Ryan’s first multi-home run game of the season.
The Mets are playing better, they are not rolling over. Yesterday the Mets had to send Lucas Duda back to New York for an MRI exam because of lingering soreness on his left side, so they were down another bat but they bounced back.
“After the comeback against Chicago [Sunday], that kick-started things, they are grinding out every game now,’’ Collins said.
Yes they are, and that is a good thing, but the Mets simply can’t afford to make the same mistakes over and over again. They don’t have enough talent to overcome their mistakes and they know it.
The Phillies, a veteran team on the way down but a team that still knows how to play the game and take advantage of situations, continue to own the Mets. They are 10-2 in their last 12 games against the Mets. Over that stretch the Phillies have pummeled the Mets’ pitching, outscoring them 71-35.
Matt Harvey goes against the Phillies today in the final game of the series. The Mets need a win to take back-to-back series against the Braves and Phillies. Harvey has shown himself to be a tough and smart pitcher. He has the kind of stuff that allows him to get away with mistakes.
Gee doesn’t have that kind of fastball. It’s a more difficult challenge for him and there is less room for error.
“There are no moral victories in the big leagues, it’s wins and losses, it’s cut and dry,’’ said David Wright, who scored the tying run in the ninth from first base on Daniel Murphy’s single.
Play to win and play smart. Lessons must be learned from this loss.