ST. LOUIS — The Jacob deGrom demise, and this entire pitching season, is a lesson for the Mets.
Over his last two starts deGrom has been pounded, and the Cardinals jumped on him for five early runs on the way to an 8-1 beating of the Mets Wednesday night at steamy Busch Stadium.
This was not to be confused with the Giants pounding of deGrom in his previous start, when the right-hander surrendered eight runs on 13 hits over five innings at AT&T Park in a 10-7 loss.
That’s 13 runs and 25 hits over the last 9 ²/₃ innings.
If that wasn’t bad enough news for the Mets, before the game Yoenis Cespedes mentioned a heel injury that has bothered him off and on since his days in Cuba. In the seventh inning Cespedes had to resort to catching Yadier Molina’s scorching single to left on one hop with his bare hand while on one knee. Manager Terry Collins later said Cespedes turned his ankle on the play.
As for deGrom, these two defeats are exclamation points to this Mets season of lost young pitching as he dropped to a pedestrian 7-7 record with a 2.96 ERA. Matt Harvey was lost to injury a long time ago. Noah Syndergaard remains Thor. Zack Wheeler never made it back this season from Tommy John surgery, Steven Matz is out again and now deGrom is getting crushed.
The Mets young pitchers cannot adjust when they don’t have their best stuff.
The art of pitching is lost. There is just the art of the radar gun.
The Cardinals stood in against deGrom and kept diving across the plate. DeGrom was incapable of working the inner half. They teed off on everything he threw at them, just as the Giants did in his previous start.
“It’s hard to get results when you throw everything right down the middle,’’ deGrom said, adding, “I don’t feel tired at all.’’
His line was frightening: 4 ²/₃ innings, 12 hits, five runs, three homers — not to mention the two doubles high off the wall that could have been home runs or the line drive to first that became a double play to end the fourth.
Without deGrom being competitive, which is his calling card, the Mets are in the deepest of holes. They have to try to win the series Thursday with Seth Lugo on the mound versus Adam Wainwright.
Imperfect teams are battling for the second wild card with the Mets now 4 ¹/₂ games behind the Cardinals and also trailing the Marlins and Pirates, but to think the Mets can win this battle with deGrom being dreadful is too much to ask.
The real challenge for all these young Mets hard throwers, who have hit the wall or are injured, is to start learning more about the art of pitching and pace themselves.
Two springs ago I remember standing with original Met Al Jackson as he watched one of the team’s great young arms. The old lefty pointed out the lack of fastball command, the lack of changing speeds, the inability to pitch inside.
Jackson said when he broke in he had to command his fastball before he moved onto Phase II, and that meant taking something off his fastball so he could place it where it needed to be, on the edges of the plate.
That’s an art in itself and an art Mets pitchers have not yet learned. It’s not easy. As Collins said, “Pitching is hard.’’
To make the same mistake next season and not improve on those pitching skills is the challenge going forward for this team.
Learn more about the art of pitching and don’t be so fascinated by the radar gun. Work the count, read batter’s swings. Take something off the fastball and the off-speed pitches, too.
In other words, try to emulate Bartolo Colon. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez has been pushing this point and Wednesday he complimented Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez on Twitter, writing, “He knows when to subtract and has learned to save some energy.’’
Good point, Pedro. Mix it up more, Mets.