5/14 Game Recap: Mets Trounced by Cardinals 10-4

Dillon Gee didn’t have much, Robert Carson had less, and the Mets got annihilated tonight in St. Louis 10-4.

After the Mets went down in the first against John Gast, who was making his major league debut, the Cardinals benefited from an Ike Davis error as they jumped all over Gee in the bottom of the frame.  After Davis hit Matt Carpenter in the back while trying to turn a 3-6-3 double play, Matt Holliday and Allen Craigdelivered back to back run scoring hits to put the Cardinals up 3-0.

May 14, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Dillon Gee (35) throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

St. Louis added three more runs in the third on RBI singles from Pete Kozma, Matt Carpenter and Carlos Beltran.  After Gee exited the game before fifth, Robert Carson came in and served up a three run bomb to Carlos Beltran that landed in the third deck in right field.  That made it 9-0 Cards.

After sleepwalking through the first five innings, the Mets tallied four runs in the sixth (making tonight the first time in the last eight games that they’ve scored more than three runs).  After John Buck delivered an RBI single, the Cards botched a rundown to allow the Mets to plate a second run.  Marlon Byrd then followed with a long two run homer that closed the gap to 9-4.

The Mets gave one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame, when Robert Carson served up a solo shot to Jon Jay that stretched the St. Louis lead to 10-4 and closed out the scoring.

Highlights:

• Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and was hit extremely hard.  Gee struggled again with his control, and wound up lasting only four innings.  Gee allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 5, and saw his ERA jump to 6.13.

• Robert Carson struggled badly in relief, as he gave up 2 homers (he’s given up 6 this year) and 4 runs in his 2 innings of work.

Thoughts:

It’s almost hard to fathom how bad the Mets’ rotation (aside from Matt Harvey) has been.  With Jonathon Niese likely struggling due to health reasons and Jeremy Hefner pitching well as of late, the culprits who are in danger of losing their spots in the rotation should be Dillon Gee and Shaun Marcum.  Last year, Gee looked like a solid number five starter at worst.  This season, though, he’s been a complete mess.  Whether that’s due to rust, the surgery he had last season, or something else, is moot at this point.  He simply needs to pitch better.  If he doesn’t, his spot in the rotation should go to Collin McHugh.  If Marcum continues to falter, Zack Wheeler can come up in a few weeks to plug that spot.

Robert Carson simply isn’t major league caliber at this point.  As Keith Hernandez pointed out during the broadcast, his fastball is straight and on a tee.  He lacks a solid secondary pitch and has poor control.  The problem, is that with Jeurys Familia and Scott Atchison on the disabled list (and Frank Francisco nowhere near a return), the Mets’ options to replace Carson in the pen seem limited.  Perhaps they’ll give Josh Edgin another shot or call up Gonzalez Germen, but both of them have been pitching poorly in the minors.

Next Up:

The Mets play the third game of their four game set in St. Louis tomorrow night at 8:15 PM.  Shaun Marcum gets the start for New York.  He’ll be opposed by Shelby Miller.

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