A fresh NY Mets fear was unlocked in the catastrophic loss to the Braves

Up 6-0 early, many New York Mets fans figured it was safe to get some sleep. It was Wednesday after all. The late start which had first pitch somewhere around 8:45pm (who knows for sure, I was reading a book about a baby snow plow at the time) forced us into choosing between a good night’s rest or watching a smooth sailing victory over the useless Atlanta Braves.

An overconfident thought? After the day the Mets had on Tuesday versus Atlanta, a case of hubris entered many of our brains. Those ads we dare not click on at the bottom of every web page about the importance of sleep had us fooled.

A 9-run fourth inning created the kind of chaos only a nightmare can fuel. The Braves would go on to 11-6, shutting down the Mets offense completely for the rest of the evening. A new fear was unlocked. In it, we see the fall of David Peterson.

David Peterson is throwing more innings than ever and it’s showing in the results

Peterson was Mr. Reliable until recently. His 4 runs in 6 innings versus the Cleveland Guardians was just a tad worse than a quality start. This one, with 3.1 innings and 6 runs charged to him, completely obliterated his positive momentum. He had back-to-back lousy starts at the end of June. Otherwise, Peterson has been brilliant.

He came into the year with a career-high 121 innings pitched. A personal-high set last year, he’s now at 136.1 and climbing. It has been a big deal about how Clay Holmes transitioned from a reliever to a starter. What about the starter being asked to pitch more than ever before?

Peterson has never been able to make it through a full major league season healthy. In 2022, in addition to his 105.2 big league innings, he had another 26 in the minor leagues. He worked as a starter and reliever for the Mets still totaling a few less frames than he has at the moment with a month and a half left to go.

The Mets confidently zoomed past the trade deadline believing they had enough starting pitching. Nolan McLean will get his nibbles in this Saturday. Brandon Sproat waits his turn. There’s no body shortage. The talent and durability is what fans need to begin worrying about.

We’ll be fine as long as the trio of David Peterson, Kodai Senga, and Sean Manaea do their jobs. The latter two haven’t been spectacular. Two times in a row, Peterson is looking less magnificent. Already hesitant to declare the Mets playoff-bound because of the results on the field over the last two weeks, a burnt out Peterson is the last thing this team needs.