NY Mets worst-case scenario is escalating quickly

The New York Mets were not supposed to beat Jacob deGrom. In one inning on Friday, they met their worst-case scenario. It’s not because they lost. It’s how they did so abruptly.

Jonah Tong failed to get out of the first inning with 6 runs charged against him. Wild, ineffective, and looking lost, the team’s inability to view him as a Nolan McLean clone is troublesome. The team called him up as a late-season Hail Mary attempt to power through their starting pitching problems. Then came the Mets hitters who went down 1-2-3 on only 5 pitches from deGrom.

A strange debut with more run support than humanely imaginable, a couple of home runs given up his second time out,, and then the rookie jitters on Friday, it’s getting to the point where we have to rethink just how ready Tong was for the major leagues. If he’s not it, the Mets are in serious trouble.

Jonah Tong is pitching his way down the Mets depth chart

When we saw all three of the rookies go back-to-back-to-back Saturday through Monday, there were morale wins. They all gave the Mets innings. Brandon Sproat carried a no-hitter midway through the game. Despite all losing, there was something good to come out of each appearance.

The time for morale victories is long over, though. As much as we appreciate things like Huascar Brazoban going 3.1 innings, it doesn’t make much of a difference when the result is the same and the next day doesn’t result in a win either. We’ll find out Saturday evening if Brazoban’s ability to eat up innings helps or not.

Making it to the playoffs is more difficult to conceive if McLean and David Peterson are the only starting pitchers we have any faith in. The jury has yet to come in on Sproat. Sean Manaea is hanging by a thread. Clay Holmes needs a prayer to just get through five.

There’s also Kodai Senga who pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball on Friday for Syracuse. Expected to get one more start down there, he doesn’t do the Mets much good in their playoff push. He is, instead, someone they might be able to lean on in the playoffs. Whatever he does in the minor leagues won’t translate exactly to the majors or give us a clear enough hint of what’s in store upon a recall.

deGrom failed to embarrass the Mets offense and yet because they were behind early, it didn’t make much of a difference. He was smooth outside, striking out 2 and getting saved by some long fly outs. This was not what the Mets had intended for deGrom’s Citi Field return. It was Stranger Things night after all. And unlike the hit Netflix show, we won’t have to wait 3 years for the next season.