The Mets got Pete Alonso back on Sunday … and the day still ended up being a flop.
Alonso went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Which is whatever, because the Amazins got their slugger back from his wrist injury way ahead of schedule. But it contributed to a sloppy 8-7 loss to the lowly Cardinals, giving the Redbirds the weekend series victory.
Mike Francesa was not amused.
“The Mets are just terrible,” the WFAN legend opined on Twitter. “Really, really bad.”
That is hard to argue. The Mets are now 33-38 and 12.5 games back of the first-place Braves in the NL East. They are also 5.5 games back of the final NL wild card position. And business is about to pick up in a scary fashion.
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The Mets’ next 20 games: Three at the reigning world champion Astros, three at the surging and reigning NL champion Phillies, four at home against the NL Central-leading Brewers, four at home against the Giants, three at the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, three at the Padres.
They might be dead by the All-Star break. If they are not already toast.
Francesa has been hammering the Mets a good amount of late (and rightfully so). The big guy recently made it clear the only way they will turn their season around is if future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander produce.
“If Verlander and Scherzer are not going to do it, nothing is going to work,” he said on his BetRivers podcast. “They are here this year. They are here next year. They are walk-in Hall of Famers. But they’re old and they’re not getting the job done. And that is not a good sign. They have to get productivity out of those guys. They have to. They built this team to get productivity out of them. If they can’t, they can’t win.”
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
