IGT 7/24/26 (7:10pm): Dodgers (Sasaki) vs Mets (Manaea)

[Brandon Glick]

T-minus 11 days until the trade deadline...

[Brandon Glick]

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Luke Weaver	0	0	15	0	0	15
Kodai Senga	0	0	0	0	0	0
Huascar Brazobán	22	0	0	16	0	38
Devin Williams	0	0	15	0	0	15
Daniel Duarte	0	0	0	24	0	24
Cionel Pérez	18	0	0	25	0	43
Brooks Raley	0	0	15	0	0	15
A.J. Minter	14	0	0	19	0	33

[Edgy MD]

Drink well, my friends.

LOS ANGELES

Starting Pitcher

Roki Sasaki RHP 3-5, 4.98 ERA, 85 SO

Lineup

1. Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
2. Andy Pages (R) CF
3. Tommy Edman (S) 3B
4. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
5. Mookie Betts (R) SS
6. Miguel Rojas (R) 2B
7. Kyle Tucker (L) RF
8. Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
9. Dalton Rushing (L) C

METS

Starting Pitcher

Sean Manaea LHP 2-5, 4.74 ERA, 81 SO

Lineup

1. A.J. Ewing (L) LF
2. Juan Soto (L) DH
3. Bo Bichette (R) 3B
4. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
5. Carson Benge (L) RF
6. Luis Robert Jr. (R) CF
7. Jared Young (L) 1B
8. Marcus Semien (R) 2B
9. Francisco Alvarez (R) C

[Edgy MD]

Kyle Tucker, insane though his contract may be, hasn't been that much better than Bo Bichette.

[The Hot Corner]

2 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

Kyle Tucker, insane though his contract may be, hasn't been that much better than Bo Bichette.

Pretty much a wash.  Given their contracts, I'll stick with Bichette.

[Edgy MD]

Dalton Rush has a massive lower body.  His ass and thighs are like cartoon ass and thighs.

[Edgy MD]

I hate listening to Gary slobber over Ohtani.

[Edgy MD]

You gotta give em hell there, Andy Green.

[Edgy MD]

No one-handed triples tonight, Shohei.

[Edgy MD]

Emma Stone — not a Mets fan.

[Edgy MD]

Chris Pine, starring as a Met in a movie opposite Emma Stone.

Kevin Pillar, playing his body double.

Juan Soto, making a cameo in the film.

Jose Iglesias, joining the Broadway cast of Buena Vista Social Club as the narrator.

This has been, like, the most culturally relevant inning the Mets have had all season.

[Edgy MD]

Benge is going for a cycle tonight.

Got a guy at third and a guy at home.

[Edgy MD]

And something about that film cameo has knocked Soto out of the game.

[Edgy MD]

Raley can't be a spectator in that rundown.

[Edgy MD]

Benge hit 100 on the assist.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not going to get this thread to another page posting about Emma Stone.

[Edgy MD]

I shouldn't have trash-talked Tucker.

[Edgy MD]

Hey!  Another Mets solo homer!

[Frayed Knot]

Oh look ... a solo HR!!!

The Mets are right at league average in HRs hit this year. But they get 11% fewer runs per/HR than the league average. Mets average 1.43 RS/HR while the league is at 1.59 

[Edgy MD]

The Mets have used four lefties tonight.

Hope they don't need one tomorrow.

[Edgy MD]

Swinging when the tying run is behind you in the ninth, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a losing play.

[Centerfield]

Lifeless game. No energy from the crowd tonight except from Dodgers fans. 
 

Stearns has really just turned this franchise into a joke. 

[The Hot Corner]

The only reason I even watch any more is to see the youngsters Benge, Ewing, McLean, Scott, & Thornton.  

My viewing is far more casual and I am far less engaged than I was in past years, or even at the start of this season. 

 

[Gwreck]

Stearns didn’t make Soto hurt, Lindor bad, Bichette bad…etc.  There’s only so much blame that can be put on him.

I also reject the idea that the franchise is a joke and find the leaning-into-that trope is quite tiresome.

I watched this game in its entirety.  It was super frustrating because the Mets actually have the talent to beat the Dodgers and should have done so last night.

[The Hot Corner]

Injuries to Lindor and Soto were unfortunate, but it is part of the game.  It is not as if the Mets are the only team that has suffered injuries to key players.  However, when you let a stalwart that seldom missed time (Alonso) walk and bring in 2 players with significant histories of missing time due to injuries (Robert Jr. & Polanco) you should anticipate that your regulars are likely to miss time due to injuries. 

I think it is apparent that Stearns gambled that Robert Jr. and Semien could return to previous levels of performance after several years of decline.  Both ware gambles that failed to payoff.  

Bichette has improved the past 6-7 weeks, but he still is still underperforming his usual offensive production.  Defensively, he has adjusted reasonably well to third base.  The greatest disappointment to me has been Peralta.  He has severely underperformed.  I don't blame Stearns for either of their disappointing seasons.  Sometimes moves don't work out.

With the repeated emphasis on improving "run prevention", the Mets are significantly worse than last season.  The Mets are allowing 4.69 runs/game in 2026 after allowing 4.41 runs/game in 2025.  The offensive production has dropped even worse,

 

What concerns me, is that after a trade deadline in which the majority of moves (G. Soto, Helsley, Rogers, and Mullins) failed to work out.  The moves this off season (Robert Jr., Semien, Peralta, Polanco, Williams,  Weaver, & Bichette) the majority have once again failed to positively impact the team.  I am concerned that the Mets can not weather another season of underperformance by Stearns, if they wish to be relevant in the next year or two.*

* - By my count he was 1 for 4 (Rogers) last trade deadline and 2 for 7 (Weaver & Bichette being generous with that one) that weren't total disappointments.  He needs to do better than 2 (or 3) for 11 if the Mets hope to be playoff contenders.