Springsteen once sang, “God have mercy on the man who doubts what he’s sure of”. New York baseball fans could once be sure of Tanaka and deGrom. Every time they took the mound, you could count on a quality start, even on rare nights when they didn’t have their best stuff. They were tenacious, determined, unbreakable.
Last night marked a new low for both of them. deGrom gave the Mets four putrid innings on a night when his team scored eight runs. He was outpitched by Mets’ castoff Dillon Gee. Tanaka gave up three home runs in a loss to the Red Sox and afterwards, there was talk of the ten day DL to find his stuff again.
The Mets are hurtling toward irrelevance. The Yanks are under .500 in their last twenty one games, but still hang on to first place in the AL East. If the Mets are to become even vaguely watchable again, their rotation needs to step it up, led by deGrom. And if the Yanks want to continue to make noise in the AL, Tanaka needs to be the ace again, unless Severino and Monty continue to pitch at a very high level.
We were sure the Mets would be serious contenders and the Yanks would be rebuilding this year. Doubts, anyone? 6/7/17
