The Colorado Rockies (19-18) defeated the New York Mets (21-16) this afternoon to complete the sweep by the final score of 4-3. For a full boxscore recap follow the link below…

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_05_15_nynmlb_colmlb_1#game=2016_05_15_nynmlb_colmlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup

Game Notes:

• Jacob deGrom pitched a solid game this afternoon pitching 6.1 innings allowing 3 runs on 4 hits. DeGrom walked 3 and struck out 3. DeGrom also had an RBI single.
• Jim Henderson was charged with the loss after allowing a 2-run home run to pinch hitter Ryan Raburn in the bottom of the 7th.
• Yoenis Cespedes was 1-3 with a solo HR.
• Eric Campbell was 2-3 with a double and a run scored.
• Michael Conforto was 1-3 with an RBI single.
• The Mets suffered their first sweep of the season, and their first sweep in Colorado since April 16-18 2013.

This was a bitter loss to end a tough road trip for the New York Mets. It’s hard not to argue that the umpires played a pivotal role once again in today’s loss, as second base umpire Rob Drake made an absolutely awful call in the top of the eighth inning on the basepaths. As Juan Lagares was advancing from second base to third on a Lucas Duda groundball, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado missed a tag on Lagares and threw to first base for the out. Shortly after the play second base umpire Rob Drake immediately called Juan Lagares out for running outside the baseline. On many replays, Lagares appeared to be completely inside of the baseline, and third base umpire Carlos Torres had also immediately called Lagares safe after Arenado’s missed tag, as he was in front of the play. It was another bad missed call by the umpires as it robbed the Mets of an opportunity to have runners on third and second base with two outs, and Neil Walker coming to the plate to potentially tie or take the lead. Manager Terry Collins simply came out of the dugout to understand the situation but did not argue any further. 

The Mets bullpen, which has been very reliable, coughed up today’s lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Jacob deGrom had put Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu on base with a walk, he struck out catcher Dustin Garneau but also threw a wild pitch that advanced LeMahieu to second base. Terry Collins decided to pull deGrom after that at-bat with 102 pitches and allow Jim Henderson who was pitching on back-to-back days to get out of the jam. After throwing two balls, Raburn ripped the next Henderson pitch over the right center field wall and that was all she wrote. Henderson has struggled on back-to-back outings this season, and you wonder if that will play into Henderson’s usage down the line. The Mets also drop to 21-1 this season when leading after seven innings, which displays how dominant the bullpen has been this season. 

The Mets completed their season-high eleven game road trip with a 4-7 record. It was a tough go of it, especially in Colorado, but the Mets will have a day off tomorrow to recharge before the Washington Nationals come to town, in what is sure to be the first of many intense games between both clubs this season. I am looking forward to this series and it will be very interesting to see if the Mets continue the recent trend of walking Bryce Harper and not giving him much to hit around the strike zone. The Nationals have struggled since this strategy has been implemented over the last ten days, so it will be one of many things to watch this upcoming series. 

• The Mets have a off-day tomorrow before squaring up with the Washington Nationals for three games beginning on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm et and can be seen on SNY and MLB Network.

• Noah Syndergaard (1-2, 3.66 ERA) will take the hill after his two home run performance last Wednesday night, and face Nationals ace Max Scherzer (4-2, 4.15 ERA) who is coming off his historic twenty strikeout performance.