Final Score: Padres 6 Mets 2 (Petco Park, San Diego, California)
Mets record: 42-48
Mets streak: Lost 2
WP - Joe Musgrove (8-2)
LP - Max Scherzer (8-3)
Seat on the Korner: Manny Machado
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Tonight's Seat on the Korner belongs to Manny Machado, who's first inning three run home run as well as two other RBIs led the Padres to their series clinching victory. Machado went 2-4 today with 2 runs, 5 RBIs and no strikeouts.
Need to Know
This is the first series loss in July for the Mets, after going 4-1 on their west coast road trip and 6-2 in July.
Tommy Pham exited today's game with a groin injury, Mark Cahna pinch hit and got 2 RBIs.
Francsico Alvarez went 0-3 today with 2 strikeouts, ending a 5 game hitting streak where he went 10-23 with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs.
Pete Alonso is competing in the Home Run Derby tomorrow night with his 26 home runs. However, Pete is 0 for his la.
Kodai Senga was announced to be put on the NL All Star Team. He is the 5th Mets Rookie of all time to be part of the All Star game.
The Mets are now 6 games below .500 and 18.5 games behind in the NL East.
Turning Point
The turning point of the game was in the bottom of the first inning when Manny Machado hit a 3 run home run to put the Padres in front.
From there, the Mets were not able to generate that much offense as they only got 5 hits the whole game, with their 2 sole runs coming from a Mark Cahna double. Scherzer struggled from here, pitching only 5 innings and allowing 2 more runs on 6 hits.
Three Keys
Scherzer: As noted, Max Scherzer was struggling today on the mound as he gave up 5 runs in 5 innings, allowing 6 hits and walking three.
This is not the first poor outing we've seen from Scherzer this year. He has been pitching way below his reputation, having a 4.03 ERA coming into today compared to his 2.29 ERA from last season. Scherzer is aware of how he's struggling, and he knows that he needs to do better:
Francisco Alvarez: Even though today was not a great day for him at the plate, Francsico Alvarez has proved to be asset to the Mets' offense.
In his past 6 games, he has gone 10-23 with 4 home runs, 8 RBIs and 5 runs. It seems as if Alvarez has found himself in a permanent spot in the lineup, however it seems like sometimes Buck still likes to rely on Omar Narvaez as a secondary spot. Alvarez needs to be in a consistent spot in the lineup because not only will it be even better for his development, but it will also be good for the team's offense as well.
Tommy Pham: Today, Tommy Pham left the game in the bottom of the 1st with an apparent groin injury, he spoke about a similar situation happening to him in 2018:
This does come at a decent time, as the All Star break is just ahead, and if all goes well, Tommy can take a few days rest without having to worry about being out of the lineup because frankly, he's been one of the most productive players on the team.
From June 27 - July 2, he hit .591 with a 1.670 OPS, with three straight multi-hit games during that time. Tommy has proved to be a great pick up for the Mets, and hopefully he can help rally the Mets out of their slump when he returns.
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