NEW YORK _ It is early. This is the familiar refrain. For a baseball season is a marathon, and judgment in April is an errand reserved for fools. Logic, however, offers only so much cover.
It does little to make lackluster play more palatable. Just ask the Mets. After 3-1 loss on Saturday, they must beat Max Scherzer on Sunday night to avoid a three-game sweep to the rival Nationals.
These two franchises have duked it out for the NL East crown the last two seasons. The summer promises to bring another duel. But these banged-up Mets looked punched out before May Day.
Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez allowed just one run, two hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. He took a no-hitter into the sixth, when Juan Lagares lined a single. The hit spared the Mets from history, though it didn't save them from another bad outing.
Playing for the second straight day without Yoenis Cespedes and his tender hamstring, the Mets dropped their seventh game in their last eight tries. At 8-10, the Mets are off to their worst start since 2011, when they began the campaign 5-13. The difference, of course, is expectations.
In 2011, the Mets were still in the wilderness, the darkest period of a post-Madoff rebuilding. In 2017, they began the season as contenders for the division and their third straight postseason. But they haven't played like it.
Starting pitching has made the Mets into contenders. But this stretch has proven once again it won't be enough.
Jacob deGrom allowed eight hits and three runs walks in 5 2/3 innings. He also walked a career-high six batters (one intentional). But he struck out 10, his second consecutive double-digit strikeout game and the 12th of his career.
It came after a stiff neck bumped back his scheduled start from Friday to Saturday. He threw 101 pitches and departed trailing 3-0 in the sixth. An inning earlier, deGrom threw his arms in the air when Adam Eaton's double over the head of left fielder Michael Conforto started a two-run rally.
But the Mets scrounged up only one run in return, which came in the sixth. Jose Reyes came off the bench to walk, then scored on Asdrubal Cabrera's single to center field. They would manage nothing more against a Nationals bullpen that has struggled.
A sellout crowd of 42,145 at Citi Field watched as the last 11 Mets hitters were retired in order.
