For the second straight Father’s Day, the Mets recorded just one hit against Julio Teheran to complete an upset, upsetting weekend sweep at the hands of the lowly Braves.
Now all Terry Collins’ group has to do is figure out how the heck to get from this point back to the World Series, and they’ll be golden.
Welcome to a low point and defining moment for the defending National League champions. Their 6-0 loss to Teheran and Atlanta on Sunday afternoon drew waves of deserved boos from the announced Citi Field crowd of 41,576. It dropped the Mets both into third place in the NL East, thanks to the Marlins’ victory over Colorado, and out of wild-card position, thanks to the Dodgers’ win over the Brewers.
And it prompted Collins to say after the game, “You don’t want to panic early, but right now, with what’s going on, we may shake some things up.”
They should do just that, within the context of reality. When they host the Royals on Tuesday night, going against Kansas City starter Ian Kennedy, both Travis d’Arnaud and Brandon Nimmo should be in the starting lineup for the 2015 Fall Classic reunion.
D’Arnaud, set to complete his rehabilitation stint Sunday night, will be there barring something crazy happening. And it would be crazy to not give Nimmo, the prodigal Wyomingite, a shot, with either Michael Conforto or Alejandro De Aza departing to make room.
The Mets need to try something different now, and Yulieski Gourriel won’t be here by Tuesday. As The Post’s Joel Sherman reported, the Cuban free agent Gourriel likely would need a month or so of minor-league action to get acclimated, so even if the Mets were to sign him, he’d take a while to marinate.
None of the potential trade targets for third base — the Angels’ Yunel Escobar, Milwaukee’s Aaron Hill, San Diego’s Yangervis Solarte or Oakland’s Danny Valencia — is probable to get dealt before mid-July, and some asking prices will be too high regardless for the Mets’ drained farm system.
So in mid-June, you go smaller and, in this instance, internal. You count on d’Arnaud, even if rusty, to upgrade what has been by far the Mets’ worst offensive position. You send the disappointing Kevin Plawecki to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Then you get Nimmo up here. Maybe it’s never going to happen for the Mets’ top draft pick of 2011, Sandy Alderson’s first selection as general manager. Maybe the .327/.408/.520 slash line Nimmo compiled in his first 57 games for Vegas this season, in 256 plate appearances, is wholly a byproduct of playing in the ridiculously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Yet the Mets have little to lose by bringing up Nimmo, 23, and seeing what he can do at the big-league level.
I’d advocate jettisoning De Aza, who became superfluous the moment the Mets re-signed Yoenis Cespedes, and letting the hideously slumping Conforto take a few days off and endure a hard-core tutorial with hitting coach Kevin Long. From the way Collins spoke Sunday, however, the more likely option is sending Conforto to Vegas and hanging onto De Aza and his $5.75 million salary.
“He’s not going to come off the bench,” Collins said of Conforto, who could be a disabled list candidate with an ailing right wrist. “We’re going to look at every angle we can.”
The feisty Collins defended his hitters, opining that Teheran pitched brilliantly — he went the distance this time, whereas he threw seven innings last June 21 at Turner Field — and scolding his weekend starting pitchers, including Sunday’s loser Jacob deGrom, for not executing. While those might be valid points, there’s no disputing that the Mets’ lack of run production has them in their current predicament.
Collins’ urgency has merit when you look at where the schedule takes them after two with the Royals and four at the Braves: three games in Washington and an 11-game homestand against the Cubs (four games), Marlins (three) and Nationals (four).
“We’ve got to get better,” Collins said, and he repeated: “We’ve got to start playing better.”
D’Arnaud and Nimmo would give them as close to a fresh start as possible.