WASHINGTON — Let’s start with the part that has to gnaw away at you: At least three times during this series with the Nationals, Jay Bruce was up with a man on third base and less than two outs and the Nats, essentially, got on bended knee and begged Bruce to take a run on them.
Wednesday, it was the first inning. The bases were loaded, one out, Jose Reyes was on third — though in truth, he was lurking more than halfway home from third because third baseman Anthony Rendon was wildly overshifting. The Nats were saying: Here. Take it. Even a terrible bunt would have scored a run because Reyes only needed to dash about 40 feet.
Bruce declined the offer. He struck out on three pitches. The Mets lost to the Nationals, 1-0, and never again had the kind of opportunity they had in the first. Bruce is a guy paid to hit home runs and drive in runs, it’s how he has made his way in the big leagues, but he has done precious little of either lately. Did it at least cross his mind?
“It did,” he admitted. “Every spring training I do early work bunting. And I’ve practiced it a lot. But …”
There was certainly going to be a “but.”
“But I don’t feel comfortable enough where I’m in that situation bunting,” he said. “I feel my best chance is still to hit.”
(Enter your own punch line here.)
Despite the loss, despite dropping a series for the first time in a month, the Mets retain a feel-good vibe and actually had a pretty good day on Wednesday thanks to the Cubs winning in St. Louis and the Padres winning in San Francisco.
They have 16 games left and control their own destiny, and as long as they take care of business this weekend at home against the lowly Twins, they can sit back and enjoy as the Cardinals and Giants throw haymakers at each other across the next four days.
But amid the good feeling there is Bruce, acquired a few seconds before the trade deadline, designed to be this year’s answer to Donn Clendenon and Yoenis Cespedes who has, instead, been closer to this year’s version of Jason Bay and Jeromy Burnitz.
Mets fans so wanted to embrace him, too. At the time of the deal Bruce had 25 homers and 80 RBIs, and he was hitting over .360 with runners in scoring position, this at a time when the Mets as a team were hitting about 360 points less than that. It seemed like a terrific fit.
Funny thing is, the Mets eventually did get hot.
In spite of Bruce, not because of him. Mostly, Bruce’s time as a Met has been a seven-week slog, a flurry of strikeouts and weak popups with men on base. Every time he walks to the plate — as he did Wednesday — there is the possibility of a turned page and a new chapter. And instead, Mets fans find themselves hoping he’ll bunt.
Or, unthinkably, hoping for Alejandro De Aza.
“I feel like I’m one of the nine best options,” Bruce said after Wednesday’s game. It is clear he is frustrated but just as clear that he believes the things that have carried him through slumps before — grinding, hard work, patience — will serve him well here.
But this isn’t Cincinnati, and this isn’t a fight for fourth place in the NL Central. This is New York, and the defending NL champs trying to barge into a playoff picture that seemed closed to them just three weeks ago. Folks expect things here. And while the Mets fans in attendance still hopefully cooed “Bruuuuuuce!” before his first plate appearance … well, it’s not so hard to alter that to something else.
And soon.
“If I take him out,” Terry Collins said, “I’d better be confident that someone can do a better job.”
For now, he will stick with Bruce, he will stay away from the man not too long ago known by the faithful as “DFA Aza.” He’ll stay away from Michael Conforto, who looks like he’ll need every bit of a full winter’s break to search for his own waning confidence.
Besides, this isn’t Bruce’s first taste of important games. He’s got an .877 postseason OPS in 36 at-bats. He’s twice been a top-10 MVP finisher. This is an accomplished major leaguer who badly needs to accomplish something across the next 16 games. And who probably isn’t going to bunt his way there.