Verlander finds his best form for one day, at least
New York Mets starting pitcher Justin Verlander delivers against the San Francisco Giants during the seventh inning at Citi Field on Saturday.; Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets’ flickering, fading glimmer of hope took the mound Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. With an apocalyptic June finally in their rearview mirror, if there is any path out of this first-half disaster, however narrow, Justin Verlander has to be someone carrying a torch.
Verlander did that for seven innings to hand-deliver a 4-1 victory over the Giants, cruising for six of those before Pete Alonso’s second error in as many days required the three-time Cy Young Award winner to bail him out.
That’s what the Mets are paying him lavishly to do, of course. But it’s nice on occasion for Verlander to remind everyone why he’s here. He and fellow $43.3 million co-ace Max Scherzer represent the last slim chance for this season to be salvaged.
“They do lead the way,” said Francisco Lindor, whose 17th homer was one of three the Mets swatted in the third inning. “They take the field first, we follow them. They have the ball, they have the momentum. They create everything, you know?”
That was the whole idea behind Mets owner Steve Cohen writing those record checks, giving Scherzer and Verlander the biggest annual salaries in baseball history. It’s hardly a stretch to say that neither has lived up to those huge paydays, and Verlander, fresh off his third Cy Young Award season, is the more disappointing of the future Cooperstown pair.
Ideally, what Verlander did Saturday could be considered progress toward him making good on Cohen’s investment. Relying on the return of his wicked slider and a fastball that topped out at 97 mph, Verlander mowed through the Giants, needing only 73 pitches for the first six innings.
If not for Alonso terribly botching Patrick Bailey’s double-play grounder by flinging the ball into centerfield, setting up the Giants’ lone run and extending the seventh, Verlander had a real shot of going the full nine. Instead, Verlander had to throw 29 pitches to finish that inning, using a slider as No. 102 to whiff Brandon Crawford, the tying run at the plate. As Crawford swung in vain, Verlander hopped off the mound, pumping both fists.
“As a pitcher to work that hard the whole game, you know you’re kind of at the end of your rope,” Verlander said. “To make the last pitch and know that you set your team up for success and give us a good chance to win, it feels incredible.”
Sorry to be the buzzkill, but it hasn’t happened anywhere near enough for Verlander and the Mets. Through his first 10 starts this season, Verlander made it past the fifth inning in only half of them. Given the combustible state of the bullpen, the Mets couldn’t stay competitive by getting the abridged version of Verlander on those nights. His job is to take stress off the bullpen, not be the guy responsible for applying more pressure.
And even his previous outing, when Verlander pitched five scoreless, the bottom line was the inadequate number of innings more than briefly shutting down the Brewers in what eventually became a 2-1 loss.
Is it too much to ask for Verlander to repeat Saturday’s performance on a regular basis? Nope. Not if we’re going by his resume or contract, and really, what else is there?
Verlander turning 40 in late February naturally is part of the equation, too. But that can’t be a crutch, and neither can Verlander insisting he’s been a work in progress since returning from his March shoulder strain.
The Mets are running out of time, and Verlander can’t be wasting any more of it. If he’s truly capable of stringing a few of these together, Saturday can’t be just another outlier of him getting acclimated to Flushing. Along those same lines, I asked him after Saturday’s win if he has arrived at the place he needs to be.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever hear me say I’m there,” said Verlander (3-4), who walked one and struck out six in trimming his ERA to 3.66. “Definitely a huge step in the right direction. Just trying to build off that momentum.”
OK, so Verlander wasn’t ready for any bold proclamations about putting the Mets on his back.Fine. But the bulk of that responsibility lies with him and Scherzer, the only two players mentioned by name to Cohen when the owner was asked about a potential sell-off at the trade deadline.
Cohen said he wasn’t ready to broach that topic yet, but it’s not going away.
Verlander and Scherzer are the only ones who can make it disappear by pitching the Mets into the wild-card race.
On Saturday, Verlander finally appeared up to the task.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
