Major League Baseball

Mets look lifeless in series loss to Dodgers; is a trade-deadline selloff next?

Updated Jul. 17, 2023 1:32 p.m. ET

The well-oiled machine that is the Dodgers descended upon Citi Field this past weekend, only to make it exceedingly obvious that the 2023 Mets are out of their league.

Coming off the All Star break, Los Angeles took two out of three from New York in a melancholy Queens environment. The Mets need to play near-perfect baseball to make a playoff run in 2023, and the atmosphere in and around the ballpark suggested most understand the Amazins are no playoff contenders. They're not even pretenders.

The Dodgers were in control throughout the three-game series, even as the Mets oh-so-desperately needed to open the second half of the season with wins. Though the Mets momentarily felt OK, borderline good, about their walkoff win on Sunday night, the extra-innings victory was far from enough to save their season.

New York (43-50) remains seven games out of a wild card spot and 18.5 games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East. This is a star-studded, big-budget bust, one that looks more and more likely to sell at the trade deadline with each game they play.

The Dodgers (53-39), first in the NL West, need pitching help before the Aug. 1 trade deadline and their in-house arms delivered this weekend. Los Angeles starters held the Mets to two earned runs across 15.2 innings in the three-game set at Citi Field. The Dodgers continue to build on the potential they displayed to close out the first half.

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts credited his team's nightly urgency and intensity when it comes to staying the course.

"We're playing for each other, we take the info and we have a really good camaraderie," said Mookie Betts on Saturday after the Dodgers' 5-1 win over Justin Verlander and the Mets. "We show up ready to play."

The situation could not be more different for the club from Queens.

It's fair if, by now, you've lost count of how many times in the season an ugly loss or a head-shaking moment was considered rock-bottom for the Mets. Add Saturday night's latest late-game bungle to the mix, because the sharp and cutting boos that rained down Citi Field disparaged the home team to the point of something worse than rock bottom.

The Dodgers had runners on the corners in the eighth inning of a 1-1 tied game. Right-hander Adam Ottavino needed a double-play ball to get out of the jam, and he delivered. His first baseman, on the other hand, helped Los Angeles take the lead. Pete Alonso vacuumed a David Peralta ground ball, then made a consequential high throw to second base. Francisco Lindor leaped for the catch, then took a moment to step on the base before firing back to first, a beat too late.

Though it should've been a bang-bang inning-ending double play, Alonso's high throw led to Peralta being safe at first, and by then Max Muncy crossed home plate for the go-ahead run. The Dodgers took a decisive 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth. The Mets are 14-16 in one-run games this season.

In the bottom half of that inning, the Mets created an opportunity to at least tie the game when Tommy Pham drew a leadoff walk and Francisco Alvarez moved him up to third with a scorching single to left. With nobody out, the Mets had the tying run 90 feet from home. But their 7-8-9 hitters were due up, and that spelled doom when Mark Canha popped out on the first pitch, Brett Baty struck out on three straight fastballs in what can only be described as an unsightly at-bat, and Luis Guillorme whiffed on four pitches to end the inning and the weak threat.

The boos became howls. Players' expressions went from dejected to demoralized. The fans who were left streamed for the exits in sour moods. Surely, they must've said to themselves, there were far better ways to spend a Saturday night in the Big Apple.

As if the situation in Queens wasn't already hopeless, in the top of the ninth, Baty failed to catch a popup near third base, which led to another Dodger run. For added abuse, that dropped popup landed in the dirt and took a bounce off Baty's face. The mocking hostility of that unfortunate moment appropriately epitomized the nadir of the Mets season.

Too many times this year have we seen the Mets make sloppy mistakes and unrefined plays. It's odd to see, coming from a club that won 101 games last year thanks in part to its sharp defense and attention to detail. Last year, the Mets routinely looked like a Buck Showalter club, finishing the season with 13 Defensive Runs Saved, a respectable number which ranked 15th in the league. Through 93 games this year, the Mets are ranked 22nd in MLB with -11 DRS.

For this, Showalter carries added responsibility on his shoulders if only because the longtime skipper is known to place importance on defense, fielding and doing the little things right. That aspect of Showalter's managerial resume has been absent with the Mets this season and it's only fair to point the finger at the manager and his coaching staff for being less careful, less strict or perhaps even both.

The Dodgers, for their part, showed signs of improvement and encouragement from the one place they need it most: pitching.

Julio Urias pitched a gem in the series opener Friday night, which helped lower his ERA to 4.35 amid an inconsistent start for the southpaw, who's set to become a free agent this winter. Urias limited the Mets to one run over six innings while striking out seven and walking one batter. Urias has struck out 17 batters across 15 innings this month, a significant uptick from his three starts in June, when he combined to strike out just eight batters in 15.2 innings. The Dodgers need Urias to pitch more like he did on Friday to carry the rotation these next few weeks while Clayton Kershaw continues to nurse a shoulder injury.

"We knew we were getting a pitcher on the uptick," Showalter said of Urias.

Then Bobby Miller, the organization's top pitching prospect to start the year, impressed in the Dodgers' 2-1 loss in 10 innings on Sunday evening. Miller allowed one run and struck out five across 4.2 innings in his eighth start of the season and first since the All-Star break. Miller, and most other Los Angeles starters, still have to be able to pitch deeper into games. But his overall performance was promising; Miller's outing against the Mets featured the fewest runs he'd given up since June 10 against the Phillies.

The Dodgers have time on their side to improve their arms and get outside help in the weeks ahead. The Mets look — and are playing — like a desperate team that understands two weeks is not enough to turn the season around and convince the front office to be buyers come August. The former is a team missing a piece or two to become a legitimate October threat. The latter may need a complete roster overhaul before even uttering the word "playoffs" among staff members.

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers the top landing spot for Shohei Ohtani?

The sky is the limit for the Dodgers, a favorite to land Shohei Ohtani in a possible yet seemingly unlikely Angels trade. Rock bottom is an all-too-frequent landing spot for the Mets, a flopping club with a near-$380 million payroll that represents the richest, and perhaps most lifeless, team this sport has ever seen.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.