Series Preview: Dodgers head to Citi Field to face a really bad Mets team

Do you remember the first two weeks of the 2018 baseball season? The Mets were 11-1 in their first 12 games and gave the people of New York some type of hope that their baseball team would be good, or at least decent.

Fast forward to the current state of the team and they’ve since plummeted towards the bottom of the league. Bottom line is the Mets just aren’t good at baseball right now.

The Mets have lost 40 of their last 60 games and more recently have only seven wins in their last 29. Within the latest stretch, New York has scored just 107 runs, but that includes a four-game series this week in Coors Field where they scored 32 of those runs.

The 3.89 ERA their starting pitchers have achieved in June is their strongest month thus far in the season. It’s hard to believe when the rotation boasts Jacob deGrom, who has only allowed five earned runs in four June starts.

The Met bullpen ranks near the worst in the game and has an ERA north of five since the start of May. They have given up a league-high 39 homers this season.

These are the type of games that teams like the Dodgers should win.

Three of the starters New York thought they would have in the middle of their lineup aren’t currently on the active roster. Old Friend Adrian Gonzalez was released June 11 after hitting .237/.299/.373 in 54 games. Jay Bruce (right hip) and Yoenis Cespedes (hip, quad) are both on the 10-day DL, which means the Mets are relying on a 37-year-old Jose Bautista who is below the Mendoza line in two stops after not having a team on opening day.

Noah Syndergaard is also on the DL with a strained ligament in his right index finger.

Friday, 4:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA, MLB Network out of market))

Zack Wheeler has had an up and down season but has looked better recently with added velocity on his fastball. In three of the four starts in June, the right-hander has allowed two or less runs. The Mets have lost eight of the last nine starts for Wheeler and they are 0-6 as a team when Wheeler starts at home.

Speaking of up and down, Alex Wood gets the ball Friday night seeking progress. After he looked like he was getting on track in May, the lefty has allowed 16 runs (14 earned) in 17 ²⁄₃ innings over his last four times out.

Saturday, 4:15 p.m. PT (Fox)

Caleb Ferguson gets the tough task of taking on the best pitcher the Mets have in deGrom. The Dodgers’ lefty has improved with each start but is likely making his final start in the big leagues for a while (knock on wood) when Clayton Kershaw makes his return next week.

The Mets best chance of winning any game these days is when deGrom’s turn in the rotation comes up. The right-hander has a 1.51 ERA in 15 starts this year and has allowed just nine runs (seven earned) in his last 11 starts. The Mets are 3-8 in those games just in case you were wondering.

Sunday, 10:10 a.m. PT (SportsNet LA)

Rich Hill will gets another opportunity to show he is fully recovered from his blister problem that has plagued his time with the Dodgers. The lefty didn’t allow a run over six innings on Tuesday in a Dodgers’ 10-inning loss.

Veteran left-hander Jason Vargas will make his 10th start of the season for the Mets. Vargas has allowed four or more runs in five of his nine starts to this point, including seven in his last start at Coors Field when he only lasted seven outs. The 35-year-old has averaged just over four innings per start in 2018.