Syndergaard silences Reds bats, Johnny Cueto can't do it all. Reds lose, 2-1

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

This was a thoroughly uninteresting game for the Reds offense, which is really no surprise since Johnny Cueto was on the mound. And for that, I'm giving it (again) to Cueto.

We have a really high standard for Johnny. To the point where a 6 inning, 2 hit, 2 earned effort leaves me wanting more. Due to all of the times that he looks superhuman, I want him to be superhuman every time. He can't and he wont, and when I look at the numbers, I realize how irrational I am for expecting more.

Who the hell knows if the Reds will actually trade Cueto. The selfish part of me would really love to watch an extra half season of Johnny, but the rational part of me knows that wouldn't be the best long term for our Cincinnati Reds. So, Johnny, you weren't YOUR best, but you were most everybody else's best. Have a trophy.

Honorable mention to: Chris Dominguez for a 1-3 with the only RBI of the night. Brandon Phillips for his single and 2 stolen bases. And Nate Adcock for not being Kevin Gregg.

Key Plays

• The Mets wasted no time jumping upon the Reds in this one, as Curtis Granderson jumped all over a Johnny Cueto offering, crushing a leadoff deep dinger into the second deck in right field. The Mets then remembered that, "Oh yeah, that's Johnny Cueto," and were retried in order thereafter. Mets led, 1-0.
• The Reds started the 2nd inning off with back to back base knocks from Jay Bruce and Brayan Peña. Eugenio Suarez grounded the first out, but the only play was at 2nd base, allowing Bruce to move to 3rd. That was important, because Chris Dominguez knocked a soft, broken-bat dribbler past the mound, slow enough to allow a hard charging Bruce to score while Dominguez narrowly got thrown out at first. Cueto grounded into the 3rd out of the inning, but the Reds were able to small ball/luck their way into tying up the game, 1-1.
• Johnny Cueto breezed to start the bottom of the 5th, getting the first two outs right away. However, Dilson Herrera smoked a line drive to the right center field warning track past a diving Billy Hamilton, and motored all the way around to 3rd base with a triple. Cueto lost control after that, walking three Met batters in a row and allowing New York's 2nd run of the night. Michael Cuddyer finally flew out to Hamilton in center to end the inning, Mets led 2-1.
• Unfortunately, that'd be all the Reds could muster. Mets win, 2-1.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=1074850&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-06-26&team=Mets&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-06-26&team=Mets&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>