Mets Drop Rubber Game, Series Against Nationals

Sunday, August 20^th 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 2 Washington Nationals: 5

Mets Drop Rubber Game to Nationals

The start of the game today was delayed two hours and 26 minutes because of rain, and the Mets wish the game had been postponed all together.  The Nationals dropped the Mets in the rubber game of the series, as the Mets could already be contemplating that the new six-man rotation may not be the way to go after suffering a 5-2 loss this afternoon.  The Mets have won only once in their last 11 series and went 2-4 on this latest road trip against two division leaders in Cincinnati and Washington.

No one likes such a lengthy delay to start a game, but it cannot be used as an excuse as professional athletes have to be prepared to take on anything thrown at them.  This afternoon, Jeremy Hefner did not come out on top of his game and the Nationals capitalized. 

Hefner was hurt by the long ball, surrendering homeruns to Bryce Harper and Danny Espinosa in his five innings of work.  In total, Hefner surrendered eight hits and five earned runs, as it was a rough afternoon for the Mets starter.

Harper would also add an RBI triple in the game, just adding to his impressive numbers for the series.  Harper ended the series 4 for 7 against the Mets, including a triple and two homeruns, four RBI’s and a walk.

Gio Gonzalez blanked the Mets into the sixth inning, earning his N.L. high tying 16^th win of the season.  It was not an easy win for Gonzalez, who got out of two base runner jams in both the first and third innings.  A leadoff triple by Ronny Cedeno in the fourth inning also went for naught.  

The Mets struggled today with runners in scoring position, going 1 for 11 and stranding 10 runners on base.

Daniel Murphy was ejected in the eighth inning tonight by home plate umpire Jordan Baker after being called out on strikes and flipping his bat.  He is the fourth Met to be ejected this season, after Frank Francisco, D.J Carrasco and Ike Davis. 

Next up for the Mets is a soft stretch in the schedule.  After facing two division leaders on the road this week, the Mets will get to face bottom dwellers for the next week at Citi Field.  The first team coming in is the NL West bottom dwelling Colorado Rockies.  R.A. Dickey (15-4, 2.89 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets in the first game of the series against Alex White (2-6, 5.74 ERA) at 7:10 P.M. ET Monday night.

Also, sometime Monday Terry Collins is planning to meet with Sandy Alderson to discuss Johan Santana’s future.  Right now, Santana is still scheduled to start Thursday’s matinee against the Rockies.