Santana Implosion Leads to Mets Loss

Friday, August 17, 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 4 Washington Nationals: 6

Santana Implosion Leads to Mets Loss

The game got off to a great start for the Mets, who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, behind Johan Santana.  That lead did not last long, as Santana suffered yet another implosion, leading to an insurmountable four run deficit by the 6^th inning.

After retiring the first nine Nationals in order with relative ease, Santana ran into trouble in the fourth inning allowing three consecutive singles to start the inning to Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman.  Michael Morse followed up the three singles with a grand slam homerun, giving the Nationals a 4-2 lead.  Santana was able to retire the next three batters in a row to end the inning, but again ran into trouble in the 5^th inning.

Santana surrendered yet another long ball, this time giving up a two-run homerun to Harper.  This lengthened the Nationals lead to 6-2, putting the Mets in a deeper hole.  Santana was able to finish the inning, which ended up being his last of the night.

Santana’s stat line was underwhelming once again, the only positive being that he did not walk a batter.  He ended up throwing five innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits and striking out four.

Santana became the first pitcher in Mets franchise history to allow six-plus earned runs in five consecutive starts and the first major league pitcher to allow that many runs in the same span since Mike Hampton, whose futility spanned from 2001 and 2002. 

The loss dropped Santana’s record to 6-9, the lowest he has been under .500 in his career in a single season.  In 2006 Santana opened the season with three straight losing decisions, but rebounded nicely finishing the season with a 19-6 record. 

Santana has been awful since throwing the no-hitter on June 1^st, compiling an 8.27 ERA, allowing 68 hits, 13 of which were homeruns, in just 49 innings.  Because of these struggles, the Mets need to really look into possibly shutting Santana down for the remainder of the season or doing something more radical than moving to a six-man rotation. 

Santana is owed $31 million dollars next season including a 2014 contract buyout, so the Mets need to act in whatever fashion they see being the best for the team, as Santana could potentially account for  one-third of the Mets payroll.

The Mets had to deal with yet another uniform infraction Friday night, as Santana was forced to cover up the gold logo on his glove two nights after R.A. Dickey was forced to cut the bracelets off his wrist.  Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson said the lights were making a glare off the logo that was bothering him and getting in his eyes.  He then asked the umpire to take a look at the glove and cover the logo, even though none of his players had complained; only he had.

There were some highlights for the Mets tonight, as Kelly Shoppach launched a solo homerun in the 7^th inning after going hitless in his first five at-bats as a Met.  Scott Hairston was able to tie a franchise record by hitting three doubles in the game and David Wright added two more hits to his numbers.

The Mets will look to avoid dropping to a season high eight games under .500 Saturday night behind Jon Niese (9-6, 3.67 ERA) against the Nationals’ Edwin Jackson (7-7, 3.47 ERA).

Mets Fall to Nationals Suffering Meltdown in Extras

Monday, July 23, 2012

Final Score: 10 innings, Washington Nationals: 8 New York Mets: 2

Mets Suffer Meltdown in Extras, Fall to Nationals

On a soggy night at Citi Field the Mets once again fought valiantly against the division leading Washington Nationals to once again suffer a meltdown in extra innings, losing 8-2.  The loss drops the Mets to a season-high two games under .500 and fading fast in the wild card and NL East division races.  The Mets have now trailed for 40 straight innings and are 1-10 since the All-Star break.

Tonight the culprit out of the Mets bullpen was Pedro Beato.  Beato inherited two runners of Tim Byrdak and subsequently surrendered the tie-breaking single to Bryce Harper with the bases loaded.  Ryan Zimmerman added on with a bases clearing double and Michael Morse launched a two-run homer to finish the scoring in a six run frame for the Nationals. 

The Mets should have been in much better shape, but Ruben Tejada dropped a throw from Byrdak on a tailor made double-play ball after Roger Bernadina led off the inning with a single.  Tejada was spiked on the play and was checked out by trainer Ray Ramirez but remained in the game.

Tonight’s performance was the most runs given up in an extra inning in Mets franchise history.  Five of the six runs were earned, giving the Mets back to back nights in which their bullpen gave up five or more runs in an extra inning.  The bullpen’s total ERA now sits at an appalling 5.16, easily the worst in the majors.

Chris Young was able to give the Mets a strong start even if the beginning was rocky.  Young surrendered a leadoff single to Steve Lombardozzi to start the first and then followed that up by serving up a two-run homerun to Bryce Harper.  Young would allow one more hit that inning then go on to retire 14 Nationals in a row. 

Young matched a season high throwing seven innings, giving the Mets the exact performance they need from their starters if they expect to have any change at the post season.  Young finished the game with a final line of seven innings pitched, three hits, two earned runs, three walks and seven strikeouts. 

The Mets were able to answer for Young, showing some power of their own with two solo homeruns by David Wright in the fourth inning and Ike Davis in the seventh inning.

Wright and Davis are tied for the team lead with 15 homeruns each.

Jordany Valdespin hit in front of Wright tonight and finished the night 0 for 4, but should expect to see lots of playing time in the coming games in the outfield.  He figures to get a good look against right handed pitching with Lucas Duda being rumored to be sent down to clear space for Matt Harvey.

Ruben Tejada was able to get back on track, getting three hits tonight in his four at-bats.  Daniel Murphy also stayed hot, getting two hits of his own in his four at bats.

Next up for the Mets and Nationals is a re-match of All-Stars from last week in D.C. between R.A. Dickey (13-1, 3.32 ERA) and Gio Gonzalez (12-5, 3.32 ERA).  The Mets were able to get their only win of the second half in this match-up last week 9-5.

Reeling Mets Lose Fifth Straight

Tuesday, July 17^th 2012

Final Score: 10 innings New York Mets: 4 Washington Nationals: 5

Reeling Mets Loss 5^th Straight

The Mets were resilient again tonight, but the end result was not a positive one as they fell to the Washington Nationals 5-4 in 10 innings.  It is starting to become sort of a broken record for the Mets, as once again the bullpen struggled and lost the game for the Mets.  The loss tonight drops the Mets to 46-44, seven games behind Washington in the NL East and 3.5 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves.  This is also the longest losing streak, five games, for the Mets this season. 

The Mets offense was shut down for 8 innings tonight, as Nationals starter Ross Detwiler and reliever Sean Burnett combined to give up only six base runners and strike out five Mets heading into the 9^th inning.  The Mets looked dead but thanks to Jordany Valdespin were able to take a 3-2 lead.  It was Valdespin’s 5^th homerun of the season and 3rd pinch hit homerun. 

Bobby Parnell came into the game trying to nail down the save in the bottom of the 9^th but was unable to hold the lead.  It was the second consecutive blown save for Parnell, who also blew the save Saturday in Atlanta. 

Josh Thole was able to put the Mets back into the lead in the 10^th inning with an RBI single knocking in Daniel Murphy who had an infield single to start the inning, but the lead was short lived.  Tim Byrdak came in the bottom of the 10^th and promptly gave the lead back to the Nationals, eventually loading the bases.  Pedro Beato relieved him and threw a wild pitch, scoring Ryan Zimmerman with the go-ahead run.

Bryce Harper hit a rocket to right field to tie the game, but was thrown out on a force at home plate after Byrdak intentionally walked the bases loaded.

This was yet another meltdown for the Mets bullpen, which surrendered runs in three consecutive innings, unable to hold the lead twice.

Not to be forgotten in what will be a tough loss to swallow is the performance of Jon Niese.  Niese gave up only one run, a 5^th inning solo homerun to National rookie Tyler Moore.  Niese had retired 12 batters in a row before the homerun.  He finished with a final line of seven innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, no walks and eight strike outs.

Jason Bay made his return from the disabled list and picked up right where he left off, going 0 for 3 and being lifted for Valdespin in the 9^th inning. 

David Wright struggled it seemed with picking up the ball in Atlanta, but was back to hitting the ball hard in Washington tonight.  Wright finished 2 for 5, including a double.  Even Wright’s outs were hard hits; the rough weekend in Atlanta seems to have been a blip on the radar. 

Chris Young (2-3, 4.28 ERA) will take the mound and try to end the Mets losing streak against the Nationals’ Jordan Zimmermann (6-6 2.48 ERA).