Mets Drop Last Game of West Coast Trip

Sunday August 5^th, 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 3 San Diego Padres: 7

Mets Drop Last Game of West Coast Trip

The Mets had a disappointing end to what was an overall positive west coast trip, ending with a loss to the San Diego Padres 7-3 Sunday afternoon.  Even with the loss to the end the trip, the Mets will head home with a 6-5 record out west against the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

Matt Harvey had a strong start to the road trip winning in Arizona for his first career win, but did not have as positive outcome this time around.  Harvey has a promising career ahead of him, but will undoubtedly have his rough patches like this afternoon.

Harvey had a rough afternoon, surrendering two two-run homeruns in spacious Petco Park.  Chase Headley in the first inning and Yonder Alonso in the third were able to tag Harvey for homers, making Harvey only the second visiting pitcher this season to surrender multiple homers in a game. 

Harvey’s final line was uninspiring ending with five innings pitched, eight hits, five runs, one walk and five strikeouts on 81 pitches.  If not for the trouble with the long ball, Harvey’s stat line looks much more promising.

The only noise made by the Mets offense this afternoon was from Ronny Cedeno, who hit a pinch hit two- run homerun off Jason Marquis in the 6^th inning after coming on for Harvey.  Marquis had a strong game for the Padres, retiring 14 batters after allowing a leadoff single to start the game. 

Jason Bay had a sacrifice fly in the 7^th inning to bring the Mets within two runs, but again was hitless at the plate.  Bay finished the road trip going 2-for-31, good for a .065 batting average.  Bay should be in the lineup Tuesday night against a lefty but should expect to see his playing time diminish and dwindle as the season winds down. 

Next up for the Mets, after a day off on Monday, is a three game series with Jose Reyes and the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.  Reyes will bring a major league season high 24 game hitting streak with him.  Jon Niese (8-5, 3.72 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets in opener and be opposed by Marlins starter Wade LeBlanc (1-1, 1.35 ERA).  By game time Tuesday, the Mets should also have better assessments on the extent of the injuries to Tim Byrdak and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.   

Niese Shuts Down Giants

Mets vs. Giants Post Game Recap 8/1

The New York Mets were able to beat the San Francisco Giants in the third game of the four game series winning by a score of 2-1.

Mets starter Jon Niese was able to bounce back nicely after a bad outing in Arizona by winning his 8th game of the season. Niese went seven innings only allowing three hits, two walks, one run, and had five strikeouts.

The bullpen was able to finish off the last two innings rather easily with Tim Byrdak, and Jon Rauch pitching the 8th without allowing base runner, and Bobby Parnell was able to pick up his 4th save of the season putting the Giants down in order in the 9th.

Ruben Tejada had a big day for the Mets starting the game with a leadoff homerun against Matt Cain for his 1st homerun of the season, and snapping a 628 at-bat streak without a homerun. Tejada would go 3 for 4 with a walk in the game.

David Wright like Tejada also was able to have a three hit game going 3 for 4 with a walk as well.

The Mets offense did miss many opportunities to score going 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position blowing lots of chances to break the game open. They were however extremely aggressive on the base paths stealing four bases on Buster Posey, and had two runners thrown out.

The Mets will look to take the series against a hopeful playoff team in the Giants as Chris Young (2-5, 4.58) will face Barry Zito (8-7, 3.89).

Mets Lose 6th Straight

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Mets vs Nationals Post Game Recap 7/25

The New York Mets were unable to beat on the majors best pitchers in Stephen Strasburg losing to the Nationals by a score of 5-2 making it a 6 game losing streak now.

The Mets got a good start from Jeremy Hefner but unfortunately he was out dueled by Strasburg and picked up his 4^th loss of the season. Hefner went a solid six innings allowing six hits, two walks, three runs only two of which were earned, and had a career high seven strikeouts.

Tim Byrdak had a tough afternoon allowing a monster two-run homerun to Adam LaRoche scoring Bryce Harper in the 7^th inning, and put the dagger into the Mets making it a 4 run game late.

Stephen Strasburg was fantastic in picking up his 11^th win of the season. Strasburg shut down the entire Mets offense only allowing one run on four hits, and had eleven strikeouts.

Ike Davis was the only Met to do much damage off Strasburg, as Davis was able to his 16^th homerun of the season in the 2^nd inning.

The Mets will be heading out west for a 11 game road trip, and will be sending top prospect Matt Harvey for his first career major league start against the Dbacks All-Star Wade Miley (11-5, 3.02).

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).

New York Mets vs. Chicago Cubs Post Game Recap 6-25

Final Score: New York Mets:1 Chicago Cubs: 6

Mets manager Terry Collins let his players know how he felt about their play recently, calling it admirable because the Mets just ended a streak of eight straight series against teams with win.  What Collins feared most, a letdown by his team, may be starting to materialize after a very lackluster performance against the Chicago Cubs, owners of the worst record in the MLB.

The Mets were able to only muster six hits against the Cubs with shortstop Ronny Cedeno and Mike Nickeas each getting two apiece.  It took the Mets until the 9^th inning to even score their run as it came on Ike Davis’s 9^th homerun of the season. 

The Mets were also very sloppy in the field, committing three errors, all of which came in a disastrous 7^th inning when the wheels really fell off for the Mets.   

Johan Santana pitched admirably for the Mets, by once again was let down by a lack of offense.  Santana pitched six innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six.

The big blow for the Cubs came in the 4^th inning when Joe Mather launched a 2-run homerun off Santana after he issued a two out walk to Cubs catcher Geovany Soto.

The Mets bullpen had a comeback and debut tonight.  The comeback was made by Ramon Ramirez, who was returning off the DL from a strained right hamstring, had a rough outing allowing both of his inherited runners to score in the 7^th inning.  The debut was made by Justin Hampson, who was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to be paired with Tim Byrdak as lefties in the Mets bullpen.  Hampson surrendered a two out triple to Reed Johnson, was able to get out of the inning unscathed, also recording a strikeout.

Travis Wood pitched seven innings of shutout ball for the Cubs, giving up five hits and only walking one batter while adding six strikeouts.

Up next for the Mets is the middle game of their series against the Cubs.  Dillon Gee (5-5 4.27 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets while right-hander Randy Wells (1-2 4.91 ERA) will take the mound for the Cubs.