Johan Santana Shut Down For Season

Johan Santana Shut Down For Season

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 Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana is being placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to August 18^th because of inflammation in his lower back.  Santana is not expected to pitch again this season according to General Manager Sandy Alderson.  Alderson is also adamant in saying that the shut down has nothing to do with Santana’s ankle or shoulder injuries he has suffered through this season.

“I’m very confident he’ll be back next season ready to go, hopefully in a stronger position coming into this season,” Alderson said.  “If you look back at this season and what we reasonably could’ve expected at the beginning of the year, he’s accomplished quite a lot.”

Santana’s back became a problem recently for him when it tightened up after his bullpen session on Monday afternoon.  Reoccurring back pain had been complained about by Santana since after his last start August 17^th against the Washington Nationals. 

Since throwing the first no hitter in Mets history June first and throwing a career high 134 pitches, Santana has compiled a 3-7 record with an 8.27 ERA in 10 starts, giving up six or more earned runs in his last five starts.

Right hander Collin McHugh will be promoted from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Santana.  McHugh, 25, has a 2-4 record with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts for the Bison.  There had been rumors of Jenrry Mejia coming up for the start, but the Mets instead opted to go with McHugh.

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.  

Strong Niese Outing Powers Mets to Win

Saturday, August 18^th 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 2 Washington Nationals: 0

Strong Niese Outing Powers Mets

The Mets offense was not able to generate much scoring tonight, but it gave them enough to get the 2-0 victory over the Nationals behind a strong pitching performance from Jon Niese.  Even the bullpen pitched well for the Mets, giving up no runs in their relief of Niese.  With the win, the Mets were able to avoid dropping to a season low eight games under .500.

Niese threw possibly his best game of the season, going 7 1/3 shutout innings.  He allowed only five hits while striking out seven Nationals.  Niese was removed before he could finish the 8^th inning at 109 pitches, 13 shy of his career high, after getting Bryce Harper to fly out.

The pulling of Niese comes slightly as a surprise as the Mets are moving to a six-man rotation starting Sunday, meaning Niese will have an extra day of rest before pitching Friday night against the Astros.

Niese now has a career high streak of 13 1/3 consecutive innings without giving up a run.

Jon Rauch relieved Niese and was able to record the final two outs of the 8^th inning without incident.  Since June 28^th in 21 appearances, Rauch has given up only one earned run in his 15 innings of work.

Another positive for the Mets tonight was the performance of Frank Francisco.  Francisco was able to notch his 20^th save of the season tonight after being pulled from the ninth inning twice earlier in the week. 

Edwin Jackson had a strong game for the Nationals, going seven innings and giving up only two hits and one walk while striking out 11.  The only blemish for Jackson was a homerun given up to Ike Davis in the 7^th inning, which proved to be all the runs the Mets would need.  It was Davis’ 22^nd homerun of the season.

Next up for the Mets is the implanting of their six-man rotation Sunday, starting with Jeremy Hefner (2-4, 4.76 ERA) taking the mound in the finale against Gio Gonzalez (15-6, 3.29 ERA).

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).

Marlins Wipe the Floor with Mets

Wednesday, August 8^th, 2012

Final Score: Miami Marlins: 13 New York Mets: 0

Marlins Wipe Floor with Mets

It was an ugly night at Citi Field for the Mets as the Marlins jumped out early and often en route to a 13-0 beat down.  The Mets just cannot buy a win at home right now, losing their eighth straight game at Citi Field since the All-Star break and ninth overall.  The last win at home for the Mets came all the way back on July 7^th against the Chicago Cubs.  The current home losing streak is the longest for the Mets since 2004, Art Howe’s last season as manager.  The Mets now sit at 53-58, 15 games behind Washington in the NL East and 10.5 games behind Atlanta for the last wild card spot. 

Chris Young was hammered tonight coming off what was his best start of the season.  The Marlins jumped on Young early and often, teeing off on him, including three homeruns.  The third homerun is what chased him from the game. 

Jose Reyes launched his eighth homerun of the season in the first inning to get the scoring started for the Marlins.  Giancarlo Stanton would hit the next two off Young, a two run shot in the first inning and another two run shot in the fifth inning. 

Young lasted only 4 1/3 innings in the game, unable to build off his strong performance in San Francisco last week.  He finished the game with totals of seven hits, seven runs, three walks and four strikeouts. 

The Marlins did not stay quite for long, as they put up another four spot in the eighth inning and a two spot in the ninth.  Lefty Garrett Olson was making his Mets debut and fit in perfectly with the bullpen giving up four earned runs in 1/3 inning. 

Closer Frank Francisco came in for the ninth inning to get some work in and continued the woeful pitching surrendering a two-run homerun to Greg Dobbs.

The Mets were able to only muster five hits off the Marlins pitching staff.  They were not without opportunities to score though, as the Marlins walked six Mets, giving them opportunities to make things happen; the Mets just were unable to take advantage.

One positive for the Mets was that Ruben Tejada continued his hitting streak with a single in the third inning, putting the streak at 13 games.  Reyes also continued his streak for the Marlins, getting his up to 26 games.  The 26 game hitting streak for Reyes is a career high for him and a high in the majors this season. 

Next up is the finale of the three game series in a Thursday matinee at 12:10 P.M. ET.  R.A. Dickey (14-3, 2.82 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets as they try to salvage the last game of the series against the Marlins’ Josh Johnson (7-7 3.85 ERA). 

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 Lose, Dickey Suffers First Loss Since April

Tuesday July 24^th, 2012

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

Dickey Suffers First Loss Since April

The rough second half continued for the Mets, as they fell again to the Washington Nationals 5-2 Tuesday night.  In a rematch from last week, in which the Mets won 9-5, All-Stars R.A. Dickey and Gio Gonzalez faced off; unfortunately they Mets were successful this time around.  The loss puts the Mets a season high three games under .500 and falling fast in the NL playoff races.  The Mets have lost five in a row, 11 of their last 12 and are 1-10 since the All-Star break.

Dickey wishes the calendar never switched from June to July, as this month has not been kind for the 37 year old knuckle-baller.  Since July has started, Dickey has surrendered 21 runs, 19 of which are earned, in 26 1/3 innings, which equals an ERA of 6.29.

Tonight Dickey pitched well for parts of the night but had a lousy final line suffering his second loss of the season and first since April.  His streak of 16 starts in a row without a loss ended, leaving him two shy of the Mets franchise record. 

Dickey cruised through the first three innings before hitting a bump in the road in the fourth inning when he surrendered a two-out RBI double to Danny Espinosa.  He then pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning and retired the first two batters of the sixth before imploding.

Dickey gave up five straight two-out hits before getting out of the inning.  The inning was highlighted by a two-run homerun by Adam LaRoche that ended up in the second deck in right field. 

Dickey finished the night with an underwhelming stat line, going six innings and allowing eight hits, five runs (four earned), one walk and seven strikeouts. 

Jordany Valdespin came off the bench and knocked out his seventh homerun of the season.  It is his fifth pinch-hit homerun this season, giving him the most in the majors and breaking the Mets franchise record for pinch hit homers in a season.

Even with the loss tonight, the Mets did end one streak.  They snapped their 42 inning streak of not leading, with a Ronny Cedeno RBI single in the 2^nd inning off Gio Gonzalez.  It was the only blemish for Gonzalez on the night, as he pitched a stellar seven innings. 

The Mets were able to keep phenom Bryce Harper in check tonight, as he went 0 for 4 on the night including three strikeouts. He did walk in the ninth inning, but was thrown out attempting to steal second base. 

Next up for the Mets is an afternoon matinee.  Jeremy Hefner (1-3, 5.85 ERA) will attempt to end the Mets losing streak against flame throwing All-Star Stephen Strasburg (10-4, 2.85 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.

Mets Swept By Dodgers, Fall Under .500

Sunday July 22, 2012

Final Score: 12 Innings, Los Angeles Dodgers: 8 New York Mets: 3

Mets Swept by Dodgers, Fall Under .500

The Mets lost to the Dodgers Sunday afternoon 8-3, resulting in a sweep of the series.  For the first time all season, the Mets record falls under .500 with the loss as their record drops to 47-48.  The Mets now sit five games behind the Atlanta Braves for the wild card and 8.5 games behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East division race.  The Mets have now lost eight of the nine games since the All-Star break and nine of ten overall.

Two other times this season, the Mets had been .500 entering a game and had been able to pull out a win, but not this afternoon.  The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Mets, as they finish the home stand against the Washington Nationals then head out west for a 10-game west coast trip with series against San Francisco, Arizona and San Diego.

Once again the Mets bullpen was tagged with the loss, something that is becoming too often of an outcome.  Ramon Ramirez imploded with two outs in the 12 inning, suffering the loss while surrendering five earned runs.  Ramirez surrendered three straight hits with the bases loaded to blow the game open.  The Mets bullpen had thrown four shutout innings prior to the meltdown, but once again was unable to hold the game.

The Mets have averaged five runs a game since the All-Star break, and looked like they were going to surpass that today. They were able to get 20 men on base today thanks to 16 hits and four walks but couldn’t make anything of them; the hitters just could not cash in.  The Mets stranded 14 runners on base, going 4 for 19 with runners in scoring position.  Multiple times the Mets had a chance to put this game away but were unable to come up with timely hits to knock in the go-ahead runs.  Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Lucas Duda and Josh Thole were the players to get the hits with runners in scoring position. 

It was another good outing for Jon Niese that was wasted and went for nothing.  Niese received the no-decision while tossing seven-plus innings surrendering only three earned runs.  He gave up eight hits, with the two big ones both coming in the sixth inning as Juan Rivera knocked his fifth homerun of the season over the wall and an Andre Ethier RBI single. 

Niese is taking full advantage of the injuries the Mets are suffering to their rotation by making the most of his chance at the number two spot.  Niese has allowed three or less earned runs in five of his past six outings and in his two starts since the break he has given up only four runs in 14 innings.

The Mets look to get back to .500 when they start a series against the first-place Washington Nationals at Citi Field Monday night.  Chris Young (2-4, 4.11 ERA) will attempt to stop the Mets losing streak against Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann (7-6 2.35 ERA). 

Mets Get First Win of Second Half

Thursday July 19, 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 9 Washington Nationals: 5

Mets Get First Win of Second Half

For the first time since the All-Star game the Mets were able to put together a complete game at the plate and in the field en route to a 9-5 victory over the division leading Nationals.  The win ended the Mets season-high six game losing streak; also they were able to avoid a second consecutive sweep to start the second half and salvage the series against the Nationals.

David Wright paced the Mets tonight and did not take long doing so.  He launched his 13^th homerun of the year in the first inning giving the Nets a 2-0 right off the bat.  After being walked in his second plate appearance, Wright knocked another one out of the park for his 14^th homerun of the season and a 9-1 Mets lead.  Wright finished the game 2 for 4 with the two homeruns and five RBI’s.  It was Wright’s first multi-homer game of the season.

This was the 18^th time that Wright had a multi-homer game as a Met, passing Carlos Beltran on that list.  Only Darryl Strawberry is ahead of Wright now, who holds the record with 22 multi-homer games in his Mets career.

Ike Davis joined Wright in the homerun club today, also hitting his 14^th homerun of the season in the 2^nd inning.  If the Mets want to make some noise in the second half and make a run at a playoff spot, they are going to need more performances like this afternoon’s 2 for 4 game out of Davis.

The Mets were able to get to Nationals All-Star Gio Gonzalez early and often as he had his shortest outing of the season allowing six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.  The Mets built a 9-1 lead and coasted to the victory when Gonzalez was lifted in the fourth inning.

For the Mets, R.A. Dickey had his best start in his last four outings.  Coming into this afternoon, Dickey had allowed five earned runs in three of his last four starts.  It was not his best outing of the season, but Dickey was able to go seven strong innings, allowing four runs, three of which were earned.  He was able to get out of trouble, as the Nationals had plenty of base runners getting 10 hits and one walks off of Dickey while he struck out five. 

The Mets will look to build off this afternoon’s win with another important series starting Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field.  Johan Santana (6-6, 3.59 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets and be opposed by Dodgers starter Aaron Harang (6-5, 3.53 ERA). 

Mets Comeback Falls Short, Losing Streak up to 6

Wednesday July 18, 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 3 Washington Nationals: 4

Mets Comeback Falls Short, Losing Streak up to 6

Different day same result for the Mets.  They once again fell down early and mounted a comeback and once again the end was a loss.  The Mets fell to the Nationals tonight 4-3, dropping to only one game above .500 and upping their season high losing streak to six games.  The loss also puts the Mets a season high eight games behind division leading Washington.

Like last night with Jon Niese, the Mets gave starting pitcher Chris Young virtually no room for error. Young pitched great through give innings again, but served up a two-run homerun to Adam LaRoche in the bottom of the 6^th to break up a scoreless game.  That was the only blemish on Young’s stat line for the night, as he finished the game with six innings pitched, six hits, two earned runs, one walk and two strikeouts. 

The bullpen again was a disappointment for the Mets, giving up two runs in their two innings of work.  Saturday’s starter Miguel Batista gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning.  He gave up two two-out singles, the second of which hit him in the lower leg.  After being visited by the trainer and throwing a warm-up pitch, he served up a two-run double to Steve Lombardozzi and the Nationals were up 4-1.

The Mets did show resiliency in the 9^th inning, mounting a comeback attempt again against the Nationals closer Tyler Clippard.  David Wright and Jason Bay were able to hit solo homeruns, their 12^th and fifth respectively, in the inning to bring the score to 4-3.  Jordany Valdespin was brought in to pinch hit again against Clippard, but was unable to come through again tonight as Clippard struck him out to end the Mets comeback.

As noted before, Bay knocked his fifth homerun of the season out in the 9^th inning and had finished the game 2 for 4.  Bay also singled in the 5^th inning off Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann, but was unable to come through in the 7^th inning with Lucas Duda in scoring position and the Mets down two runs grounding out to shortstop. 

The Mets look to avoid their second consecutive sweep to start the second half of the season Thursday afternoon as All-Star R.A. Dickey (12-1, 2.66 ERA) takes the mound.  It will not be an easy task for the Mets, as they will face Nationals All-Star Gio Gonzalez (12-4, 2.93 ERA).

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).

Mets Suffer Sweep at Hands of Braves

Sunday July 15, 2012

Final Score: New York Mets: 1 Atlanta Braves: 6

Mets Suffer Sweep at Hands of Braves to Start Second Half

The Mets start to an important stretch to start the second half of the season after the All-Star break did not get off to an aspiring start, as the Mets were swept in Atlanta against the rival Braves. The sweep was capped off with a 6-1 loss this afternoon.

Johan Santana was pitching well into the 5^th inning, when he suffered a meltdown aided by the umpires.  After an RBI single by Michael Bourn knocked in the first run of the game, pitching coach Dan Warthen was ejected for arguing the strike zone with umpire C.B. Buckner when he came out for a mound visit.  The Braves would go on to score five more runs in the inning off Santana, including a three-run homerun by Freddie Freeman.  Santana was also chirping at Buckner throughout the inning, as he was not pleased with the strike zone being called.

Santana’s final line for the game was five innings pitched, eight hits, two walks, six earned runs and three strikeouts.

This was the second consecutive start in which Santana surrendered six plus earned runs, as he allowed seven runs and 13 hits in his last start against the Chicago Cubs.  This is the first time he has allowed that many runs in back-to-back starts since April of 2000, which were the third and fourth appearances of his major league career.

Santana has struggled since throwing his no-hitter on June 1^st, as he is 3-4 with a 5.67 ERA in seven starts.

The Mets offense was unable to get anything going outside of a 7^th inning RBI single by Andres Torres.  They were shut down by Braves starter Ben Sheets, who was making his first start in the majors in two seasons.

Sheets finished the game throwing six shutout innings, surrendering only two hits and one walk while striking out five. 

With the loss the Mets dropped to 6 ½ games behind the first place Nationals with their record falling to 46-43.  The Braves are second in the division with a record of 49-39.

Next up for the Mets is another important series against the Washington Nationals starting Tuesday after an off day Monday.  Jon Niese (7-4, 3.73 ERA) will take the mound against lefty Ross Detwiler (4-3, 3.43 ERA).  The Mets could possibly be welcoming Jason Bay back to the lineup Tuesday, as he had a productive afternoon at triple-A Buffalo Sunday afternoon.

Mets End First Half on Down Note, Blasted By Cubs

Mets Blasted by Cubs, End First Half on Down Note

Final Score: Chicago Cubs: 7 New York Mets: 0

The Mets were not able to build off their strong performance Saturday afternoon, falling behind early and never recovered en route to a 7-0 shutout at the hands of the Chicago Cubs.  The Mets lost the season series to the Cubs 4-2.

Even with a disappointing end to the first half, it should still be pointed out that the Mets did have a strong half overall, going into the All-Star break with a 46-40 record.

This afternoon’s game though is one to forget.  Jon Niese gave up four runs in the first inning and the Mets were never able to build any momentum to get back into the game.  Niese would give up a three-run homerun in the 7^th inning to Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, adding to the insult.  Niese’s final line was seven innings pitched, nine hits, seven earned runs, no walks and three strikeouts.

For the Cubs, Ryan Dempster returned from the disabled list and shut down the Mets.  Dempster threw five shutout innings and four Cubs relievers combined to complete the shut out. 

The Mets managed eight hits, but only one was of the extra-base variety.  They also struggled with runners in scoring position today, going 0-8 and leaving six runners on base. 

Sandy Alderson was in the booth for an inning and a half today, but did not say much in the way of planned roster moves for the Mets.  He was not explicit in the way of trades and would not mention by name which relievers were being looked at as call-ups after the All-Star break.

Next up for most of the Mets is a little break with the All-Star festivities starting Monday.  David Wright, R.A. Dickey and manager Terry Collins will be on their way to Kansas City to take part.  The next game for the Mets will be Friday, July 13^th as Johan Santana (6-5 3.24 ERA) will take the mound against the Atlanta Braves and Tim Hudson (7-4 3.65 ERA).  The Mets will finish the first half five games, at worst, behind the Washington Nationals depending on the outcome of their game.