Mets Game 49: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 7 Mets 3
The Mets had a 3-2 lead in the second inning, but the Fish scored four runs in the third to go up 6-3 and bury the Mets.
I’m not sure why they bothered playing the last six innings — it was a complete waste of time for everyone. Everyone playing the game, watching the game, listening to the game, and within 50 miles of the game, knew the game was over after that four-run third by the Marlins.
True to form, the hapless, lifeless, brainless Mets stuck their heads right up their collective butts immediately after falling behind, and did a team-wide sleepwalk through the remainder of the game.
The only offense in the entire game came from Jose Reyes, who hit two solo homers in the first two frames. Oh, and “team leader” Carlos Delgado managed to hit a lazy fly ball for a sac fly in the third. In the past week, he’s been producing just enough to support the Mets’ front office’s illusion that he can be productive.
Mike Pelfrey was terrible, as usual, looking like the AA pitcher he is. Perhaps someone with power inside the organization will finally speak up and recommend his demotion. The kid simply is not ready, and won’t be, until he has an opportunity to build confidence in his stuff in a pressure-free environment, and develop an off-speed pitch. This isn’t my opinion, it’s a fact that anyone with two eyes and ten minutes’ of baseball experience can see 100 feet away.
Notes
I brought it up before, I’ll bring it up again: TAKE A STRIKE WHEN YOU’RE LOSING. Rallies rarely occur as a result of a collection of first-pitch hits. They happen from a batter walking, the defense losing their concentration, an error occurring, etc. The Mets were down by three for most of the game, yet still were swinging from their heels with nobody on and no strikes on the count. Carlos Beltran just LOVES to do this — his first-pitch flyout following the four-run top of the third was reprehensible — he gave Ricky Nolasco a free pass. Beltran later swung away in the seventh with no one on and a 1-0 count — again, completely unacceptable. David Wright did the same thing two pitches earlier. Guess what? That’s called an epidemic. One guy does it, gets away with it, everyone else thinks it’s OK — worse, a great idea! Terrible baseball.
To be clear, smart baseball — i.e., “fundamentals” — say it’s OK to swing with no strikes when you’re down IF a) there are runners on base who you can advance or drive in; b) you know what’s coming; c) you are on an unconscious hot streak. Otherwise, it’s DUMB baseball, a.k.a., losing baseball (this is the opposite of winning).
One bright spot was Aaron Heilman’s two innings of spotless relief. It’s amazing how relaxed he looked, pitching early in the game and without pressure. Ding ding ding ding ding! Is the light bulb on? Anyone? Is it possible he doesn’t have the chutzpah to pitch in the pressure cooker five days a week? Keep stretching this guy out and put him in the rotation.
At first, while watching SNY’s SportsNite, I thought Lee Mazzilli had shaven his head. However, it turned out to be Darryl Strawberry.
Next Loss
The Mets will lose to the Marlins tomorrow in a game scheduled to begin at 7:10 pm. Johan Santana will have another excellent outing go to waste as the Mets bats are befuddled by Andrew “Koufax” Miller.
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers.
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I went to bed after the fifth, as I had seen enough. Willie should be catapulted out of Shea and Frank Robinson should be brought in to finish the rest of the season. He would have done a “counseling session” with Reyes after the first-inning error, and would have yanked his sorry butt out of the game in the third. Let Damion Easley play if Reyes is going to have this lazy attitude.
Did I miss something? I thought Reyes was our only productive hitter last night. I don’t think he deserves benching for committing an error – unless you feel he meant to do it. As for Delgado, Beltran, Wright, and Schneider – aka the “First Ball Hitting Crew” – bench them all you wish. Good luck finding enough replacements to field a team, though.
I think the quicker people realize that the Mets, as a team, suck, the sooner they’ll stop calling for Willie to be fired. He’s going to be canned at the end of the season anyway, so what’s the rush? There’s not a soul alive who can manage this team back to respectability this season. Delgado needs to go, a new LF needs to be brought in, starting pitchers who can last longer than 5 innings need to be signed, and we need to find someone who can give the team a kick in the ass when they get into these depressive slumps. You can’t fix the world in a day.
i don’t know if you saw the headlines on M-blog, Joe, but there is talk that Heilman may take a trip to AAA to work on some stuff – perhaps to be a starter? They must read us, LOL.
ID, he was the Mets most productive hitter . . . but his defense sucked. If he fields the grounder cleanly in the first, it’s a 6-4-3 DP and the Mets are out of the inning. If he fields the grounder in the third cleanly, he gets an out–didn’t the Marlins already have two outs in that half of the inning?–and Luis Gonzalez doesn’t get up to clear the bases. Or, if there was only one out, then Beltran’s poor fielding yields only two runs. Maybe Pelf walks Gonzalez.
Coop – saw that, but doubt they’ll move him out of the ‘pen. They already have plenty of “depth” in the starting rotation. And gee whiz, when Pedro and El Duque come back, there will be too many starters!
The Mets would rather continue to push square peg Heilman into the round hole of the bullpen, and hope against hope that he can pitch like he did in the past. At this point, it ain’t gonna happen …