Mets Game 75: Loss to Mariners

Mariners 5 Mets 1

Soooo …. Johan Santana pitches seven innings, allows one earned run, and Felix Hernandez leaves the game in the fifth due to an injury. If you were to guess, which team would win?

Most likely, you’d have guessed wrong.

Because in the second inning, with two outs, David Wright booted a routine grounder to load the bases, bringing up the opposing pitcher. An American League pitcher. An AL pitcher with one career hit in eight career at-bats. The error should have been no big deal, right? Except, King Felix jumped all over Santana’s first offering and delivered it beyond the right field fence, for a grand salami. There had to be at least a little bit of emotion and adrenaline behind that at-bat, since it was one countryman vs. another (both Hernandez and Santana hail from Venezuela).

And just like that, the Mariners went up 4-zip.

They tacked on a fifth run in the fifth, just before Hernandez left the game after spraining his left ankle in a collision at home plate with Carlos Beltran. Not that they needed it, as the Mets were only able to muster one lousy run, against a parade of non-entities with names such as Corcoran, Rowland-Smith (isn’t he a news anchor?), Green, and Rhodes. The Mets batters were limited to four hits and three walks, leading new manager Jerry Manuel to the obvious proclamation that the offense needs to “attack”. Uh huh.

Notes

Carlos Delgado dirtied his uniform for the second time this year, though not on purpose. He reached a little too far down toward the ground while backhanding a grounder a foot to his right and lost his balance, falling to the ground. A patch of clay almost eight inches in length scarred his shiny white pants leg, just below the hip. Luckily, he was able to recover from such an obscene meeting with soil and get the out at first. Kudos to Carlos for staying with the play under such filthy circumstances.

Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran had two hits apiece, with Beltran stealing third and scoring the Mets’ only run on a wild pitch by King Felix. That was the extent of the Mets’ offense.

David Wright had a terrible game, going oh-fer-three with a walk and committing two errors — after going 27 consecutive games without a miscue. After the game, Jerry Manuel announced that Wright looked “tired” and would not play in Tuesday’s contest.

There was no announcement regarding Mets fans, who are also tired.

Next Game

The Wrightless Mets play the Mariners in another 7:10 pm start. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey goes to the mound against knucklehead Oliver Perez. The world records for combined walks and wild pitches could be threatened.