Mets Game 108: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 7 Mets 5
It couldn’t go on forever.
Eventually, the Mets had to lose a series, and Mike Pelfrey had to lose a game. No need to panic — yet.
Pelfrey was battered for five runs on eight hits — with all five scores coming in his last frame, the fourth. The Fish held their 5-1 lead until the seventh, when Damion Easley surprised them with a three-run homer to slim the lead to one. However, Joe Smith couldn’t keep the Mets in the game, allowing a two-run dinger to Dan Uggla to give the Marlins a 7-4 advantage. The Mets made a valiant two-out effort in the ninth to pull within two, but it was too little, too late.
Notes
With the loss, the Mets not only lost the series, but allowed the Phillies to re-take first place by a half-game. The Fish are now a game behind the Mets, a game and a half out of first, but leading everyone in the race for Manny Ramirez — which Peter Gammons and Will Carroll claim is a “done deal”. Yikes.
Pelfrey was doing a good job of blowing his four-seam fastball up in the zone and past hitters early in the game, but eventually the Fish adjusted and started looking for pitches at their eyes. Instead of readjusting and hammering his sinker down in the zone, he continued to pound the top, which led to the fateful fourth frame. This is where he needs to both mix in pitches down in the zone and use his curveball to keep batters honest.
Carlos Muniz pitched two shutout innings of relief, striking out four. Duaner Sanchez also pitched well, throwing a scoreless seventh with an efficient 9 pitches.
One of the relievers for the Marlins was journeyman Joe Nelson, who struck out two in pitching a perfect eighth. Nelson has a 1.61 ERA in 31 appearances, with 34 strikeouts in 28 innings. Why should you care? If you are a loyal MetsToday reader, you might remember me suggesting Nelson as a no-risk, high-reward pickup way back in November of 2007. Even then, I thought it would make sense to stockpile arms in AAA, just in case.
Next Game
The Mets take a day off, then travel to Houston for a three-game series with the Astros. Strangely, the Mets get another day off after the series, on Monday. Friday night’s contest begins at 8:05 pm, and pits Pedro Martinez against Brandon Backe.
And I also don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but here again we have an example of the bullpen allowing the opposition to extend their lead, which prooves costly because the Mets rallied in the 9th. I’m willing to concede that Huston Street’s pricetag is too high, but we’re in big doo-doo if Omar does nothing to bolster the pen. 2 months to go in the season and it looks like the tank is already hovering around E. This bodes for a very rocky 2nd half.
Their X-factor tho is development. Nolasco?, Josh Johnson? Hermida @#$!!! Who are they?
They still are not getting high return on ALL_WORLD prospects Jeff Allison, Miller, anibel Sanchez & Maybin.
Isuzu: This loss irked me. In fact 2 of the last 3 losses do. BUT this one goes to Pel who has been so solid. I guess the Florida air affected his stuff. BUT kudos to Muniz! I do like him. I have since last yr. The losses of Bell, Lindstrom and even Owens looms large right now but Muniz IS a large factor in this pen going forward especially given the price of arms.
Why am i irked? HEILMAN!! AGAIN Heilman is held out of a game where HE would have been THE difference. CONSPIRACY? ABSOLUTELY. Joe thinks he may start…i think he is all but traded!
Given Niese’s FANTASTIC debut last night against the 4A league …we have a 22yr old ML ready lefty STARTER (costing min wage). .. So no need for Heilman the starter (?). After all theoretically theres Figs and stokes.
We have already had this discussion: We all know who the Mets have as bait. I just think there is something brewing.
1. Obviously we need an arm in the pen. There are 20 candidates out there .
2. We need a bat. I am not averse to Manny at all. In fact I’d table a proposal that Omar sends them 2 middling prospects and pay the rest of the salary (where as Florida cant).
3. With Pedro, El duque and others set to be FA, I would consider trading for Burnett.
Burnett is interesting, but Toronto is going to want a lot in return because he has an option for next year in which he could return, and if he opts for free agency he’ll bring them back some draft picks. I’ve heard a rumor about Ian Snell, and that the Mets could use him as a reliever this year and put him in the rotation next year. He’s got reclamation project written all over him, but if he comes cheap I think getting him would be better than doing nothing.