Game 143: Loss

Marlins 16 Mets 5

Gee, we thought Sunday’s loss to the Dodgers was bad …

Dart-throwing Dave finally fell to Earth, exhibiting the kind of performance that made two of the most pitching-hungry teams in MLB toss him away. His line went like this: three innings, 11 hits, two walks, nine earned runs, two HRs. Eeek.

The only positives from the game were homeruns: one line-drive blast by Cliff Floyd, and Carlos Beltran’s 40th. Oh, yeah, and Lastings Milledge hit a run-scoring double as a pinch-hitter, then scored himself.

Notes

Poor Heath Bell was given another chance in a blowout and did not do well. In fact, he was rather awful, allowing two homeruns and seven hits in two innings. Well, at least he threw strikes (32 strikes out of 45 pitches, in fact). He’ll be gone in the offseason.

Bell, though, caused a smidgeon of controversy. In a rare moment of effectiveness, Heath struck out the Marlins’ best hitter, Miguel Cabrera. After the whiff, Heath made a small, barely noticeable fist-pump to himself as he ran off the mound. Cabrera, whose eagle eyes would have been better used in discerning balls and strikes in that at-bat, saw the gesture and became visibly upset about it. Further, he continued to steam about it on the bench, heckling Heath from the dugout. It got to the point that manager Joe Girardi took Cabrera out of the game, rather than give him another confrontation. Why Cabrera was so upset is anybody’s guess; the guy was 2-3 with 3 RBI and his 48th double, and the gesture was hardly something that could be considered offensive. As much as I enjoy watching him play, and respect his skills, he needs to quit the immature crap. If pitchers today had any cojones, Cabrera would be eating dust, and trying to dislodge a ball from his ear, in his next at-bat.