Mets Game 150: Loss to Nationals

Nationals 1 Mets 0

Mike Pelfrey had one bad inning, the fifth. He walked two and allowed two doubles in that frame, and gave up one run. Otherwise, he was outstanding, pitching seven innings of one-run ball, allowing seven hits, four walks, and striking out four.

Unfortunately for Big Pelf, Odalis Perez was slightly better, shutting out the Mets through 7 1/3 and allowing only four hits, walking none and striking out six. But then, he IS the Nationals “ace” and was their Opening Day starter. Sheesh.

Not much else to say about the ballgame. I think I heard Aerosmith’s “Same Old Song and Dance” playing in the background …. or was it in my head?

Notes

Fernando Tatis left the game with a shoulder separation, suffered while diving for a fly ball. I’m going out on a “limb” (pardon the pun) and guess we won’t see him again in ’08. Tough break for a guy who was delivering a wonderful comeback story. The Mets will miss his all-out hustle and team-first attitude as much as his bat.

Joel Hanrahan spent 11 pitches to strike out David Wright leading off the ninth, finishing him with a 97-MPH fastball. Wright was the only non-catcher to collect a hit — the other three Mets hits came off the bats of Brian Schneider, Ramon Castro, and Robinson Cancel.

Carlos Delgado struck out on a breaking pitch in the dirt to end the game, but didn’t run to first when the ball got away from the Nats catcher. He wouldn’t have made it, but it would have been nice to see him force the throw — you never know.

Something I haven’t touched on, and must. Mike Pelfrey has done a wonderful job of not only pitching, but developing his entire game. This time last year, he was horrendous at holding runners, fielding bunts, and hitting. Now, he’s actually very good at keeping runners close and preventing them from getting good jumps, he’s much better as a fielder, and he’s adequate at sacrifice bunts and hitting in general. Kudos to Mike for putting it all together — because those parts of the game have nothing to do with god-given talent, and everything to do with hard work and repetition.

During the top of the third inning, Gary Cohen pointed out that, like last season, Jose Reyes is slumping in September — though, “the eyes don’t show it, the numbers do.” Ron Darling piped in with the comment, “… last year there was a lot of non-hustling …” REALLY? No, Ron, really? What games were YOU watching last September? From game 1 through 162, Reyes was the one guy on the club who played all-out, all the time. The one time he didn’t “hustle” was on a ball he thought was going foul — similar to Brian Schneider’s snafu the other day. I’m really tired of this “non-hustling” label that Reyes has undeservedly been slapped with — it’s completely off base.

Jerry Manuel held a closed-door meeting prior to the game. Didn’t appear to help anything. There’s that deja vu feeling again …

The Mets have lost three in a row, can do no better than a split, and are facing the very real possibility of being swept by the worst team in the MLB. The worst team in MLB, if you didn’t read it right the first time. If the Mets can’t beat the worst team in MLB at this point of the year, I’m not sure they deserve to reach the postseason.

Next Game

Another 7:10 pm start on Wednesday. Brandon Knight goes to the mound against Shairon Martis (who?). Could be a slugfest.