Home » Mets 2008 Games » Mets Game 155: Loss to Braves
2
September 21, 2008 Mets 2008 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 155: Loss to Braves

Braves 7 Mets 6

Anyone else get the feeling of deja vu during this game?

The Mets jump out with an early lead, the starting pitcher mows down the opposition, meantime the offense goes to sleep, the bullpen blows the lead, and the Mets lose the game. It’s as if the Mets were following a script.

Mike Pelfrey pitched well, allowing only three runs on six hits in six innings. However, the bullpen was not so good. Jerry Manuel once again went to the “bullpen carousel” strategy, sending in a new arm for each individual Braves batter. The last time Manuel pulled this insanity, it worked, and he was lauded for his great managing. Today, it didn’t work, so I suppose we’ll blame it on Aaron Heilman. Sound good? (Yeah, I want Jerry’s job too.)

In truth, the Mets would not even have been in the game if not for Carlos Delgado, who continues to carry this team on his shoulders. Delgado went 4-for-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI, and collected both his 2000th hit and his 37th homer of the season. David Wright played a supporting role, scoring 3 runs and collecting two hits, including a two-run homerun (his 32nd of the year). Wright and Delgado, in fact, combined for 6 of the Mets’ 8 hits and 5 of thier runs, and for those keeping score, Luis Castillo drove in the sixth Mets run.

Notes

Manuel used six relievers for innings seven and eight. The only one whose performance could be described as effective was Ricardo Rincon, who retired the one batter he faced.

Despite this game, I’m still not worried about the Mets’ chances for the playoffs. The Brewers won, yes, putting them only a game and a half behind the Mets in the wild card standings. And though Milwaukee has three games coming up against Pittsburgh, they finish with a three-game set against the Cubs — a team they have had trouble with all year. Not to mention that they don’t have Ben Sheets and their bullpen is in worse shape than the Mets, if you can believe that. The Brewers have earned exactly one save this month.


Next Game

The Mets begin the final homestand in the history of Shea tomorrow night, opening a four-game series with the Cubs at 7:10 pm. Rookie Jonathan Niese faces Jason Marquis.

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. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
Related Articles
  1. murph September 22, 2008 at 10:34 am
    It happens so often, it is no longer shocking.
  2. Micalpalyn September 22, 2008 at 1:24 pm
    JM: Its not working. It appears he is ‘resting’ his overworked pen, with shorter appearances on alternate days. nope its not working. Heiman appears to be able to do one batter, Stokes is not quite getting movement on his FB (apparently). Sho is just shot. And after one appearance a annointed Rincon the primary LOOGY and that was quite a prediction. Now Parnall may be the best ROOGY. It is easy for me to say but Parnall, Figs, Stokes, Ayala, feliciano, and Rincon are my BP. Sho, and Heilman are off.

    On the game yesterday. REALLY BAD. They had this game over in the 2nd ….if they wanted to. There is NO WAY Cox shoyuld go to his BP in the SECOND inning and then win. Agreed the BP is the glaring fault, but the line up crapped themselves by not putting the game away.

    It has been said that A-rey is to a win what Castillo is to a loss..ie common denominator…regardless of STATS. JM said as much, but Castillo was inserted anyway.

    Anyway, lets see what JM does next. hopefully he has a little Ozzie Guillen him.