Mets Game 147: Loss to Braves

Braves 7 Mets 3

You can’t pin this one on Danny Boy.

Daniel Murphy went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, and his 10th homerun of the season, but it wasn’t enough to carry the team to victory.

Since there was no postgame interview with Frankie Rodriguez, I’m not sure who’s to blame for this one. Instead I’ll move right on to the notes …

Notes

Nelson Figueroa had a rough night, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits and a walk in 5 innings — an average of 2 baserunners an inning. Not a good formula for success. He may have felt the game was falling apart from the opening pitch, since Murphy was starting at first base. Though, he didn’t admit that publicly.

On the bright side, Tobi Stoner looked good. Not good by MLB standards, but good compared to what we’ve seen of him thus far. He allowed a run on 4 hits and a walk. You know it’s a bad season when a reliever allows 5 baserunners in 3 innings and it’s called a “good” outing.

Angel Pagan hit another triple – his 10th of the season, and the second-best total in the NL.

Other than Pagan, Murphy, and two hits by Wilson Valdez of all people, the Mets didn’t do much against Jair Jurrjens, who hurled seven stellar frames and allowed one earned run.

The Mets were swept for the second time this September, and have lost five in a row. They’re making a strong run for the #4 pick overall in next June’s draft. Pray for a hot run by the Orioles.

The Braves, meanwhile, are on a seven-game win streak, and narrowed the gap between them and the Wild Card-leading Rockies to 4 1/2.

Next Mets Game

The Mets return to New York for a three-game series with the Nationals — before seeing the Braves follow them to Flushing on Monday. Friday night’s opener vs. Washington pits J.D. Martin vs. Mike Pelfrey.

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.
  1. TheDZA September 18, 2009 at 9:07 am
    Actually I think somone overheard Frankie in the carpark saying ‘what kind of ballplayer doesn’t hit for the cycle when so close?

    Joking aside, I didn’t see the game but i noted in the box that Murph had 3 hits off a mere 9 pitches (in 4 at-bats). Now is he just seeing ‘his pitch’ time and time again, or is his locker too close to Francoeur’s?

  2. isuzudude September 18, 2009 at 10:34 am
    I guess hdarvick is going to go back into hiding after Figueroa’s struggles last night. I know he’s a great guy and his life can be made into a movie, but Figgy really doesn’t provide the Mets, or any MLB team for that matter, with anything else than triple-A depth. Don’t let personal bias get in the way of the clearly obvious.

    By the way, speaking of clearly obvious, finally the Mets have moved Parnell back into the bullpen. This experiment of having Parnell start was half-assed and lacking direction from the very get-go. My fingers are crossed that this team just lets Parnell remain in the pen where he can air it out for an inning or two at a time, rather than forcing him to be a starter at the detriment of his true strength, his fastball. The only person on this team who looked more out of place in his role was Murphy when he was in LF. It’s about time they got this one right, too.