Home » Mets 2010 Games » Mets Game 26: Loss to Reds
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May 3, 2010 Mets 2010 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 26: Loss to Reds

Reds 3 Mets 2

Mets were Nixed by a Laynce … Laynce Nix deposited a hanging curveball from Manny Acosta into the right field seats to give the Reds a walk-off victory in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Game Notes

Oliver Perez managed to finish six innings, allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. Do not be fooled — the linescore tells a much different story than the eyes. As usual, Ollie was consistently missing his target by a foot or more, but was helped greatly by the young, aggressive hackers in the Reds lineup who apparently were not given a copy of the scouting report. Had Cincinnati exercised a modicum of patience, Ollie would not have made it out of the third inning.

One positive point regarding Ollie: he was stepping directly behind the rubber to start his windup. I like this, because it gets the pitcher started in a backward-forward, up and down pattern for delivery, which encourages the body’s momentum to go toward the plate. Ollie’s major issue has always been that his body (and balance) goes side-to-side, and it all began with a step to the side of the rubber. Perez still had too much rotation in his leg lift — turning his front side toward the second baseman, and causing his front side to in turn fly open too early — but any baby steps toward better mechanics has to be celebrated.

Mike Leake was impressive, especially considering that he has not thrown an inning of minor league ball. His name and the fact he can hit made me think of Kelly Leak, from Chico’s Bail Bonds. The kid pounded the strike zone and held the Mets to only 4 hits and a walk in 6 innings. I was surprised Dusty Baker lifted him for pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo with men on first and second. First of all, Leake should have remained in the game to pitch, but secondly, he looked more capable at the plate than Cairo.

Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo combined to see 49 pitches and reach base 5 times in 10 plate appearances, but scored only one run between them.

David Wright seems to be out of his slump; he went 2-for-5 and is now hitting .281.

Fernando Nieve pitched two innings after a one-inning appearance on Sunday night. He is now on pace to appear in 99 games in 2010. This is not a joke, not an exaggeration; do the math.

Manny Acosta now has two decisions in less than two weeks. Something seems wrong with that; shouldn’t someone else be pitching in these situations? Maybe Fernando Nieve should be in there more often.

Paul Janish did not appear in the game, which was a major disappointment. I was wearing my “Janish” jersey and everything.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Reds do it again at 7:10 PM on Tuesday night in Cincinnati. John Maine faces Bronson Arroyo.

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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.
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  1. gary s. May 3, 2010 at 11:36 pm
    uh oh..we are back in the hard 2 watch mode.i know the mets checked out jason bay’s knees and shoulders before they handed him 66 mill.i have a question..did they check his eyes??he misses pitches by 2 feet!!he hit 36 dingers for the sox last year.the way he looks now, i question whether he will hit 36 homers over the length of his 4 year deal.he needs to hit some homeruns on the road.citicavern awaits on friday jason..
  2. I hate the Mets May 4, 2010 at 12:08 am
    The mets are impossible to watch. I can’t stand them anymore. I hate the NY Mets.
  3. Aaron May 4, 2010 at 9:22 am
    It’s hard to blame Jerry for using Acosta after Nieve, Mejia and Feliciano were already spent. Maybe Valdes should have went out there instead? My bigger issue is the “saving” of the closer in extra inning games on the road. Why wait to use your best relief pitcher when the game might not be there for him to save because a lesser pitcher blows it? The same thing happened in the St. Louis marathon when Frankie threw 100 warm up pitches because Jerry wanted to wait for the Mets to lead to put him in. The strategy makes no sense.
  4. Mike May 4, 2010 at 9:49 am
    gary instead of harping on Bay (who does need to get going, and he will) why not harp on the fact that Tatis struck out awfully with Ike Davis on third? A real competent bench player would have a better chance than Tatis. Cattalatto would not have gotten a hit their either. and Manny Acosta gave up the game, can’t get too upset but does he really belong on the team? Probably not. The bench needs to be reworked. also Jerry has no idea how to use it. Babby V always new how to get his bench guys in games, use every piece, and get the most out of them. Jerry has no idea. Guys are either overworked or under used. And it leads to no good results.
  5. Steve Janish May 4, 2010 at 11:38 am
    DO you check the Reds boxscores just to see how Janish did because he shares your last name? As a fellow Janish I cant help but do this even though I have am not a relative.
  6. gary s. May 4, 2010 at 11:54 am
    mike, u are preaching 2 the choir.i’ve stated many times on this blog, that bringing back tatis was a huge mistake.let’s hope u r right about bay.he is killing us in the 4 hole.the thing that scares me about bay besides all the strikeouts is he is getting no lift on his swings.very few fly ball outs.mostly k’s and groundouts.texiera started slowly last year for the yanks and hit 39 dingers.i’d like to see bay hit a half dozen by the end of may and go from there.we’ll see.
  7. joejanish May 5, 2010 at 12:10 am
    Steve – LOL yes I did do that in Paul’s rookie year … now I just check here and there, once or twice a week. Thanks for checking in!