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July 23, 2010 Mets 2010 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 96: Loss to Dodgers

Dodgers 2 Mets 0

Anyone else feel like they are in a time warp, sent back to the 1970s? Anyone else expecting to see Jon Matlack take the hill, with John “The Hammer” Milner playing first base and Jerry Grote behind the plate?

It sure feels like that, as the Mets’ anemic bats were shut out again, and again a brilliant pitching performance was wasted.

This time, though, you couldn’t blame Jason Bay, since he wasn’t in the lineup. And you couldn’t blame Jeff Francoeur, since he had two of the Mets’ five hits. And further, the Mets lost despite having Josh Thole, Ike Davis, and Chris Carter in the lineup.

Can it get any worse?

Game Notes

Hisanori Takahashi was, as mentioned, brilliant. Seven innings, two runs three hits. Unfortunately, Hiroki Kuroda was more than brilliant — or, were the Mets hitters that non-brilliant?

I can’t even pin this one on Carlos Beltran, since he had the day off.

Next Mets Game

Game two of this four-game series begins at 10:10 PM EST on Friday night. Johan Santana faces Vicente Padilla. Whether the Mets hitters remember to bring their bats to the game is TBD.

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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. Mike July 23, 2010 at 9:40 am
    I said this way back in April and a few times after that: the Mets only ever go as far as their offense brings them. They always seem to have just enough pitching such that if they could hit above average then they would win enough games to make the playoffs. Guys like Dickey and Takahashi always seem to show up and surprise everyone, but the offense is the difference between the 2006 Mets and the 2009 Mets.

    I think what I said was that the Mets need to find pitching or they have no chance, but that they will only go as far as their offense takes them. They always seem to find pitching, but when the offense is going well the team wins, NOT the other way around (pitching well, average offense). So I think we have to blame the offense for this cold streak, which is obvious, but that is no ones fault but the players. Considering the injuries to Reyes, Castillo and Beltran this year, considering the young Davis, and considering the great season Wright is having you can really only blame a few guys. Bay, Frenchy, Barajas (post May), and Cora. These guys were supposed to be better and more consistent if this team was gonna succeed. I don’t think you can write them off because baseball is a wonderful game where you can roll off 5 wins in a row and be right back in things, but players gonna play better.

    And no, making a trade would not have prevented this from happening. Would Cliff Lee have made a difference? Considering everyone wanted to move Pagan, the only guy hitting right now, no. The offense would have struggled just as much. Which is why I hate big trades in baseball. One guy would not save this team right now. Not a pitcher anyway.

  2. wohjr July 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm
    Excuse me?? What was so great about 2006? Was there some world championship I missed out on? Takahashi and Dickey are enough to get us to the playoffs this year… that’s what you’re hopin for? Yet another just-enough-to-be-exciting-enough-to-sell-seats-thru-September team! You seem to be mighty excited about mediocrity…

    I am totally convinced you are Jeff Wilpon at this point.

  3. Mike July 23, 2010 at 12:50 pm
    Um, the 2006 Mets ran away with the Division and if it were not for the offense, not the injured pitching and a guy (Traschel) that did not show up, would have gone to the World Series and won it. You can’t blame Heilman entirely for that loss, they should have scored more runs, period. I think it just further proves my point.
  4. wohjr July 23, 2010 at 1:09 pm
    Oh sure, I bet they would have just swept the series. In fact, we should probably just consider it a championship and raise a banner, huh?

    2006 was great… except when it wasn’t (when it counted most). Thanks for that trenchant observation, Jeff. What was your point again? Oh yeah– just sit back, get chills from D-Wright, and wish for the good old days (which apparently are now 2006?)

    I can see it now… “COME TO CITI TO SEE YOUR 2010 NY METS… if you enjoyed 2006 get ready for even more excitement! ps- have a lobster roll”