Mets Game 12: Loss to Rockies

Rockies 6 Mets 5

Ooof. Punch in the gut.

The Mets grab an early lead, lose it, fall further behind, then mount a riveting comeback in the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count, David Wright swats a long fly to right that gets swallowed by cavernous Citi Field. Game over, Mets lose. Sigh.

Mets Game Notes

Dickey had a crazy knuckler but couldn’t control it, resulting in 4 walks in 6 1/3 innings. He also allowed 8 hits and 5 runs, and struck out 4.

The Rockies had Dickey on the ropes in the third inning, but R.A. miraculously got out of it — using his fastball. With the bases loaded, Troy Tulowitzki at the plate, and R.A. unable to throw the knuckler for a strike, he instead threw 5 straight 86-MPH fastballs, and on the last one, Tulo hit a broken-bat grounder to short that Jose Reyes played perfectly, sped to second to get out one, then zipped the ball to first for an inning-ending double play.

Reyes also made a stellar, run-saving play in the 6th ranging far up the middle to cut off a grounder headed to center.

Only hours after a “team meeting” in which Terry Collins reportedly focused on execution and fundamentals, Dan Murphy ran to third base on a ground ball hit directly to the third baseman. Maybe Dan thought there were two outs; I can’t think of another reason why he would do what he did. Murph very nearly avoided the tag, but even if he did, the umpire might’ve called him out for stupidity (if not for running out of the baseline). Poor Murph; he is finally hitting well, healthy, and looking decent in the field, and he does this. I imagine this is sort of what it was like to root for Marvelous Marv Throneberry.

Speaking of fundies, the second-most baffling moment of the game came in the fourth, when Troy Tulowitzki was covering second base on an attempted steal with Josh Thole at the plate. Shame on the Rox advance scouts — or the Rockies for not reading the scouting report — because Thole is predominantly an opposite-field hitter. Add to it that he was being pitched away (again, why?), and it was hardly a surprise when Thole shot a grounder into the hole vacated by Tulo to cover second.

The sun wreaked havoc on the outfielders for both clubs in this ballgame. Was the sun that bright or are today’s players simply not used to playing under it, as there are so many night games these days?

While on the subject, Scott Hairston misplayed a fly ball in the top of the sixth that resulted in two runs scoring. I’m not sure if he lost the ball in the sun or thought he was closer to the wall than he was, but it looked like he “gave up” on the ball too early. Gone are the days of Pete Reiser running into concrete walls to catch fly balls.

Offensively, Hairston finally did something. He was 2-for-4 and hit a dramatic two-run homer in the ninth to give the Mets a chance. I think I mentioned earlier that he could be this year’s Rod Barajas — take that as you will.

Next Mets Game

The second game of the doubleheader begins immediately. Chris Capuano faces Jorge De La Rosa. Or is it Oscar de la Hoya?