Mets Game 18: Loss to Astros

Astros 4 Mets 3

The Mets stayed toe to toe with the best team occupying the NL Central cellar, but were just a hair short at the end of the ballgame. But at least they tried.

Mets Game Notes

Looking at the game afterward, R.A. Dickey pitched pretty well. But it didn’t feel that way while the game was going on. His knuckleball was either dancing too much — to the point where it was often far out of the strike zone — or had just enough spin to flatten out and get hammered. The final score might’ve been a lot worse had it not been for a few hard-hit balls going right at Mets infielders and converted into double plays. If the Mets had anyone left in the bullpen worth putting on the mound, I doubt Dickey would have been on the mound in the eighth to give up the game-winning solo homer to Hunter Pence.

If I told you before the game that Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Dan Murphy would combine to go 10-for-13 with 3 extra-base hits and 2 stolen bases, and that the Mets as a team were 4-for-10 with RISP, you’d probably figure that the Mets would’ve scored more than three runs.

Murphy had the biggest blast of the night for the Mets, a two-run homer he sliced just inside the right field foul pole. I think he used a nine-iron.

David Wright walked twice but is otherwise 0 for his last 19.

There were several “little things” that happened during the game — mainly, lack of execution and poor judgment. For example, Willie Harris once again failed miserably in a sacrifice bunt attempt. Josh Thole did as well — popping up to the pitcher and causing Jose Reyes to freeze and get doubled up. It could be argued that neither should have been bunting in the first place — but two wrongs don’t make a right, unfortunately. Angel Pagan didn’t hustle into third from second base on a base hit; then Pagan made a poor decision to try and score on a wild pitch, and compounded the poor decision by sliding over home plate and never touching it. My goodness, imagine if fundamentals were NOT the focus of spring training?

My wife had two interesting comments during the game. First, she said R.A. was not himself — in other words, he “wasn’t Dickish”. After Murphy hit his homerun, she said, “He should do that every time; that way, he can’t screw up running the bases.” Can’t argue with that logic.

The Mets have now dropped 7 straight home games.

If the Mets keep losing, will they drop right out through the bottom of NL East and into the top of the NL Central? It seems possible when looking at the standings in the newspaper.

Next Mets Game

The Mets will attempt to avoid a sweep on Thursday with another 7:10 PM start against the Astros. Chris Capuano goes against J.A. “JA” Happ in a matchup of lefthanders.