Mets Game 72: Loss To Angels

Angels 7 Mets 3

The Mets remained gritty through the final inning, and had a little rally going, but like Friday night, it was too little, too late. A disappointing result for all the dads who are Mets fans.

Mets Game Notes

From the first inning, I saw Jon Niese’s arm angle a touch lower than normal and him using more side-to-side momentum than back-to-front. As a result, his arm was dragging behind, his elbow tended to be slightly below his shoulder height, and his pitches were just a bit higher than usual and command was off. Additionally, it was nearly impossible for Niese to get on top of his curveball and get good 12-6 spin. In other words, he was throwing on a level plane rather than a downward plane. This happened frequently last year when Niese was in love with his cutter, but in this game, the cutter had nothing to do with the mechanical issue. I’m not sure what was causing it, actually. My only guess is Niese’s tendency to over-rotate his front shoulder during the leg lift. Maybe he was turning that front shoulder just two or three inches more than he has been, and in turn, it has caused him to pivot more toward third base and open up his front side a half-second too early. Whatever his problem was, his command was off and he was hit hard. How hard? Eight hits and five earned runs in four innings.

The other two runs were given up by Manny Acosta, who allowed solo homers to Jeff Mathis and Vernon Wells. Acosta’s ERA is less than a half-run below ten.

Interestingly, the Mets saw 163 pitches to the Angels’ seeing 129. Obviously, all those “takes” didn’t matter.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the Mets mounted a rally in the ninth, and the 27th out was improperly called, as Scott Hairston appeared to beat out an infield grounder. However, I’m not sure it mattered; this was a game the Mets simply were not going to win. It was great, though, to see them fighting to the very last out.

Next Mets Game

The Mets take a day off as they wait for the Oakland Athletics to travel to Flushing for a three-game series that begins on Tuesday night. Game time is 7:10 PM and will match Dillon Gee against Josh Outman. Now that’s a great name for a pitcher.