Mets Game 149: Loss to Nationals

Nationals 2 Mets 0

With this loss, the Mets have been officially eliminated from postseason competition. Additionally, the Nationals are now one-one-thousandth of a percentage point (.001) behind the Mets in the standings.

Mets Game Notes

Mike Pelfrey pitched a very good ballgame — it just wasn’t good enough to win. He allowed only two runs on six hits and two walks in an efficient 94-pitch, seven-inning start. As we’ve been saying for a while now, this is what Pelfrey is: an innings-eater who takes the ball every fifth day.

The offense, however, continued to sputter, collecting just four hits on the night (though they did walk five times; I’m sure the Moneyballers were happy about that), leaving 10 runners on base, and going 1-for-11 with RISP.

In his first MLB start, Brad Peacock shut out the Mets through five frames, allowing The word on Peacock was that his fastball was too straight, he didn’t have great command of his curve, and his change-up was at best a work in progress. It’s hard to judge the fastball movement from the centerfield camera, but it did look he was getting decent sink when it was at the knees or below, and he also got decent lateral run; I’m not sure I saw both sink and run together, however (again, hard to tell from the TV angle). His curveball had good bite, and he was able to throw it for strikes — looking and swinging. As for his change-up, it was much better than the scouts suggested. It’s not outstanding, but it’s adequate — the speed is right (82-84 MPH, which is 10 MPH slower than his fastball range), it had decent downward movement, and of the 21 he threw, 13 were for strikes. All in all, a solid performance for someone making his second MLB appearance.

In the ninth inning, Drew Storen walked the first two Mets batters and then Justin Turner popped a bunt attempt right back to Storen. We discussed the Mets inability to bunt yesterday, and this was just the latest example of their inability to execute. Further, why the heck is Turner bunting there in the first place? Storen walked two straight and was clearly struggling. You have only three outs to score two runs. The guy at the plate hit a double the last time up, and is 14 for his last 34. The next guy up is Jason Pridie, who is pinch-hitting so he’s cold. In that situation I’d like to see Storen prove he can throw a strike, and if he falls behind, Turner might get a good pitch to drive somewhere. Another note: Turner has executed exactly two sac bunts this year — it’s not something he does every day.

It’s only one game, but I’m mildly concerned that the Nats have discovered Lucas Duda‘s kryptonite. They fed him tons of breaking balls and he did not react well, going 0-for-3 — though he did walk once.

Michael Morse reminds me of Jack Clark. Anyone else as old as me?

The Mets were, as always, very patient. They saw 167 pitches — a full 50 more than the Nats’ 117. Yet, it had no impact on the final score. Huh.

Next Mets Game

The final game of this four-game set begins at 1:10 PM on Thursday afternoon. It’s an all-rookie matchup, with Chris Schwinden going against Tommy Milone.