Mets Game 155: Loss to Cardinals

Cardinals 6 Mets 5

It’s official: the Mets will finish the 2011 season with a losing record. Great job, guys. Don’t worry about the won-loss record, all that matters is you battled. Yeah.

Mets Game Notes

Chris Schwinden was the recipient of some bad breaks that led to three runs in the first two frames — Lucas Duda misplayed some balls and there were some hits that could be viewed as “lucky”. At the same time, he was also lucky to work out of some tough spots. The bottom line is this: Schwinden does not, right now, look like he can be an effective MLB starter. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt, however, since he is past his “innings limit” for the year — and Lord knows that young men can only throw so many innings lest their arms fall off (so says an SI journalist who never played above little league and does not hold a medical degree of any sort). Seriously though, Schwinden was not conditioned to pitch this far into the year, so for all we know he could be fatigued. What I saw from him in this game was a breaking ball that did not have enough velocity to fool hitters, and a fastball that was far too “hittable”. Yes, he was the victim of some bad breaks, but at the same time the Redbirds were hitting him hard — even the outs and foul balls.

The Mets received a few breaks of their own and took a 4-3 lead in the top of the third. That held up until the seventh, when Miguel Batista and Danny Herrera showed why they were cut loose by other teams and the still-fatigued Pedro Beato shat the bed. Beato allowed a three-run homer to David Freese to give the Cards the victory.

After the game, Terry Collins mentioned that he gave Beato 5 days of rest and that Beato insists that he isn’t hurting — but Collins also pointed out that Beato’s velocity was below 90 MPH and perhaps he has a “dead arm”. I HATE when baseball people use that term “dead arm”, because a) it means they don’t have an explanation; and b) “dead arm” is an ACTUAL MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS that NO PITCHER WANTS TO HAVE. So anytime a knucklehead baseball guy says “dead arm”, he’s saying something that most likely means nothing because they think it is a vague term blaming the baseball gods, yet could confuse informed people because in fact it is supposed to mean something very specific regarding a pitcher’s arm that could lead to a labrum tear or other rotator cuff injury. So, when Collins says Beato has a “dead arm”, it’s kind of like Collins saying that the car won’t start because it’s out of gas — even though the gas tank might be full. You know what I’m sayin’? Eh, whatever.

I’m going to try very hard to be positive but at this point it’s difficult. Hey, Willie Harris went 3-for-4, made a diving catch to save three runs, and hit a solo homer in the ninth to make it a one-run game. If he wasn’t 147 years old and not part of the future these facts might excite me.

The Mets had 7 hits and did not draw a bases on balls. They were 1-for-3 with RISP and left two runners on base. Interesting, right?

Next Mets Game

The final game of the series in St. Louis begins at 1:45 PM EDT. Chris Capuano faces Jake Westbrook.