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September 18, 2007 Mets 2007 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 150: Loss to Nationals

Nationals 9 Mets 8

The players had a team meeting. Willie Randolph had a closed-door meeting. The team was facing one of the worst teams in the National League. They were motivated to get rolling. All signs pointed to “go”.

And the Mets lost.

Gosh … where do we start? What was the worst part of this game? The fact that John Maine gave up eight runs in four innings? That Willie Randolph remains only slightly more animated than a corpse? That Jose Reyes had another oh-fer? The news that El Duque will be out at least another week to ten days? The injury to Moises Alou? The fact that we as Mets fans not only have to deal with a colossal collapse but simultaneously have to tolerate the glib and goading Yankee fans that have re-emerged out of the woodwork to point out the opposite directions the two New York teams are taking lately?

Let’s just glaze over all the negatives and focus on the positives. For example, the Mets did not make an error. That’s right, they went error-free for a full nine innings. Shawn Green went 3-for-4 with another homerun. Endy Chavez and Jeff Conine were a combined 5-for-5 with 3 RBI. Moises Alou had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 22 games. Paul LoDuca went 2-for-4 with a double. David Wright hit two doubles. Guillermo Mota pitched a PERFECT one-third of an inning.

All for naught.

The Mets blew a first-inning, four-nothing lead. They blew a 7-3 lead. They blew, period.

I can’t revamp here the summary without getting sick (again). Go to Yahoo to read the recap.

Notes

Usually when a team holds “team meetings”, it’s either the beginning of the end or a collective grasping at straws. In other words, losers hold team meetings. When was the last time you heard of a team rallying around each other and prevailing over their opponents after a supercharged team meeting?


Next Game

The Mets have already lost the series to the lowly Nats and the Phillies are a game and a half behind. And Mike Pelfrey (instead of Tom Glavine) will be facing Matt Chico in the finale in another 7:05 PM start. So yeah, we’re counting on the 2-7 Pelfrey to pull the Mets out of the deepest ditch of the year. Good luck with that.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten September 19, 2007 at 4:15 am
    Joe . . . about the only thing that kept me from throwing one of the remotes through the TV was the presence of my wife, sleeping, in the other room. Belliard’s HR couldn’t have been scripted better. On the plus side, if, and that’s a huge “if” right now, if the Mets make the playoffs, Willie’s decision on who to put into the bullpen just got a lot easier. (If the Mets don’t make the playoffs, the decision becaomes, “When does Omar fire Willie?”)
  2. RockStar78 September 19, 2007 at 7:10 am
    Look, the Phillies are streaky and are hot right now, but there are still 12 games to go. In my opinion, that’s too long of a time for them to stay hot. And it’s also too long of a time for the Mets to stay cold. The pendelum will swing the other way one more time.
  3. archeress September 19, 2007 at 8:49 am
    i hope rockstar is right, but it seems to me (no expert by any means), that it’s a problem
    with management.
    it seems like the guys are playing well for the most part, but the decisions for changing pitchers
    and when to have castillo bunt and all those kinds of details are just all screwy.

    and if i see another jeter jersey on the train today, will scream…

  4. joe September 19, 2007 at 10:19 am
    Amazing how those Yankee fans reappear out of the woodwork as soon as Bronx Bombers start winning again. All the jerks wearing the Jeter jerseys were talking about becoming Mets fans back in May.

    I have to agree with Rockstar in that 12 games are a lot to play. However, it appears that the Mets have a major mental issue right now — they’re in a state of shock and pressing. From my perspective it looks like they’re more worried about losing what they built all year than taking it pitch by pitch, inning by inning. Most people call it “choking”.

  5. sincekindergarten September 19, 2007 at 5:01 pm
    Yes, I saw the post on the “chokers” above.
  6. isuzudude September 19, 2007 at 5:13 pm
    When the opposition scores 10, 12, and 9 runs over the course of the last 3 games, it’s going to be hard for anybody to win. I know poor defense had a major role in giving up that many runs the first two games, but what in the world is going on with the pitching? Seems like anyone not named Pedro, Billy, or Tom has decided October would be better spent on the golf course than in the postseason.