Mets Game 124: Loss to Rockies

Rockies 5 Mets 2

Unfortunately, MLB games are nine innings, and Matt Harvey can pitch only six or seven.

Mets Game Notes

Harvey was stellar, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks, striking out nine, in six innings. He also collected two hits, and is now hitting .455. I’m very excited to have the opportunity to watch this young man from the birth of his MLB career, because he has all the traits of someone who will one day be a very successful pitcher. He’ll have his off days — particularly now, early in his career — but it is games like this that give us a reason to believe there will be at least one game worth watching every five days in 2013 and beyond.

Unfortunately for Harvey, he pitches on a terrible team. The Mets had the advantage of playing against the worst-pitching team in the National League, and have so far managed 5 runs on 20 hits in three games. They couldn’t even score more than a run against Jeff Francis, who throws about 83 MPH and had an ERA around six entering the game.

What makes this even more sad is that the Rockies are without most of their players, and are barely above a AAA club.

Ramon Ramirez did an excellent job of destroying all the good done by Harvey. Frank Francisco accentuated the point with a truly horrific ninth inning.

Speaking of Francisco, it’s stunning to me that it took 124 games for a team to take advantage of his fear of throwing to first base. Are teams really that ignorant?

Thus far, Ramirez is 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA and Andres Torres is hitting .228 with 2 HR, 32 RBI, 10 SB, and a .662 OPS. Angel Pagan has a .288 AVG with 7 HR, 47 RBI, 19 SB, and a .762 OPS. Just sayin’.

This wasn’t quite as sloppy a game as the previous one, but it was fairly ugly nonetheless. Hopefully you didn’t witness the game, and I won’t get into the details.

With two out in the ninth and a 1-2 count on Justin Turner, Rafael Betancourt threw what looked like strike three. However, instead of catching the ball when it was a strike and sticking it, catcher Wilin Rosario caught the ball and attempted to “frame it” by jerking it a few inches above its location and a few inches toward the middle of the plate. The umpire, in turn, called it ball two, and I really believe part of the reason for the ball call was because Rosario tried too hard to “sell it” as a strike — the thinking being, if you have to sell it so hard, perhaps it’s not a strike. As it turned out, Turner fouled off four of the next five pitches, took ball three in between, and eventually walked. That, my friend, is an example of how “little things” can mean the difference in a ballgame. In addition to throwing seven more pitches to Turner and walking him, Betancourt also had to expend another eight pitches to Ronny Cedeno, and immeasurable agita for his manager Jim Tracy.

Next Mets Game

The final game of this four-game series begins at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Collin McHugh pitches for the Mets against Tyler Chatwood. Please do not expect to see a postgame recap until Thursday evening, after I’ve had a chance to view the game on DVR. Thanks.