Mets Game 161: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 4 Mets 3
One more to go …
Mets Game Notes
I suppose once a team has fourth place clinched, there isn’t much motivation to win. Maybe that’s why the Mets seem disinterested these past two games.
It would have been nice to see R.A. Dickey gain win 21, but he doesn’t pitch for a strong offensive club, and he was pitching opposite the next great ace of the NL East, Jacob Turner. R.A.’s knuckler wasn’t terrible, and his outing wouldn’t be considered bad by any stretch. Unfortunately, he threw two tumblers that were sent over the fence, and the Mets offense was completely perplexed by Turner. The Mets finally scored when Turner was on the way out as they mounted a three-run eighth to tie the ballgame, but didn’t have enough beyond that splurge to win.
When Andres Torres tripled with one out in the ninth, it seemed as though the Mets had continued the momentum of the previous inning, but both Ruben Tejada and Jordany Valdespin whiffed to strand Torres at third.
Jose Reyes — remember him? — tripled to lead off the 11th, and despite plenty of willy-nillying by the Mets (i.e., walking the bases loaded intentionally), they could not avoid fate. After striking out four times previous, perceived weak link Donovan Solano singled to score Reyes and end the game.
Reyes might have been thrown out at third, had Valdespin relayed the throw from the outfield to third base (this is why he’s called the “relay man” after all). However, Valdespin chose instead to examine the laces and survey the weight and circumference of the ball — perhaps to ensure it met league standards — rather than throw it. Or, maybe Valdespin was simply confused by playing the infield; most of his MLB reps this year have come in the outfield. Yes, that must be it — he was probably thinking he was still an outfielder, and was trying to locate the relay man, not realizing that HE was the relay man. If you have any better explanations, please share them in the comments.
Interestingly, the Mets were 4-for-10 with RISP in this game, yet scored only three runs. That’s not an easy thing to do.
Final Mets Game
The season finale pits Jeremy Hefner and Tom Koehler in a 4:10 p.m. start. There are over 2900 tickets available as of this writing if you want to fly down to Miami and watch it in person.
business model is considered where to spend is to generate profit…maybe make Madoff a partner…he ran a successful scheme
#8 Kansas City – 72
Toronto – 72
#10 NY Mets – 73
#11 Seattle – 74
Does anyone know how ties are broken in the draft order? (If it’s by 2011 record, then we’d pick before the Blue Jays and after the Royals or Mariners. But I just made that criteria up.)
Upon watching the replay, I wonder if it was a case of no one letting Valdespin know that he had a shot at throwing out Reyes, since his back was to the play as he was receiving the throw from the OF. Yet another small mistake that can be traced to lack of leadership. But since you can’t measure leadership, it doesn’t exist / doesn’t matter, right? Meh.
You call the Mets offense disinterested. To say such a thing when they face a Turner, a Maholm, the Rockies bullpen 4 days in a row, etc., these are the modern day greats. No, no, the results from 161 games prove your discription to be somewhat off. This offense just stinks. Ok, and disinterested.
I’d be interested in seeing the fielding stats for Murphy at 2B POST-All Star Game……