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May 11, 2013 Mets 2013 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 32: Loss to Pirates

Pirates 7 Mets 3

Mets are sunk by the Bucs but still in position to win or tie the series. Of course, they’re also in position to lose the series — but that’s only one outcome out of three possibilities, so, based on the math, there’s reason to be optimistic. Right?

Mets Game Notes

Shaun Marcum pitched really well, except for the second inning and the fifth. Take out those two aberrations and he spun a solid three frames. Baby steps.

Marcum became the first Mets pitcher in their history to fail to pitch at least five innings in his first three starts with the club. Not sure what that’s worth other than a quick bit of trivia in an otherwise uninspiring game recap.

On a positive note, Anthony Recker‘s second career home run gave Mets catchers 11 longballs on the season (John Buck has 10) — matching the total of homeruns hit by Mets catchers in 2011 and 2012 COMBINED. How about that, says the ghost of Mel Allen.

Ike Davis hit a single to left field and another up the middle. Therefore, he’s on the way back and we should interject a comment here from Dave Hudgens about Ike hitting to the opposite field, blah blah blah. Maybe I’m jaded but I’d like to see a sustained consistent approach for, say, a week or two before I’ll start to feel encouraged about Ike’s chance of turning things around.

Jordany Valdespin hit yet another late-inning home run, but this time it didn’t have much affect on the outcome of the ballgame.

Rutherford’s Vin Mazzaro spun two scoreless innings for the Buccos. Vinny fashions an Akadema glove and is a product of the ProPlayer facility (where I give lessons) so I deem it important to mention his performance. You go, Vin.

The Mets were 1-for-12 with RISP.

Pirates closer Jason Grilli threw three pitches to earn his 14th save. The Mets have 14 wins. Huh.

Next Mets Game

Game three begins at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Jonathon Niese faces Francisco Liriano.

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. NormE May 11, 2013 at 7:14 am
    Have you noticed that for the first four games oh this homestand the total attendance is under 100,000?
  2. argonbunnies May 11, 2013 at 7:25 am
    I suppose the Russell Martin addition is working out for them, but he didn’t come cheap, and I can’t tell why Mike McKenry isn’t considered a starter. He’s got to be one of the better-hitting catchers in the NL. (In 2012, he was 10th in RBIs, and 8th in OPS among those with >200 ABs.) Yet the Bucs have given him only 38 ABs in their first 35 games.
    • Izzy May 11, 2013 at 10:09 am
      For two reasons; Taking part time stats and making a straight correlation to full time duty is fool’s gold. He has proven he’s not an every day dude, and 2. because Martin was brought in to work the pitching staff as much as anything something the fort is not as good as Martin is.
      But maybe the clowns in the Met dugout should look at left field this weekend and see how a kid is allowed to play and make mistakes and get better without having to worry about being benched the next inning or day. Collins handles kids horribly, and he’s the guy the Met talking heads claim is so good at development. Yeah, right. McCutcheon would be a platoon player if on the Mets. Afterall he ain’t patient like the Met star Lucas Duda.