Mets Game 84: Loss To Brewers
Brewers 7 Mets 6
For the first half of the game, it seemed the Mets didn’t have a chance. The second half, they seemed one hit away from taking the lead. In the end, they finished close, but no cigar.
Mets Game Notes
I have no idea how Shaun Marcum continues to take the ball, log innings, and retire big-league hitters. In addition to his neck, back, and arm problems, now he has numbness and tingling in his right hand. Somehow, though, he heaves slop to the plate and manages to keep the Mets in the ballgame.
Key point in the game came in the sixth, with one out and Ike Davis hustling from first to third on a single by Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Left fielder Logan Schafer opted to throw to third to try to retire Davis, and overthrew the cutoff man. Davis was safe by a hair as Nieuwenhuis advanced to second. John Buck followed with a single to the left of second base to pull the Mets within one. It was a bad play, first because Schafer missed the cutoff man, and second because in that situation, up by three runs, you want to keep the batter-runner on first base so the double play is a possibility. If Schafer had thrown to 2B, then the Brewers are playing at double-play depth and there’s a good possibility that Buck’s grounder becomes an inning-ending double play. At worst, it’s a one-run single instead of a two-run single.
In the bottom half of the inning, however, Daniel Murphy dropped a throw from Marcum on a sac bunt, allowing Schafer to score all the way from first as Yovani Gallardo took second. Has Murphy muffed a ball every day this week? It sure seems like it. On the bright side, Murphy is hitting again — he had three hits with a run scored and an RBI.
John Buck is also hitting again. Did someone put an April calendar in his locker?
Ike Davis looked pretty good, laying off pitches out of the strike zone and drawing three walks.
Was that really K-Rod closing out the ballgame? Francisco Rodriguez earned his 8th save of the year in typical fashion — with fans on the edge of their seats.
Next Mets Game
The rubber match begins at 2:10 p.m. Jeremy Hefner goes against Tom Gorzelanny.
” After Collins had set the lineup and sent it out to the media, Marcum asked to switch catchers. Originally the manager had Anthony Recker starting on Saturday, but Marcum wanted John Buck.
“I talked to Shaun a little bit, and he said in his last game he felt really comfortable with John and he really likes pitching to John and no disrespect to Anthony at all,” Collins said. “I told him we’ll make an adjustment, I can catch (Recker) tomorrow. It is not a big deal.”