Mets Game 66: Loss To Brewers

Brewers 5 Mets 1

It was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. But, it matters not. In the end, the Mets lost the game, the series, and fallen 8 games below .500, avoiding last place by one-one-thousandth of a percentage point (I think that’s how to describe .001).

Mets Game Notes

Honestly, once this game went into extras, I thought for sure the Mets were going to win it. The Brewers weren’t hitting anything all night, they seemed tired and uninterested, and when they did show some energy, it was in ridiculously wild swings from the heels that were nowhere close to the ball. In other words, it was an off night for Milwaukee’s offense, and it felt like the Mets would find some way to scratch out a run to win the game. I was picturing a walk followed by a ball thrown away due to the wet weather, and then a Daniel Murphy half-swing duck snort into left field to drive in the winning run. But it was not to be.

Jonathon Niese was stellar for seven and two-thirds, and so was the bullpen (until the fateful 13th). However, Kyle Lohse matched Niese pitch for pitch, and the Mets hitters could do absolutely nothing against Milwaukee’s best bullpeners. (see what I did there?).

Did you read Niese’s lips when Terry Collins came out of the dugout? Looked to me like “What the funky monkey is going on?” Except, I don’t think it was really “funky monkey” he said; in fact it was a one-syllable word that rhymes with “truck.”

Shame on David Wright, who should have had a standup double in the fourth inning but was thrown out at second base on an excellent play and throw by Carlos Gomez. Wright wasn’t necessarily “Cadillacking” out of the box, but he also wasn’t exactly busting it the entire way, either. He watched the ball a bit, running about three-quarter speed out of the box, hesitated a bit going around first, then sped up. Again, I wouldn’t call it dogging, but I wouldn’t call it all-out hustle, either. Had Wright made it to second base safely, who knows? Maybe he scores the Mets’ second run, and the game never goes into extras. #littlethings

Anthony Recker struck out looking with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th. Strike two was a PERFECT “pitcher’s pitch.” Strike three probably was a ball, but home plate umpire Angel Hernandez rung him up, Recker went ballistic, and Hernandez threw him out of the game. I have to wonder if Hernandez truly believed that was strike three, or if he was feeling like me, and just so completely exasperated by Mets batters watching pitch after pitch after pitch go by with RISP that he rung up Recker out of principle.

In that 11th inning, the Mets had a runner on third with none out, then the bases loaded with one out, and couldn’t plate the winning run.

Mets bullpen retired 11 straight Brewers before Mark Reynolds finally broke through with a single up the middle off of Carlos Torres in the 12th.

Torres threw a perfect cutter to strike out Scooter Gennett with one out and the go-ahead runner on third. As long as Torres puts that cutter in exactly that spot, every time he throws it, he should retire most batters — righthanded and lefthanded. However, he is human, not a machine, and he’s not even Mariano Rivera, so he must throw other pitches to other locations.

Terry Collins and Dan Warthen have consistently ignored recommended recovery time for a few of their relievers, and Torres in particular. So it’s no surprise that Torres has had some rough outings lately. He tossed 27 pitches on Wednesday night, which meant he required at least one full day off to recover. I understand it was an extra-inning game, but I also saw Vic Black and Dana Eveland available with neither requiring a full day of rest. Some how, some way, Torres was effective for an inning despite the lack of proper recovery time, but to keep him out there for a second inning, and to push him to 38 pitches? Ridiculous. Irresponsible. Downright stupid. What Collins / Warthen are likely to do now is give Torres two or maybe even three days off, but it’s too late — the damage is done. You can’t just push and push and make your own recovery rules — the body doesn’t respond to the wishes of managers and pitching coaches, it responds to the way it’s taxed, and when it’s abused, it fails. I don’t understand why Gonzalez Germen wasn’t left out on the mound longer, as he was fresh and had a low pitch count. There are nearly 100 games left in this season that will require at least 300 innings of relief, but Collins is managing like it’s late September and the Mets are a game out of the Wild Card.

I don’t know if Ryan Braun is still injured or he’s deflated by the lack of PEDs, but he doesn’t look like the same hitter of the past several years.

I’ve never before seen a three-minute rain delay. You?

Next Mets Game

The Mets host the San Diego Padres on Friday night at 7:10 PM. Bartolo Colon heaves himself to the mound against Andrew Cashner. The Padres are pretty bad — they were just swept by the also-bad Phillies. Do the Mets have a shot at winning this weekend series? Hard to say.