Nationals 13 Mets 3

Apparently, the Mets left their bats in Chicago.

A day after being on the laughing end of a laugher vs. the Cubs, the Mets found themselves on the frowning side in Washington, DC, as they were trounced by the last-place Nationals.

Game Notes

Mike Pelfrey was bad. Really bad. Like, July bad.

Pelfrey allowed 6 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 3 2/3 innings, slogging through 83 pitches.

As mentioned in the last game recap that Pelfrey started, Big Pelf is using different mechanics for each pitch, which means he is very likely tipping off his pitches. Additionally, he is opening up his front side prematurely on his fastball, which is significantly affecting his command of the pitch. If you can’t command your fastball, you can’t pitch in the big leagues (unless you throw a knuckleball). The combination of being unable to hit spots and giving away the velocity of the pitch (i.e., batter knowing whether it’s a fastball or an offspeed pitch) results in outings like this.

In addition to his mechanical problems, Pelfrey’s confidence was nonexistent in this contest. His body language gave away his lack of confidence — and at times he had a look of fearful confusion on his face.

Pelfrey threw about 36 pitches in the fourth inning before being taken out of the ballgame. There was not one visit by pitching coach Dan Warthen during that time.

The most effective Mets pitcher of the afternoon was Pat Misch, who threw one pitch and got one out.

Oliver Perez made an appearance, throwing two innings to finish the game. He gave up an obligatory run on three hits, but he did strike out three. Another positive were his mechanics, which were driving momentum more toward home plate than third base. He had pretty good balance on all pitches and a fairly consistent delivery — to me, his mechanics were similar to what we saw from him in 2007-2008. Unfortunately, his velocity still is nowhere near it needs to be for him to be successful; he topped out at 89 MPH.

It was “Danny Espinosa Day” in the nation’s capital, as the rookie shortstop went 4-for-5 with 6 RBI, including a grand slam off Ryota Igarashi. That makes like, 78 grand slams off the Mets this year, while the Mets have hit none.

The Mets collected a trio of hits in this game. 3. THREE.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Nats do it again on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM. It will be a matchup of rookies making their first Major League starts, with Dillon Gee going for the Mets and Yunesky Maya pitching for the Nationals.