Mets 4 Phillies 2

I have to admit, it looked to me like the Mets were destined to lose this one.

However, they hung tough, somehow preventing the sluggin’, fightin’ Phils from stealing away the ballgame.

Oliver Perez was absolutely outstanding, pitching seven shutout innings of 4-hit ball. He was in trouble from inning one, but never got flustered, kept his cool, and did a miraculous job of working out of tough jams. While his last start against the Yankees was his most dominating, this outing was his most impressive. Ollie was presented with every possible concentration-disrupting situation, and he remained both focused and confident. I have no idea what he’s been eating for breakfast lately, but I want some. This is the Oliver Perez we’ve been dying to see since the 2006 postseason.

Ollie didn’t need much support, and received all he needed from a Carlos Beltran solo homer in the third. Beltran drove in an insurance run in the top of the ninth — but unfortunately the Mets needed a better policy. While the bridge to Billy Wagner did its job, Wagner did not, blowing his sixth save of the season. Wags gave up a two-run homer to Jayson Werth with two outs and a 1-2 count to tie up the ballgame.

With the way balls tend to fly out of Citizens Bank Park, and the number of homerun hitters on the Phillies, it seemed only a matter of time before someone in the Philly lineup lofted one beyond the fence in the bottom of a frame. However, Scott Schoeneweis retired the lefties and Joe Smith spun 2 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the ballgame.

Finally, in the top of the twelfth, Carlos Delgado led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Damion Easley (an excellent bunt, by the way). Fernando Tatis followed with a deep fly to left center that found the seats to put the Mets ahead 4-2. Smith phinished ophph the Phillies in the bottom of the twelphth to secure the victory.

Notes

Beltran finally hit in the clutch, coming up with the homerun and the clutch single in the ninth. He and Jose Reyes were both 3-for-6 on the evening.

In 12 innings, the Mets left 14 runners on base. As individuals, the Mets batters stranded 23.

It took three pitchers — Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Duaner Sanchez — to get through the eighth.

Is it me, or does it seem like the Mets are always getting burned by not the Utley-Howard-Rollins trio, but Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, or Greg Dobbs?

Speaking of Werth, he jumped on that 1-2 slider by Wagner like he knew it was coming. Either he was guessing slider or Billy is tipping his pitches. In my humble opinion, Billy needs to start humming that fastball inside and making the batters move their feet when he gets ahead. Wagner’s fastball is no longer in the upper 90s, but rather around 94, so he needs to make some adjustments in his approach.

While we’re on the subject of making batters move their feet, Joe Smith came up to bat for only the second time in his young career. He stood about six feet away from home plate, and was bailing out on every pitch. To his credit, he did take a couple of hacks en route to an ugly strike out.

Next Game

The phour-game series in Philly concludes on Monday at 7:05 pm. Pedro Martinez goes against Adam Eaton. Personally, I won’t be concerned if the Mets lose. By winning two games, they have at least treaded water against the Phillies — which to me is better than falling behind. My hope is that eventually, the Mets will go on a tear after Pedro figures things out, Ryan Church and Moises Alou become regulars in the lineup, Johan Santana has his trademark dominating second half, and someone among Beltran, Reyes, and Wright goes on an extended hot streak. Yes, I am spouting optimism — though guarded. If the Mets can just stay close until the All-Star break, they have a fair shot of making a strong run at the division title. Let’s hope it’s an exciting summer.

Mets 9 Phillies 4

For a change, the Mets did a number of things that we haven’t seen too often this season.

Such as, they came from behind to win, late in a game. They pounded out 14 hits. Pinch-hitters supplied three hits, two runs, and four RBI. The bullpen held a lead. John Maine pitched inside.

Maine, in fact, might have been the most encouraging story of the night. After a poor outing blamed on a “dead arm”, Maine bounced back to pitch 5 2/3 innings, striking out 5, walking 2, and allowing just one hit to the powerful Phillies offense. Unfortunately, that one hit was a three-run homer by Ryan Howard. Other than that one mistake, Maine was as close to “lights out” as he’s been in months.

The Mets, however, couldn’t overcome the Howard homer in time to give Maine a win. Instead, they continued with the one thing that has been plaguing them all year – leaving runners on base. I thought 15 LOB was an extraordinary number on Friday night, but the Mets showed they could be even more miserable, leaving a collective 19 runners on the bases. NINETEEN. Yes, I know they scored nine runs, and that was great. But to leave 19 runners on base is astounding (the team’s LOB by inning was 9 — still kind of high).

Because of all those stranded runners, the game was a lot closer than the final score would tell you. The Mets jumped ahead 1-0 thanks to the patented “Get Jose on and David will drive him home” first-inning routine. Unfortunately, Wright swung at an awful pitch while ahead on the count and hit into a double play – which scored Reyed but got Jamie Moyer off the hook of what could’ve been a bigger inning. The Mets added another two runs in the top of the fourth when Wright doubled, stole third, and scored on an error by Howard, and then red-hot Damion Easley drove in Carlos Beltran a few moments later. In the bottom of the frame, however, Howard made up for the miscue with his homer, tying up the game.

The game remained tied until the seventh, when the Phillies scratched out a run against Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano (ironically, Feliciano was awarded with the victory, despite giving up the go-ahead run).

Beltran led off the eighth with a groundout, but Easley and Carlos Delgado hit back-to-back singles, setting the table for pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson. Reliever Tom Gordon uncorked a wild pitch to score Easley with the tying run, and after Anderson walked, Endy Chavez grounded to first to move the runners to second and third. With the score tied, Brian Schneider came up to hit for the pitcher, and hit he did – a double to deep right center that scored two runs and put the Mets ahead 6-4.

Duaner Sanchez held the Phillies scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, and the Mets tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth in a most unspectacular fashion. Fernando Tatis led off with a double, but from there on runs were plated thanks to an error, a fielder’s choice, and a single by Chavez.

Tony Armas, Jr. finished off the Phillies with a perfect ninth.

Notes

Wright and Reyes both hit their 21st doubles of the season. Wright, however, left five runners on base.

Easley was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Carlos Delgado stroked two singles, lifting his average to .237. Carlos Beltran walked twice and scored twice, but went hitless and is now floundering at .259.

The lefty – righty matchup thing was a little ridiculous in this game. In the seventh, the Phillies sent up pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs, a lefty, to face Joe Smith. The Mets countered with LOOGY Pedro Feliciano, and Dobbs was replaced with righty Jayson Werth. While Werth hit an RBI single, in the process the Phils burned through a consistent Met killer in Dobbs. The next inning, with Ramon Castro scheduled to hit with runners on the corners, RHP Tom Gordon was summoned to the mound. The Mets then sent Marlon Anderson to hit for Castro. Why? For no other reason than to put a lefty hitter vs. a righty pitcher? Because Marlon is hitting only .200. What would have made much more sense would be to leave Castro – who’s been swinging a hot bat lately – in the game, and putting Anderson or better yet Endy Chavez in the game to pinch-run for cinderblock-footed Carlos Delgado at first base. Delgado, after all, represented the winning run.

As it was, Charlie Manuel looked good after Werth hit the go-ahead single, and Jerry Manuel looked like a genius, because the Mets scored three runs in that convoluted inning.

Ryan Church left the game in the eighth, complaining of dizziness. Crap. Maine left the game with a cramped LEFT forearm – or at least, that’s how it was reported by AP. Hmm ….

Next Game

Oliver Perez faces Kyle Kendrick in a 1:05 pm start on Sunday in Philadelphia.

Phillies 3 Mets 2

So much for the sweep.

The Mets blew a golden opportunity to take the first of this vital four-game series – and everyone was to blame.

“Everyone”, by the way, includes everyone – the entire lineup, the bench, manager Jerry Manuel, the pregame chef, and yes, even Johan Santana.

No doubt, many are second-guessing Jerry Manuel’s decision to lift the “ace” after eight innings of two-run ball. Personally, I don’t think it was as awful a move as some suggest. But that’s because to me, the game was already long lost. You see, the Mets lost this game in the fifth inning – the only inning in which they scored a run. Their execution with runners on base was akin to an American Legion team whose best hitter was away on vacation.

Despite Santana’s 8 spectacular innings of 8-hit, 2-run baseball, I am going to be one of the few who blames Johan for losing the game. Not with his arm, mind you, but with his bat.

In the fifth inning, the Mets had rookie hurler J.A. Happ on the ropes. Happ had loaded the bases with none out after allowing a leadoff single to Damion Easley, a double to Ramon Castro, and a walk to Chris Aguila. Happ then went 2-0 to Santana. Unbelievably, Santana swung at the 2-0 pitch, which was ball three. He then fouled off ball four, and struck out on ball five.

Am I too critical? No, I don’t think so. Yes, Santana is paid to pitch, but he didn’t have to hit in this situation – in fact, he had to do the opposite. Happ was in dire straits, and had Santana simply left his bat on the shoulder – instead of inexplicably hacking away – he would have walked to force in the first run of the game. Besides having another run, there would have been one less out – an out that might have come later, might have come after another run or two could have scored. These are the little details of ballgames that are often (read: always) the difference between winning and losing. These tiny, seemingly unimportant moments are called “fundamentals”, the Mets’ persistent lack of execution in them is the main reason they are a sub-.500 team.

Granted, the offense should have scored more than two measly runs off J.A. Happ in the four and one-third innings he pitched. But it wasn’t for lack of hitting skill, or the ability to put the bat on the ball, as much as it was the boneheaded decisions made by the batters.

The Phillies, meanwhile, did what they normally do. Their pitchers used a collection of magic tricks, hocus pocus, and smoke and mirrors to keep the other team’s lineup at bay. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, and Pat Burrell found a way to manufacture runs. Then, the fightin’ Phils pulled off a dramatic, emotional, come-from-behind, walkoff win in their last at-bat. Sometimes I think every game they play against the Mets is scripted and rehearsed.

Duaner Sanchez took the loss. Dirty struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth – Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell — then gave up a double to Pedro Feliz, and was kind enough to allow the game-winning single to Shane Victorino moments later. Let’s face it – the Phillies were going to win this game sooner or later. Better it was sooner, so we could get on with watching the fireworks and enjoying the evening.

Notes

The Mets also lost an opportunity to score a run in the first, when Jose Reyes led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a groundout by Endy Chavez, stole third base, and was left stranded there by David Wright (who popped to second) and Carlos Beltran (who flied to right). I can maybe forgive Wright because he might have been trying to lift the ball to the outfield, for a sac fly, and got a little too much under it. Beltran I would forgive as well, except that he’s been hitting around .086 over the last two weeks, and lately has failed miserably with men in scoring position. In this game, Beltran stranded five baserunners – while the Mets as a team left an astounding 15 runners on base.

The feeble Mets hitters managed only four hits in the game, but they walked four times.

I didn’t see the postgame, but I hope Johan didn’t open his mouth again and criticize his team. That act is getting old. Yeah, his ERA has been fabulous, and the team is giving him zero run support, but the bottom line is, he’s 0-4 since Jerry Manuel took over, and currently carries a .500 record. He can’t do everything, but we don’t need to hear that fact from him. He can bitch all he wants about the team only getting four hits in this game, but he was part of the offensive problem. Winners make smart decisions (on the mound, in the field, and at the bat), they don’t make excuses, and they don’t blame others for losses. Santana has proven so far to be a good, sometimes very good pitcher, but he has yet to show us he’s a winner.

Next Game

John Maine vs. Jamie Moyer at 7:05 pm. Is this the game the 50/50 Mets win, or is it another one where they find a way to lose?

Mets 11 Cardinals 1

Win. Lohse. Win. Lose. Win. If the Mets keep up this pace, they might just win 80 games.

As expected, the 50/50 Mets beat the Cardinals in the final game of their four-game series. Actually, they didn’t just beat them — they pounded, battered, and fried the Redbirds.

The Mets jumped out to a three-run lead in the initial inning, scoring runs unspectacularly but scoring them nonetheless. An infield single by Damion Easley and two walks loaded the bases for Carlos Delgado, who lifted a fly ball to right to plate Endy Chavez. Another infield single scored David Wright, and then Ryan Church scored on an error by starting pitcher Mitchell Boggs.

That was only the beginning of Boggs’ struggles, however. After Wright flied out to lead off the inning, the Mets loaded the bases again, this time on a double by Church, a walk to Delgado, and another infield by Easley. Anderson followed with a fielder’s choice to score Church, and Ramon Castro was unintentionally intentionally walked to re-load the bases. Pitcher Mike Pelfrey then rapped a surprising single, driving in the first run of his young career. What was evolving into a bad outing by Boggs turned downright ugly, when Jose Reyes slammed a bases-clearing triple to make the score 8-zip. Chavez singled him home a few moments later, and Boggs faced — and retired — Wright for the second time of the inning.

At one point in the frame, Tony LaRussa came out to tell Boggs that no one was warming in the bullpen, no one would be, and he would have to take one for the team. Or something equally inspirational.

To add insult to ugliness, Delgado drove a two-run homer over the rightfield wall to put the Mets up 11-0 in the sixth.

While all this crazy run-scoring was going on, Pelfrey put together yet another dominating outing. He pitched seven full innings, allowing only one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six, expending 109 pitches in the process. Scott Schoeneweis and Joe Smith tossed the last two frames to close out the laugher.

Notes

Pelfrey’s ERA has now sunk to 4.23, and his record is even at 6-6. He induced 8 ground balls and 6 fly balls in his seven innings.

Carlos Delgado continues to mash AA pitching. He went 5-for-12 with 4 RBI in St. Louis.

In taking one for the team, Boggs’ ERA swelled to 6.59. He entered the game with a fairly svelte 4.37 ERA.

Reyes now leads all of MLB with 10 triples, and this last one counted as 62 in his career — tying him with Mookie Wilson for first on the Mets’ all-time list.

Red-hot David Wright had no hits but walked twice and scored twice.

Chris Aguila was promoted from NOLA to take Carlos Muniz’s spot on the roster. He pinch-hit for Delgado in the eighth and struck out against Bergenfield H.S. alum Ron Villone.

Good field, no hit middle infielder Argenis Reyes was also promoted, taking Luis Castillo’s roster spot. Castillo went on the 15-day DL after being diagnosed as prematurely aging. OK, that’s not entirely true; the explanation we were given was that he’s “hurting all over”. From one who has suffered the malaise, it sounds to me like a case of dengue fever, a.k.a. “breakbone fever” or “bonecrusher disease”. Luckily my doctor happens to be the infectious disease specialist for the Mets, so he’ll be able to spot and treat it right away. From the symptoms, it has to be either dengue or “Alou Affliction”.

Next Game

On the Fourth of July the Mets begin a three-game weekend series in the home of the Liberty Bell. Former Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana looks to stop a personal three-game losing streak against J.A. Happ of the Phillies. Game time at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia is 7:05 pm. Fireworks are guaranteed this evening.

Cardinals 8 Mets 7

Win. Lose. Win. Lose. Win. Lose. The pattern continues …

This game was dramatic, full of emotional highs and lows. Pedro Martinez was pelted early, but hung in there for five innings, and just when it seemed like the Mets were “calling it in”, they came back to tie the game. Then they were tied. Then they went ahead. Then they were tied.

And then, in true Vince Lombardi fashion, the Mets didn’t really lose the game — they simply ran out of time.

That’s not entirely true, actually. In truth, the Mets lost this game several times, and even after going ahead 7-5, it “felt” like they were about to relinquish the lead again. And they did. Quickly.

Pedro was once again awful. We don’t know if he was tipping pitches (as he claimed in his last start) or was simply ineffective. But the bottom line was, he gave up four runs in the first inning to put the Mets into a deep hole right away.

But the Mets found a way back, buoyed perhaps by a 45-minute rain delay that seemed to wipe the slate clean. They scored three runs in the third on a two-run double by Carlos Beltran and a single by Damion Easley, then tied the game the next inning when a Jose Reyes triple was followed by an Endy Chavez sac fly. The Cardinals, however, battled back themselves, untying things in the fifth on a solo homer by Rick Ankiel. Pedro was removed after that frame, and Joe Smith kept St. Louis scoreless in the sixth.

In the seventh, the Mets jumped all over Mark Mulder in his second career relief appearance, exploding for three runs via every way imaginable — walks, singles, hit by pitches, sacrifice flies, you name it. But still, the two-run lead felt kind of … fragile.

So when the Cardinals came back with two runs of their own in the eighth, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Remarkably, Aaron Heilman held them in the seventh, but was brought out to start the 8th and began the frame by plunking Ryan Ludwick. Pedro Feliciano came on in relief and promptly gave up a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Chris Duncan to once again tie the game. At that point, it was clear that this game would not be a storybook ending for the Mets — it was only a matter of time before they found a way to lose it.

And lose it they did indeed in the ninth — nearly twice, in fact. With Carlos Muniz on the mound, Ankiel very nearly hit his second homerun of the game, blasting a fly to centerfield that dropped just inches from the fence. However, Troy Glaus — who had hit a three-run bomb in the first frame — DID hit his second homer of the game, having the sense to send his fly to the shorter porch in left field to win the game for the Redbirds.

Sigh.

Notes

The Mets wasted 3-for-4 days by both David Wright and Damion Easley. Easley drove in three runs and Wright scored two. Jose Reyes also had three hits, though in five ABs, and Ryan Church went 2-for-5.

Wright, by the way, is 24-for-58 (.414) in his last 16 games, and is creeping toward .300 for the season.

Carlos Muniz was unceremoniously optioned back to New Orleans immediately after the game. While I admit I clamored for his promotion, he did absolutely nothing to prove he could be effective in an impactful role at this point in time. Too bad, as the Mets could really use a 7th / 8th inning guy right now. My guess is Muniz’s issue is more to do with confidence than anything else, because his stuff isn’t all that bad.

No word yet on who will replace Muniz on the roster. Nelson Figueroa?

Next Game

The final game of this four-game set takes place at 8:15 pm EST, with Mike Pelfrey going to the mound against rookie Mitchell Boggs, who is 3-0. If the Mets follow their current pattern, they should win the game. Win one, lose one, etc., etc.