This one hurt … bad.

Mike Pelfrey was masterful through six, allowing no hits until Aaron Boone smacked a line drive single to right to lead off the seventh. Pelfrey also hit a batter in that inning, but allowed no runs, giving his team a better effort than anyone could have expected. Big Pelf went 7 and two-thirds before finally yielding the game to Matt Wise — unfortunately, he walked off the mound losing 1-zip.

Also unfortunately, the masterpiece by Pelfrey was wasted, as the Mets bats could manage only three stinking hits against Jason “Christy Mathewson” Bergmann — the same Bergmann who came into the game with an ERA of ELEVEN and had just returned from a AAA stint.

Notes

The Mets can’t waste efforts like this from Pelfrey, because they’re only going to happen once in a while. Although the Mets’ brass is convinced that this is the “real” Pelfrey, I beg to differ — holding a team hitless for six innings is an anomaly, and not what we should expect from Big Pelf. Let’s not forget he was facing a poor-hitting Nationals team. My intention is not to rain on Pelf’s parade — he was outstanding — but rather to point out that he may do this three or four times this season, and struggle to get through five innings in the other twenty or so starts he makes. These are glimpses of what we hope to see from Pelf in the future, not what we should come to expect from him this early in his career.

In the third inning, with two outs and Luis Castillo on first base, David Wright hit a routine popup to right field. Castillo jogged around second, lollygagged to third, while Wright jogged up the first base line watching the fly ball. Rightfielder Austin Kearns dropped the ball, but neither Castillo nor Wright were able to advance. As it turned out, both were stranded as the third out was made. Right then and there, if I’m Willie Randolph, I pull both of my veterans and sit their lazy rears on the bench. The fact that such a move would deplete the bench has no bearing — it’s time Willie takes charge of actions on the field. Had Castillo run hard, he would have scored, and had Wright been running, he would have made it to second. Keith Hernandez and Willie Randolph disagree — both felt Castillo would not have scored, but a) he was rounding third from a jog, so how can you come to that consclusion, and b) that’s not the point. Little things like that win ballgames (or lose them, as in this case), and if Wright and Castillo aren’t going to do the little things, why should anyone else? It’s no wonder this is a .500 team going back to last June.

Kudos to Willie for supporting Jose Reyes’ decision to try to take third base on a sac bunt by Castillo. Reyes was moved to second safely, but when the throw went to first he saw that third was unoccupied and made a run for it. Yes, it was a bad move because he was out, and it was probably an example of a kid making a bad decision and trying to do too much, but I’d rather see somebody fail when hustling and being aggressive, rather than the lazy mistakes made by Castillo and Wright.

I’m not going to the ledge yet, but it’s concerning when you score only 13 runs in four games and lose three of them to one of the worst teams in MLB.

Next Game

The Mets travel to the Bronx for another Subway Series, beginning on Friday night. Johan Santana faces Darrel Rasner in a 7:05 pm start. Let’s get two of three this weekend, boys.

Nationals 5 Mets 3

Newly promoted spot starter Claudio Vargas gave a great effort, allowing only two runs on three hits and four walks in six and a third innings, but Aaron Heilman shat the bed and gave the ballgame to the Nationals.

Heilman came on in the seventh with the score tied at one, one out and one man on. He induced a ground ball from Wily Mo Pena for the second out, then allowed a single to Jesus Flores, a walk to Willie Harris, a single to Felipe Lopez, and a single to Cristian Guzman. By the time Joe Smith came on to put out the fire, the score swelled to 5-1.

The Mets came back with one run in the bottom of the frame, and mounted a mild rally in the eighth, but that seventh inning was a fatal blow to the Mets’ spirit. It’s hard to make up four runs in three innings, even against the worst team in the NL East.

Notes

It’s time to move Aaron Heilman to a mopup role. He’s a mess, and isn’t helped by the hometown boo-birds. At this point, he’s going to be booed heavily from the time he begins warming up in the bullpen, and that’s not good for anybody. Matt Wise and Joe Smith can pick up the slack while Aaron finds himself. As correctly noted by Lee Mazzilli in the SNY postgame, Heilman’s confidence is shot and he’s trying to be too fine. At the same time, the Mets MUST have him back on his game, eventually, if they are to do well this season. Willie Randolph had better try something other than “getting him back on the horse” — because that plan is NOT going to work in this particular case. Not surprisingly, Randolph has already announced his support of Aaron. That’s important, of course, but the role must change, at least temporarily.

To Heilman’s credit, he pitched properly to Jesus Flores, who happened to have a great at-bat. The other hits he gave up were on pitches that had good location — it was a matter of ground balls finding holes. Walking Willie Harris, however, was abominable.  I’m not happy with Heilman’s arm angle on release — to me it looks just a hair too low, which is sending his pitches higher in the strike zone than he intends. In addition, his velocity was down by about 3-4 MPH in this game — which, combined with the low arm angle, sends up a red flag suggesting fatigue or pain.

As you know, I’m a perpetual Heilman apologist, so I’m going to point out something glaring about this ballgame: the Mets managed only six hits and three lousy runs against the Washington Nationals. The Nats are 14th in the NL in pitching, giving up almost five runs per game. Yes, it’s Heilman’s fault this game got out of hand, but shame on the Mets offense for their putrid output.

Moises Alou was tossed from the game in the fifth by Dana Demuth. This proved to be a major incident, as Endy Chavez hit in his place as the go-ahead run in the eighth with runners on first and third. No offense to Endy, but Alou is the guy you want at the plate in a crucial RBI situation. Chavez popped up to shallow centerfield to end the inning. Endy did, however, stroke an infield single and eventually scored in the previous inning.

Next Game

The final game of the series begins at 1:10 PM on Thursday afternoon, with Mike Pelfrey going against Rutgers alum Jason Bergmann. Bergmann is returning from AAA after posting an ERA of almost 12 at the MLB level. The Mets absolutely, positively, MUST win this game. That’s right — it’s a must-win, in mid-May.

Mets 6 Nationals 3

John Maine had another stellar outing, going six innings and allowing only two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk, while striking out five, in leading the Mets to their 20th win of the season

Maine, however, left the game with the score tied, and the Mets managed to go up 4-2 to make him eligible for the win. At that point, it was up to the bullpen to preserve Maine’s fifth win.

Newly activated Matt Wise gave up a run in the seventh, and Duaner Sanchez held the Nats scoreless in the eighth despite getting in a bit of a jam.

The Mets added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, combining aggressive baserunning with sloppy play by Lastings Milledge.

Billy Wagner came on in the ninth to preserve the victory.

Notes

First-half MVP Ryan Church went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI to lead the offense. He hit his eighth homer and seventh double on the year. Even his outs are hit hard.

Fellow former Nat Brian Schneider also took it to his former team, going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Both players are hitting over .320 on the season, while Lastings Milledge is languishing around .245. It’s still early though.

David Wright and Moises Alou had two hits apiece, with Wright slamming his 13th double.

Carlos Delgado had one hit, a bunt single in the second against the shift. Let’s see more of that Carlos, and force teams to play you straight up, eh?

Nice to see John Maine hit Felipe Lopez to start the game. About time someone on the Mets’ pitching staff takes charge to establish that the Mets are not to be messed with, and who is boss. Also like to see that nasty streak in Maine eek out every once in a while … it can’t hurt to have hitters worrying about getting him mad.
Next Game

Just-promoted Claudio Vargas goes to the hill against the unknown pitcher in a 7:10 PM start. The contest will be carried on SNY, WFAN, and XM 185.