Nationals 4 Mets 3

With their 91st loss, the Mets may have sunk to a position lower than their opponent.

The Nationals may be twelve games worse overall, but right now, the teams are all too similar — and the Nats may be slightly better.

Mike Pelfrey pitched a strong seven innings, allowing only three runs on eight hits and a walk. As usual, he pitched well while cruising, and lost his composure when runners reached base. He was able to limit his yips enough to accomplish a “quality start”, but it was not quite good enough to earn a “win”.

That’s because DC starter J.D. Martin matched Mike pitch for pitch, allowing the same three runs over a nearly similar six innings. In the end the difference was decided between the bullpens, and the Mets came up short.

Pedro Feliciano did his job of retiring lefthanded-hitting Adam Dunn, but as we all know he can’t do anything else and was relieved by Sean Green — who you may remember was tabbed as the replacement for Aaron Heilman. Green walked the first batter he faced, then was the victim of a throwing error by Anderson Hernandez that put runners on first and second. Green induced a potential double play ball from the next batter, but Luis Castillo threw away the relay to first and the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run scored.

Notes

The Mets had a prime chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Brian Schneider fouled out to Ryan Zimmerman and pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed hit a liner to Pete Orr that resulted in a double play to end the inning.

They had another shot to score in their final at-bat, when, with a runner on first and two out, David Wright blasted a line drive to the right field wall. However, Elijah Dukes made an impressive and athletic, running, jumping snare of the ball — and held onto it after eating the chain link fence in front of the scoreboard — to end the ballgame.

Mike MacDougal throws a nasty, evil, sinking fastball. I am amazed at the velocity and force of his lithe right arm whipping from launch point through the release. His arm is like a tungsten-carbide spaghetti whip slashing through mile-high thin air — and helped by the gravity and extension of his 6’4″ height. His issue has always been control, but when he finds the plate, he’s nearly unhittable.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Nats complete their series on Wednesday afternoon at 4:35 PM. Perhaps the schedule-maker had the foresight to know that no one would want to see this game way back when. Rochester, NY native Tim Redding faces Long Beach, NY native John Lannan.

Nationals 6 Mets 5

Nationals closer Mike MacDougal did everything in his power to give the Mets an exciting, come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning, but eventually stumbled into his 16th save in Inspector Clouseau style.

Mike Pelfrey pitched seven innings, which was a positive. He allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits and no walks, which was neither positive nor negative. Nice outing in terms of innings-eating, but not much else.

On the other side, J.D. Martin held the Mets to two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 frames. The Mets best chance to score runs came after MacDougal entered the game. The fireballing righthander nailed down the final out of the 8th but walked two in the ninth with a four-run lead to set up a three-run rally that ended with a comebacker off the bat of Jeff Francoeur with the winning run on second base. Oh well.

Notes

Francoeur had three hits, using a nice inside-out swing to dump base hits into right-center. He might’ve had four if MacDougal didn’t knock down the ball in his last at-bat. The ball, by the way, knocked off MacDougal’s glove — it was a hard smash.

Pelfrey’s efficiency was good — he threw only 90 pitches in his seven frames, walking no one. His curveball looked pretty good, and he threw it at a nice change of pace velocity — around 76-78 MPH. If he would throw that instead of the slider early in the count, and learn to mix in a change-up, he’d turn into the frontline starting pitcher we’ve been waiting to see. His biggest issue — other than lack of a reliable offspeed pitch — is that batters can tee off on the fastball when he falls behind in the count. A good changeup and/or curveball would counteract that problem.

This is the Mets’ first six-game losing streak since 2005

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Nats do it again at 1:10 PM on Saturday afternoon. Rochester’s Tim Redding faces Long Beach’s John Lannan in a matchup of New York natives. I’ll be here participating in a golf outing for this former teammate and will watch the replay on DVR, so don’t expect a post until late tomorrow night.