20 posts tagged “ryan church”
As if in a bad dream, David Wright is struck down.
After a 3-game sweep at the hands of NL East rivals and current division leaders Philadelphia Phillies over the July 4 weekend, it's time to call it. The season for the 2009 New York Mets is basically over.
Understand that unlike a lot of Met fans, I'm not the whining complaining blame & flame-throwing type. I don't fault any one person for the failure of the 2009 New York Mets. I don't beat drums about firing everyone in the front office, or demanding that they trade away part of "the core." I'm generally pretty optimistic when it comes to all things baseball. But I'm also realistic.
And the reality has finally set in for this team. It's not Jerry Manuel's fault. It's not Omar Minaya's fault. It's not Fred and Jeff Wilpon's fault.
It's the fault of overwhelming injuries to a multitude of players.
Injuries are the great unequalizer in sports. It's what makes fantasy sports such a tough game to win. You can draft the best players in any fantasy sports league, but if your #1, #2 and #3 picks go down for an extended period of time, you're going to have a very tough time of winning your fantasy league. Now translate that to REAL sports, and you've got a serious problem.
The 2009 New York Mets have lost a lot of players this season to injury. Some minor, many major. Oliver Perez was first to fall. To some, that's not a big deal. But then Carlos Delgado went down with a hip injury. Then Jose Reyes's calf and hamstring. Then JJ Putz with his elbow. Then the oft-injured starting pitcher John Maine and his shoulder.
But the biggest loss on top of all of the others that had already accumulated, was Carlos Beltran and the debilitating and painful bone bruise on his right knee.
There were periods of time in which the Mets were also without starters Ryan Church (RF), Brian Schneider (C), and backup utility man Alex Cora (SS/2B). There's a revolving door/platoon in LF once the Daniel Murphy outfield experiment ended. Fernando Tatis is not hitting at even close to the pace he was in 2008, and the backup players (Alex Cora, Gary Sheffield) are being worn down by playing nearly every day.
David Wright has become a very streaky and inconsistent hitter who has lost his power swing. Despite being the only major Met starter to remain healthy all season, he is going to have a career year in most strikeouts at his current pace, and his final BA could end up being .260 or .350, depending on what streak he ends the 2009 season on. But even assuming the best for David Wright, he's one player. Even Albert Pujols has a superior supporting cast surrounding him.
There are some Met fans who want to blame GM Omar Minaya for not providing a better set of backup players, forgetting that backup players are just that. Backups.
They're the guys who alternate in to give the others rest on a Sunday day game after a Saturday night game, and occasionally a couple of them can fill in for extended periods of time over the course of a season when needed. But when your backup players get hurt, and then you're calling up minor league players to fill-in for THEM before they are ready to produce at an MLB level a la Fernando (K-Mart) Martinez, Nick Evans, Argenis Reyes, etc. it's an unplanned recipe for disaster.
There are some Met fans who want to blame GM Omar Minaya for not having already traded for another offensive player, like an Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa or Matt Holliday. The three major problems with these concepts is that one player alone isn't going to turn the Mets around. The second is that despite the simplistic belief of many a baseball fan no matter which team they support, other GMs have to actually agree to the trades. The third is that Minaya has gone on record stating he wasn't willing to mortgage the future prospects of the franchise for short-term solutions. A very wise decision. However, the pill of potentially giving up on 2009 to have a shot at legitimately competing in 2010 and 2011 is proving to be a tough one to swallow.
The indisputable facts are this:
- Through 81 games, the halfway-point of a MLB season, the New York Mets have gone 39-42. They are 3 games under .500, and 4.5 games behind the Phillies.
- Last year, the 2008 Mets were 40-41 at the halfway point, 3 games behind the Phillies. They went 59-32 over the 2nd half of the season, which was still a game short of the NL wild card. And that's a team that didn't have nearly the number of injury problems that the 2009 team has endured.
- There are SEVEN teams currently ahead of them (Giants, Rockies, Brewers, Cubs, Marlins, Reds, Astros) in the wild card race, with Atlanta just a half-game behind the Mets in both the NL East and wild card race.The Mets are 5.5 games behind current wild card leading San Francisco Giants.
- Since June 1, the team has went 11-21, which would only be slightly palatable had they not gone 9-12 in April. Even though the team went 19-9 in May, things started to slide when June came, and went to hell in a handbasket once Beltran went on the DL (5-9 since June 22), including series sweeps against the Yankees and Phillies.
The Mets have their next 6 at home going into the All-Star Break. 3 against the Dodgers, owners of the best record in baseball, and the Cincinnati Reds. Figure the Mets go 3-3 over that span, losing the series to the Dodgers, winning the series against the Reds.
After the All-Star break, the Mets go on the road for 4 against Atlanta, 3 against Washington, 3 against Houston. If this were truly the 2009 Mets with all their healthy starters in the lineup, it would not be absurd to expect them to win 8-9 of those 10 games.
But without those starting players in the lineup and the team's inability to score runs at a consistent pace, the more likely outcome of that 10-game roadtrip is 4-6.
The Mets will finish up July with a 4-game set at home against the Colorado Rockies, and a 4-game set that extends into August (1 game in July) against the dying Arizona Diamondbacks. Over those 5 games, I'll give the Mets a 3-2 record.
Taking into account all the series remaining in the month, that would bring the Mets to a July finish of 12-14, and a total record of 49-53 through 102 games played.
For the New York Mets to actually have a reasonable shot of winning the NL East or even the wildcard, they'd have to amass at least 88-90 wins by season's end at the bare minimum.
In a perfect world, you get back all your healthy players PLUS Billy Wagner in the bullpen by August 1, 2009. Maybe you already have some of then back already. But the Mets would then need to go around 39-14 over the rest of the season, and pray that other teams in the NL East encounter troubles of their own. While that's not impossible, it's certainly not very probable. Keep in mind that this is also assuming that the team doesn't suffer any additional injuries to major players.
Whether the Mets should be buyers, sellers, or neither at the end of July will ultimately be determined how the team plays their next 21 games. Will they still be in the race? Will they be completely out of it? Will they barely be hanging on? And can GM Omar Minaya afford to publicly wave the white flag at the risk of lost ticket sales and other revenues at Met home games in August and September, and depending on what moves he makes, 2010?
Only time will tell, but you can put this one in the books. The 2009 Mets will not make the postseason because they've gone too many games without their horses. By the time the cavalry comes back, it will be too late.
I really hope to be proven wrong, but this time, I highly doubt it.
Go Angels.
Through 75 games, the 2008 and 2009 teams went 37-38. They were 4 games behind Philly at this point last year. And the Mets mostly hovered at the .500 level all of June, often falling 3 games under .500 before the 10-game win streak in early through mid July which propelled them above .500, back into the NL East race.
So turning things around isn't impossible.
But the major difference between last year's team and this year's team through 75 games?
Carlos Delgado was a week away from the beginning of his resurgence.
Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran were healthy.
Oliver Perez was starting to improve.
John Maine was still pitching well and his ERA was under 4.
K-Mart wasn't on the team.
Neither was Argenis Reyes.
David Wright had 12 HRs.
The biggest injury problems the team had were Ryan Church, Pedro Martinez (for the 83rd time), losing Billy Wagner in early August, and the revolving door of leftfielders filling in for Moises Alou.
For all of the fans who think things will be fine and dandy when (or if) Delgado, Reyes, Beltran, etc. come back? Remember that this team went 9-12 in April. So as is the case with baseball, there's no guarantees that their returns will change the team's fortunes, but you'd certainly like to have the opportunity to try and play games with your best players, win or lose.
F-Mart (or K-Mart as I will be calling him the rest of the year) is clearly in a situation he's not ready for.
He can play the outfield just fine and dandy, and he did manage an RBI double during tonight's game against the Yankees. But in two key situations facing lefty Phil Coke and righty Brian Bruney, he not only struck out, but swung at pitches that were at the level of his neck or even higher up.
But it's not just these two ABs that have shown just how overmatched K-Mart is at the MLB level. He may very well be the next big thing in the Mets organization, but now that we've seen him play, it's clear that it won't be until 2010 at the earliest as to when he's truly ready for the bigs. It may even be longer than that.
Unfortunately, with no Carlos Beltran to play CF and the Mets organization refuses to believe Jeremy Reed is capable of being a full-time fill-in centerfielder, they're stuck with K-Mart until further notice.
I understand that Jerry Manuel doesn't want to overuse Gary Sheffield in the OF, and Ryan Church runs hot and cold, mostly cold against lefty pitching. And Fernando Tatis is on pace to win this season's "GO THE HELL AWAY" award after winning "Comeback Player" award last season, and Nick Evans has yet to prove he's any better than K-Mart, what can an MLB manager do with such unenviable options?
The NY Times article speaks of K-Mart's inexperience and youth working against him, but perhaps it's simply that his hitting skills have not fully developed at a level necessary when playing Major League Baseball. While he made a fantastic sliding catch in centerfield off a sinking liner from Chien-Ming Wang in today's 4-2 loss, he makes too many unnecessary one-handed catches, and doesn't consistently position himself properly on sac fly balls.
The Mets have hyped up Fernando Martinez as THE guy as the future of the franchise, but so far, the future looks bleak.
It's a LIVEBLOG doubleheader today, at least, that's the plan if the rain doesn't ruin things in New York. It certainly won't ruin anything in Southern California, since we barely have rain to begin with. That's sometimes a problem, but not when it comes to baseball.
It's an afternoon matinee (or on the West Coast, morning baseball) between the Mets and Yankees. The rubber game between the injury-riddled Mets and the steroid-riddled Yankees. These two teams will meet again in less than 2 weeks, next time at CitiField, the very antithesis of the home run launching pad that is the new Yankee Stadium.
Losing 15-0 to anyone, sucks.
Losing 15-0 to the Yankees, sucks more.
Losing 15-0 when Johan Santana has the worst start of his entire career, sucks the most.
Getting swept sucks.
Getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers sucks beyond belief. And the fact that it's happened twice in 3 years now at Dodger Stadium (2007 and 2009)? The ignominy of getting swept by a ballclub that has the world's worst and most classless repugnant fans makes it all the more miserable.
The New York Mets started this road trip by beating the San Francisco Giants in AT&T Park 3 out of 4 games, and the loss on Sunday was at least a good game. They accomplished all that without the help of stars Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, who is now going to be out until late July at the earliest. They scored 24 runs in those 3 wins, and none of the runs were on homers. The last time the Mets had a homerun,
Things turned really bad when the team got to Los Angeles. Alex Cora was placed on the 15-day DL when he injured this thumb sliding into second base the night before in San Francisco. Ramon Martinez, an emergency call-up whose natural position is 2B and not SS, was part of the error parade on Monday night. And more problematic, Martinez has been dreadful at the plate so far in his 3 games, going 0 for 12 with 1 RBI and 3 Ks to start off.
First, concentrating on the final game of the 3-game series...
Like Monday night, this was another unexpected pitcher's duel between Livan Hernandez and Jeff Weaver. Hernandez has been brilliant against NL East rivals Atlanta and Florida so far, and pretty bad against everyone else. Tonight, Hernandez was brilliant, going 7 IP, scattering 7 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2.
Livan continues to prove to be 2008 version of Oliver Perez by either being fantastic or dreadful, with little in-between, and no real explanation as to why. Hernandez had a shaky 1st inning, as the Dodgers scored in the 1st inning in all 3 games against New York.
Juan Pierre led off the inning with a swinging bunt that Hernandez fielded and threw to first but Pierre just beat it out. Rafael Furcal singled to rightfield. Orlando Hudson grounded out to 1B Daniel Murphy, moving the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Andre Ethier hit a sac fly to RF Ryan Church which scored Pierre from 3rd and Furcal took 3rd base safely on the play. The inning ended when Russell Martin flied out to rightfield.
And after that, Hernandez was pretty damn good. Any time he got into trouble over the course of the game, he got out of it with ease.
The problem is that Jeff Weaver was just as stingy. While he only went 5 innings due to him being used primarily as a long reliever this season, the Mets were only able to score once off him in the 2nd inning when Carlos Beltran doubled in Luis Castillo from 1st base.
After Jose Reyes grounded deep out into the 2B hole to lead off the 3rd inning, he re-injured his right calf which has caused him to be on the bench during most of the road trip. Word is that now Reyes is going back to NY to get looked at, and won't play against Boston over the weekend. With Reyes having calf problems and Alex Cora on the DL, the Mets are in deep shit when it comes to having someone competent play shortstop, which has been one of my biggest fears over the last 4 seasons, as there was never a truly suitable backup for Jose Reyes. And this year now that they have one in Alex Cora, he's hurt too.
In any case, the Dodgers bullpen shut the Mets down for the rest of the game. Ramon Troncoso pitched the 6th and 7th innings without incident. Ronald Belsiario walked Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran to lead off the 8th inning. David Wright flied out to deep center which allowed both runners to tag up. At this point, Joe Torre went to lefthanded rookie Brent "No relation to Terry" Leach. With the infield in and Daniel Murphy up in a big spot, he grounded out to 1B James Loney, who promptly stepped on first for the 2nd out, and the runners could not advance.
At this point, Fernando Tatis was put in to pinch-hit for Ryan Church, who doesn't have strong numbers against lefty hitters. Sadly, Tatis grounded out to SS Rafael Furcal to end the top half of the frame.
In the bottom of the 8th, J,J, Putz was brought in a 1-1 game to keep it that way. But he failed.
Putz started the inning by getting Rafael Furcal to strike out swinging, but then gave up a single to Orlando Hudson, a walk to the slumping Andre Ethier, and a single to Russell Martin that scored Hudson from 2nd. David Wright intercepted the throw home from LF Jeremy Reed and threw out Andre Ethier trying to take 3rd base. Ramon Martinez, who was covering 3rd, made the tag on Ethier.
Putz then intentionally walked James Loney and then struck out pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to end the 8th, but the damage was already done.
Big Jonathan Broxton came in to close out the 9th, and as luck would have it again, like the night before, he was facing the bottom of the Mets order which was hardly going to be a formidable opponent for Broxton. Angel Pagan did manage a base hit with 1 out, but Jeremy Reed foul popped out to 1B James Loney, Angel Pagan took 2nd base uncontested, and then Ramon Martinez grounded out to Casey Blake to end the game.
Some Met fans will question why manager Jerry Manuel didn't pinch-hit for Ramon Martinez in this spot with either Gary Sheffield or backup catcher Omir Santos. But Manuel could not make that move because someone needed to still play shortstop in the bottom of the 9th inning had the Mets been able to tie the game. Even a double-switch of positions was not possible since Reyes had gone down with injury and Fernando Tatis had been used as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. It was Ramon Martinez or bust, and well, he's a bust with the bat.
So that was the ballgame, and the series. The Dodgers completed their 3-game sweep of the Mets, and what began as an encouraging road trip in San Francisco, has turned 180 degrees with the Mets now 3-4 on this trip, and another 3 games against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to go. Like the Dodgers, Boston doesn't lose at home (15-4).
So now what?
Good news:
The Daniel Murphy at 1B experiment has begun! While he failed twice tonight at the plate in big spots with RISP, he looked perfectly fine at first base, making a couple of nice plays and no mistakes nor errors. Granted, it's only one game, so we'll have to see how things progress. If he's going to become any sort of legitimate fill-in for the injured Carlos Delgado, he's going to need to find his swing again, even if he doesn't hit for power.
Livan Hernandez pitched his best start as a Met, but I already went over that.
Johan Santana pitches against Daisuke Matsuzaka on Friday, so at least the Mets have a fighting chance against the Sawx behind Santana. But if this offense continues to struggle in Boston like they did against the Dodgers.. yikes.
The team is still 21-19, two games above .500 and 1 game behind Philadelphia. No need to panic.
Bad news:
With Jose Reyes hurting again and Cora still injured, WE'S GOT A PROBLEM! Ramon Martinez is a natural 2B, not a SS. So the team is either going to have to use Fernando Tatis at SS for a while, which is not his best position by a longshot, or find someone in the minors at Buffalo or Binghamton to promote in the meanwhile. But there isn't anyone on either of those teams good enough to fill in. Martinez also can't hit, which isn't helping matters, so they may be stuck with him for a bit.
The Mets are back to their old problems hitting with RISP, going 0 for 10 tonight, and 3 for 27 (.111 team BA) in the 3-game series.
No Delgado, no Reyes, no Cora, no Schneider. Only Beltran and Wright are hitting with any consistency now but neither are doing it with the longball.
The Dodgers are now 17-3 through 20 home games, which ties a modern MLB mark set by the 1998 Yankees, also managed by Joe Torre. With the Angels coming in for interleague play Friday-Sunday, and I'm an Angels fan in addition to being a Mets fan, I'm not thrilled with the prospects of watching the Dodgers win even more games while I'm at Dodger Stadium (aka: The Unhappiest Place on Earth) this weekend.
The summary for this New York Mets loss to the L.A. Dodgers is a LOT simpler than the debacle on Monday night in the 11th inning.
Chad Billingsley was shaky early on, throwing a plethora of pitches through 4 innings but was able to right himself after giving up 3 earned runs to the Mets. Billingsley also helped his cause with a walk and two base hits off John Maine, one of which was a double that scored Casey Blake.
John Maine was a little iffy at start, although he wasn't helped out by another Daniel Murphy error in leftfield. Juan Pierre hit a sinking line drive to the opposite field, and while Murphy tracked it down, it went off his glove and Juan Pierre made it to second base with ease. He eventually scored to give the Dodgers the early 1-0 lead.
In the top of the 1st inning, Daniel Murphy got picked off of 1st base in one of those baserunning mistakes that shouldn't happen, as he broke for 2nd far too soon.
The Mets got the lead back in the 2nd inning thanks to a surprising bases loaded hit up the middle from John Maine that scored David Wright and Jeremy Reed.
The Mets tacked on another run in the 3rd when David Wright singled in Carlos Beltran, although Wright got caught trying to take 2nd base on the throw into the infield from CF Matt Kemp.
That's all the Met offense was able to muster as far as runs in this game. The Dodgers got back a run in the 4th when Billingsley hit the aforementioned double.
But the big blow came on Pitch #101. With two men (Loney and Kemp) on base and one man out in the bottom of the 6th, Casey Blake blasted a home run into the leftfield bleachers to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead which they held onto for the W.
The Mets' best chance to fight back came in the top of the 8th against reliever Cory Wade. Beltran led off the inning with a single, and David Wright then walked. Ryan Church flied out to leftfield. At this point, 2B Ramon Martinez was up at the plate. While it was only his 2nd game, Martinez had already struck out three times (all against Billingsley) and was probably not the best guy to be hitting in this position. So of course, I wondered why Jerry Manuel wasn't using Luis Castillo in this spot as a pinch-hitter. It's possible Castillo was unavailable, but I don't know. There's of course, no guarantee that Castillo is able to do the job in this spot, but he does have very good RISP numbers this season, and he's certainly a better hitter than Ramon Martinez.
Martinez ended up grounding into a 4-3 double play.
Big John Broxton pitched an easy 9th inning against the bottom of the order for the Mets (Reed, Santos, Pagan) and that was the ballgame.
Any bright spots for the Mets? Sure. The bullpen didn't let the game get out of hand once Maine left. Ken Takahashi gave up a Juan Pierre single before getting Furcal to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to get the Mets out of the 6th inning. Sean Green pitched a perfect 7th, and Frankie Rodriguez pitched a perfect 8th.
At the plate, David Wright and Carlos Beltran continue to hit extremely well. The problem is, they're currently the only ones doing so, but neither are doing it with the longball.
While the New York Mets curently lead the majors in hitting with a .291 BA, they also have the 4th fewest home runs as a team, with 26 total. While you can definitely win games without the longball, the lack of Delgado's power bat in the lineup is going to start becoming more and more noticeable if no one else (Tatis, Sheffield) is able to step up in the SLG department.
And all it took was one game at Dodger Stadium on a chilly night at Chavez Ravine. It was not the game I expected to see, and the ending was one I never hoped to EVER see.
Every team goes through that old cliche. You win some, you lose some. There's nothing wrong with losing.
But the way the New York Mets lost this game on May 18, 2009 against the Los Angeles Fucking Dodgers was just fucking pitiful.
It's two hours after the game now, and I'm STILL FUCKING PISSED. I can't remember being this pissed off in the longest time.
In fact, I WAS going to write stuff up about yesterday's Giants-Mets game that I went to in San Francisco, but that's ancient history at this point in time. They lost 2-0 in a very well-pitched game, save for three Mike Pelfrey balks. Can't win 'em all.
But this game.... FUCK! (at the top of my lungs)
Let's start from the beginning... with the Mets taking Batting Practice.
So then we move to the actual game itself. Tim Redding vs. Randy Wolf.
You wouldn't really expect this game to be a pitcher's duel, but that's pretty much what it was for a good portion of the game.
Redding, pitching his 1st start as a New York Met since being activated from the 15-day DL (right shoulder tendinitis before the season began), had a slightly rough 1st inning, and pitched far better than anyone had the right to expect the rest of the night.
In the aforementioned shaky first inning, Redding walked Juan Pierre (who walked 3 times this game, and this is not a guy who knows how to take walks), gave up a single to Rafael Furcal, sending Pierre to 3rd.
Next batter Orlando Hudson grounds a weak chopper to 1B Fernando Tatis, who instead of throwing down to 2nd or taking the sure out at 1st, decides to make a throw home to catcher Ramon Castro in order to get the speedy Pierre. Except Tatis' throw was to the right side of homeplate, making it virtually impossible for Castro to take the throw on that side and then rotate left to tag Pierre out. A perfect throw in the right spot MIGHT have gotten Pierre, but the sure out would've been the right play. Tatis didn't make that play. Dodgers go up 1-0.
Andre Ethier flied out. That's the 1st out of the inning. Russell Martin got hit by the very first pitch he saw, which loaded the bases. James Loney hit a sac fly to CF Carlos Beltran, who made a very strong throw to the plate but Furcal was too quick and he scored. 2-0 Dodgers.
Redding then got Matt Kemp to ground out to 3B David Wright, who made a nice pick on the play and a less-than-nice throw on to 1st tha 1B Fernando Tatis was able to hang onto for 3 outs.
The Mets scored a run in the top 2nd when David Wright hit a leadoff double down the leftfield line. Tatis grounded out to 2nd which moved Wright over to 3rd. Ramon Martinez then grounded out to SS Rafael Furcal, which scored David Wright and the Mets had their run on the board.
And then, nothing. Great pitching from both Randy Wolf and Tim Redding.
Tim Redding pitched 5 of 6 strong innings (the 1st, not so good. The rest, great!) giving up only 2 hits and 2 runs on 4 walks, striking out 4.
Randy Wolf's final line, which got him a very deserved standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium fans who were still left when manager Joe Torre lifted him in the 8th inning, was 7.2 IP, scattering 6 hits, walking 2, striking out 2, and was charged with 2 earned runs, though when he left the game, he was in line for the win with a 2-1 lead. Wolf was also extremely efficient, finishing up with 96 pitches in the 8th inning.
In a move that Dodger fans were pissed about, especially after the move didn't go their way, with a runner on 2nd (Angel Pagan led off the top 8 with a double) and 2 out, instead of having closer Jonathan Broxton pitch a 4-out save, which he likely would have gotten, Joe Torre went with righty pitcher Cory Wade to face righty hitter Gary Sheffield.
Right-handed hitters were only batting .200 against Wade, so the decision certainly made sense, but Broxton would probably have done the job that Wade ultimately didn't.
Gary Sheffield, the biggest target of Dodger fan booing and catcalls by far, hit a ball through into the hole between 1st and 2nd which 2B Orlando Hudson ran down. Pagan was running from 2nd and just beat the throw to the plate from Hudson in shallow rightfield. This tied the game at 2. Wade then ended up walking David Wright, and getting Fernando Tatis to foul out to catcher Russell Martin to end the inning.
JJ Putz pitched the bottom 8 for the Mets. Ramon Martinez committed his 2nd error of the ballgame at shortstop, which like his 1st error, ended up being inconsequential in the grand scheme of this game. Although clearly, this team can't get Jose Reyes back playing regularly soon enough.
After the 8th inning, this is what the stands in Dodger Stadium looked like. This, during a 2-2 tie game. This "fans leaving early" stuff happens everywhere, but Dodger fans are known for being the absolute worst when it comes to leaving games before they're over. It's a well-deserved reputation for the world's worst fans.
It thinned out even more as the game went on.
Big John Broxton pitched the 9th for the Dodgers, retiring them with ease even after a Ryan Church base hit with 2 out. That was only the 2nd hit by a lefty off Broxton all season long.
Curiously, Jerry Manuel had Sean Green pitch the bottom 9 for the Mets, which was one of those decisions you had to question somewhat because we all know that Green is pretty rotten lately on the mound. Green got pinch-hitter Xavier Paul to ground out to 2B Luis Castillo. Then he walked Juan Pierre, which is never a good idea. Green struck out Rafael Furcal, and then got Orlando Hudson to hit a squibber on the 3rd base side of the mound. Green fielded it, threw wide of 1st, and Hudson was easily safe at 1st. Pierre ran to 3rd on the Mets' third error of the game.
With the winning run at 3rd, and a man on 1st, and lefty hitter Andre Ethier at the plate, Jerry Manuel went to the bullpen to have LOOGY Pedro Feliciano pitch against Ethier with the game on the line. Ironically, had the Dodgers won the game at this point, it would've been a perfectly acceptable loss. The better team would have won.
Luckily, or perhaps not, based on the way it all ended, Feliciano got Ethier to ground back to him, and tossed the ball over to 1B Fernando Tatis.
And onto extra frames we went.
Nothing much happened in the 10th inning, but everything that could go wrong for the Mets, occurred in the 11th inning.
First, the top of the 11th, where the Mets pretty much won the game, but still ROYALLY fucked up.
With 2 outs, the Mets were facing Dodger reliever Ramon Troncoso. Ryan Church managed to single to leftfield.
On a 2-2 pitch, Angel Pagan hit a long flyball to the base of the right-centerfield wall which seemingly scored Ryan Church, and Pagan ended up with a triple. Met fans in Dodger Stadium were going crazy. We just took the fucking lead in the game, Frankie would've come in to pitch the bottom of the 11th and likely get the 3 outs. Well, with this defense, who knows.
But the boxscore says... "- A. Pagan singled to deep right center, R. Church out at third."
Why?
BECAUSE MOTHERFUCKING RYAN CHURCH MISSED 3RD BASE! 3B Mark Loretta noticed that, and the Dodgers appealed to the umpire, tagged 3rd with a confused Angel Pagan standing on it, and the appeal was successful. Dodger fans roared. Met fans were confused as hell, as were other Dodger fans nearby. Did Pagan miss a base? Did he get picked off on a trick play of some sort? The 3rd run was up on the scoreboard, so what the fuckity fuck happened?
Once the run was taken off the scoreboard, we realized the horror of Ryan Church's blunder. The Mets didn't have the lead after all, the inning was over, and the Mets had just blown it big time. Namely Ryan Church. Whiel at the stadium, one could only figure that Church really must have missed it by a lot because no one from the Mets dugout bothered to argue. Shades of Marv Throneberry.
After now having seen the TV replay with Vin Scully's overrated nasally monotone whine dripping with laughter over the play, it was clear that Church definitely missed 3rd base.
So the anger is palpable at this point, because the Mets had finally taken the lead, until they didn't.
Moving to the Bottom of the 11th, reliever Brian Stokes was onto pitch his 2nd inning. He walked Mark Loretta. Then Xavier Paul hit a flyball to the left-centerfield gap which both LF Angel Pagan and RF Carlos Beltran converged upon, but the ball was missed by both. Both Pagan and Beltran were calling for the ball, and presumably once Pagan was too close to Beltran, it spooked him and it was a two-base error on Carlos Beltran.
Un
fucking
real.
Juan Pierre got the intentional pass to load up the bases with 0 out. And Brian Stokes was now having to pitch himself out of the most awful jam imaginable. Tie game in extra innings. Winning run on 3rd base. Bases loaded. 0 outs.
Jerry Manuel then went to the mound for an infield conference to set up the defense. Carlos Beltran was called in to play a 5th infielder, playing up the middle. Pagan and Church were then playing short left-center and short right-center.
On a 3-2 count, with the game on the line and my heart in my throat, Brian Stokes got Rafael Furcal to fly out to Angel Pagan for the first out. Not nearly deep enough to score the sac fly. Pagan threw a one-hopper to Castro which would've gotten Loretta easily had he decided to run.
Then, what might've been the absolute best possible outcome for the Mets, turned into the Hindenberg of losses.
Brian Stokes, on a 2-2 count, managed to get Orlando Hudson to hit a weak grounder back to 1B Jeremy Reed, who had replaced Fernando Tatis there during a double-switch in the 9th inning. This was a tailor-made forceout at home, if not a 3-2-4 double play with Luis Castillo moving to cover 1st on the play.
But Jeremy Reed threw the fucking ball way wide of catcher Ramon Castro, sailing to the backstop. This was the 5th error of the ballgame (at least, of the ones that were scored as errors), and Mark Loretta scored. Dodgers win by a final score of 3-2.
Dodger dinosaur announcer Vin Scully said it might've been the worst game the Mets have played since the days of Casey Stengel. Well, there's no question the 11th inning was the worst single inning I've ever seen a team have in an MLB game.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry after a Met loss. I'm sure Brian Stokes isn't much happier about it either. He was credited with the loss, despite inducing Orlando Hudson's junkball grounder to Reed which could've ended the inning and allowed the Mets to fight on in the 12th. Saying the defense let him down would be the understatement of this young milennium.
The Dodgers had 5 hits the whole game, whch is the same number of errors as the Mets had in this shameful loss.
The Mets kept giving the fucking game right to the Dodgers.
Walking out of Dodger Stadium after a Met loss isn't anything new. Leaving that shithole stadium after a shit loss like that with those shit fans gloating like jackasses, is something I never want to experience ever again.
I've been watching the Yankees-Angels game this morning, and what a fantastic pitcher's duel between CC Sabathia for New York, and Matt Palmer for the Angels. I linked a NYTimes.com profile of Palmer in a post earlier this morning.
And the Angels just went up on the Yankees 5-1, with Palmer pitching 3-hit ball into the 7th inning. I'm just concerned about the Angels' bullpen having another implosion like yesterday, but Palmer ain't going all nine.
