Unhappy Recap: Braves 7 Mets 6

How many times we have seen this same game? I bet there's been at least 25 times this year the Mets played a game with the following characteristics: Mets score early off the starter then go in the tank, the starting pitcher pitches fairly well, but allows too many baserunners and doesn't go deep enough and then the bullpen implodes.

I don't even blame the bullpen all that much for this loss. Schoeneweis, Smith and Heilman all gave up extra base hits in the same inning, but they got a little unlucky and were hindered by a horrible decision by Jerry Manuel.

Why the hell did he intentionally walk two guys in the 8th inning? It made no sense to put extra runners on base. He knew they were going to pinch hit Chipper if he walked Norton. So he added an extra runner AND put him in scoring position, and gained nothing. He should have gone after Norton and at least given the offense a chance.

Not that the offense would have done anything with it. Before I go any further though it's important to mention that you can't view this game as a one-run game. Carlos Delgado's homer only came because Mike Gonzalez was challenging him with a 3-run lead. Without that lead Delgado would have been pitched differently, most likely to a different result.

David Wright and Carlos Delgado are exempt from the blame for this game, they had 5 of the 6 RBI and 6 of the 8 hits. It's everyone else who sucked.

In the 6th the Mets started off with two walks, but Pelfrey couldn't get the bunt down. Inexcuseable. Reyes and Murphy went quietly and that was that.

In the 7th Wright and Delgado got on and on the first pitch to Beltran he squared to bunt? Why? He does this so often, and every time I hear he's doing it on his own. Why doesn't Manuel tell him "don't bunt on your own. Don't bunt ever, you're too good a hitter. Our bullpen is too bad to EVER play for just one run. Get up there and get a hit." Then on 0-1 Beltran swung at a pitch in the dirt and his at bat was wasted. When Church grounded into a double play the Mets had wasted two great chances to add to their lead.

With 17 games to go the Mets held a 3 1/2 game lead over the Phillies. During the last 10 games the Mets went 4-6 and the Phillies went 9-1. Sure seems like a replay of last year.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 4 Mets 2

The Mets can't win when they don't score 5 runs and they can't win when Pedro pitches.

He is absolutely awful. He puts them in a huge hole every time out, usually giving up only one run in the first inning, this time it was 3. But if it weren't for his bat the Mets would have gotten shut out.

A good job by Schoeneweis to at least keep the game close. And it was nice to see Parnell come into the game as well.

The 4th run for the Braves did come as the result of a bad call at second base. Jones was clearly out at second.

I have never seen Ramon Castro look worse in an at bat than he did striking out in the 7th inning with Castillo on base. In fact he looked like Castillo does in every at bat, where he just flails at the ball.

Castillo did get one hit, improving his September batting average to .154.

David Wright got two of the Mets hits which is nice because they really need him to play better at bat and in the field.

Happy Recap: Mets 9 Braves 5

In the last 12 games the Mets are 12-0 when the score 5 or more runs. And 1-7 when they scored 4 or fewer. And in those 12 wins they allowed 5 or more runs 5 times. This is how it's going to be for the rest of the season. As Gary Cohen said, they're going to "have to outscore their bullpen.

The big difference so far between this September and last, is Jose Reyes. I don't care what anyone says, he is the unquestioned MVP of this team. The three big boppers are all great, but the Mets can win if one of them isn't hitting, because there are two more just like him. But if Reyes isn't on base, they don't win. And when he starts them off by scoring in the first inning, the Mets usually win. He's also very underrated as a run producer, I feel like he constantly drives in runs when he gets the opportunities.

David Wright also got two running scoring hits, waking up out his doldrums, although the first one was a weak swing that he just got inside the first base line. Good thing because he is absolutely killing this team with his defense. He should have been charged with 2 errors in that second inning, but the official scorer let him off the hook on one of them.

And that's I'm giving Oliver Perez some credit for this outing, even though it was only mediocre. Not only did he have to deal with Wright's bad defense, which cost him 2 runs, he had to deal with the inconsistent and very small strike zone of the home plate umpire.

Jerry Manuel did a good job of mixing and matching pitchers to get through the 7th and I was glad to see Heilman get a big strikeout. And I was glad Manuel left Stokes in for the 9th inning. The guy has been pretty good and I like that he is going with the hot hand. If a guy is having a good night, stick with him, no matter what the matchup says, because chances are bringing in a guy who throws with the correct hand will turn out to be the wrong move.
Oliver Perez bounce back from bad defense and small strike zone

Unhappy Recap: Braves 7 Mets 4

So much for Luis Ayala as the savior (and saver) out of the bullpen. For the second time in two days the Mets blew a 2-run lead and lost a game they should have won. This time however the lead was blown in the 9th, making it the 7th time the Mets lost a game they were winning after 8 innings. That's just an astronomical number.

Maybe the offense can stay hot and get the Mets back into the playoffs but with the bullpen the way it is there is just no way a Met fan can be confident at all.

And it wasn't just Ayala who sucked, Pedro Feliciano got the first man he faced, then put on four batters in a row. He'd been doing better recently (6 straight hitless appearances) but I have no confidence in him either.

Joe Smith came in and did his job though, striking out two batters with two men on in the 8th inning.

Oliver Perez wasn't bad but his pitch count was very high and he was constantly in trouble, but 2 runs in 7 innings certainly should have been good enough.

David Wright is now officially on fire. In the last 5 games he is 12 for 19 (.632) with 4 homers and 9 RBI.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Braves 0

What a performance by Jon Niese. He obviously shook off the nerves that affected him in his first start. He was in control the whole time because he was able to control his curveball. His curveball was awesome and he was able to get it over for strikes. I think we're going to see with him throughout his career that when he can get that curveball over for strikes he'll be very hard to hit.

And I love the fact that Jerry Manuel let him pitch into the 8th inning, and left him in there even though he allowed a hit to the first batter of the inning.

There wasn't much for Niese to worry about because once again the Mets jumped out to a big lead with 3 first inning runs.

David Wright looks like he might be starting to get hot.

Beltran also getting hot hitting a home run and raising his batting average to .285, which is higher than he's had in any season with the Mets.

If Carlos Delgado continues his hot streak while Wright and Beltran are hitting this way, the Mets are going to be very dangerous.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 3 Mets 2

The Mets lost this game when they reverted to their former ways and were unable to get runners home. Particularly when Schneider and Easley both grounded into double plays with the bases loaded and none out.

Schneider's came in the 4th and did bring a run home, but Easley's hurt a lot more. He got doubled up after the Braves cut off the run at home and the inning ended without the Mets get anything home.

And that failure to tack on runs cost the Mets when Santana faltered in the 8th. Manuel did the right thing by trying to stretch Santana but he faded because he threw too many pitches early in the game.

The Mets bullpen has been pretty decent but when Santana put the first two men on in the 8th, Schoeneweis and Stokes each allowed a hit to the first batter they faced.

Santana allowed 9 hits and struck out only 4 in 7 innings, a disappointing outing for him.

Carlos Delgado stayed hot with two more hits.

The Mets must win game 2 of this doubleheader.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Braves 4

Another exciting victory where Carlos Delgado came through in the clutch. But you have to admit his 5 for 5 in the box score is a little specious. His last two "hits" were both pretty much errors by the Braves. And if Infante doesn't lose the ball in the lights Delgado is a goat.

And maybe if Ohman covers first on time on Delgado's grounder in the 7th, the Mets would have lost this game.

But once again, the Mets were up against a bad team, a bad team that made mistakes, and the Mets capitalized on them. And that's all that matters.

Pedro pitched pretty well, and settled down after that leadoff homer. Why is he having so many problems in the first inning this year? He's allowed 5 homers and 14 runs in 14 1st innings. But I love the fact that he bounced back from a rough 6th inning and pitched a great 7th, and even tried to get back out there for the 8th.

After Pedro left the Mets got a little bit lucky when a bad bunt turned into a double play. But Pedro Feliciano insisted on trying to blow the game. But evidently Luis Ayala hasn't been here long enough to know he's supposed to blow the game because he cleaned up Feliciano's mess, then pitched a scoreless 9th, and got his second win of the season, first as a Met.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Braves 3

This is the Mets formula for success, scoring early with a few key hits then getting good starting pitching and keeping the bullpen out of it.

Pelfrey was great even though he allowed 3 runs. He went 9 innings, threw only 108 pitches and took care of the early lead. The only time he got in real trouble was a bout of wildness in the 6th when after a cheap infield hit (one of only 3 he allowed) he walked 2 guys and threw a wild pitch. But I'm so impressed with him that he was able to shake that off and pitch 3 more good innings, actually 3 more perfect innings.

The Braves defense was so awful, basically gifting the Mets 3 extra runs in the first inning. But you don't win by having teams make mistakes against you. You win by capitalizing on those mistakes and Pelfrey was the one to make them pay.

I love Daniel Murphy, he's slowed down but he's still getting a hit per game pretty much and contributing whenever he's in there.

Happy Recap: Mets 7 Braves 3

This may very well have been my last game at Shea Stadium and I thank Carlos Delgado for making it a victory.

Delgado had fallen back in his slump, lunging at pitches and tapping them to the rightside, so when he came up with the bases loaded and one out with the Mets down 1 run in the 8th inning, I just wanted him to avoid a double play. Delgado had been 1 for 10 with the bases loaded so far this season. But he crushed one to left field that was just a couple feet too low to be a grand slam.



After Tatis was walked to set up a doubleplay for Easley, both Easley and Castro came through with run-scoring hits to give the Mets a big lead, a key because they have been notoriously deficient at adding on runs to support a weak bullpen.



But Schoeneweis came in, threw strikes and got through the 9th inning with ease.

Plus the Mets even got a good inning, well a scoreless inning from Aaron Heilman, good enough to earn him his 3rd win to go with his 7 losses.

It was a rough game for Oliver Perez, he was walking guys, getting behind but I was encouraged that Manuel gave him the chance to get through the 7th inning, despite a high pitch count. After that great 6 start stretch where he had an ERA of 1.36, Perez has cooled down significantly. But unlike earlier in the season, his bad starts are a lot better, (4 runs in 6 innings, 3 runs in 6 2/3 and 3 runs and 6 1/3) and the Mets won 2 of those 3 "bad" games and 8 of his last 10 starts overall.

I'll take any game where Jose Reyes walks 3 times.

Before those 2 hits by Delgado and Easley the Mets had been in a 3 for 42 stretch with the bases loaded.

But they came through this time, for an unexpected comeback win, probably the last one I'll ever see at Shea.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 4 Mets 2

This game was the disaster. All the losses to the Braves this week were bad, but this one was the nuclear meltdown that is going to get Willie fired, either right now, or very soon.

The problem here is not lack of talent, or even the manager or even players underachieving. The problem is not friction between Latin and American players. The problem here, for whatever reason, the Mets do not make those couple of big plays in every game that are the difference between winning and losing.

They wasted a good (not great) effort by Johan Santana with bad defense and worse offense.

Luis Castillo sucks. He made a great diving stop then for some reason didn't bother throwing to first. For the second day in a row his bad defense got the Braves on the board early. And remember, we signed him for his defense.

It certainly wasn't his great ability as a hitter. When the Mets started to rally getting runners on first and second with one out (the amazing Church emerging from a concussion induced haze to get a hit) and he hits one back to the pitcher for a rally-killing double play.

Let's look at all the bad defensive plays in this game:
Schneider's error in the second inning that put Teixeira on.



Then there was the play by Castillo that could have been the third out.

In the 7th when the Braves took the lead, Beltran misplayed Kelly Johnson's single into a double.

Then David Wright charged on a bunt that Santana fielded, allowing the runner to get to third.

I'm not taking the blame off Santana, he threw a wild pitch and allowed 12 hits, the most he's ever allowed in a game.

I think the Mets did get a diminished Santana, 12 hits and 1 strikeout are very un-Santanalike numbers. I know a lof of them were bloop hits, but that's ridiculous. So many 2 strike counts where he couldn't put guys away. And he's supposed to be a strikeout pitcher.

I know he's supposed to be a second half pitcher, but he wasn't last year and at this point I'm not very hopeful.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado hit back to back homers. Big fuckin deal.

In 374 at bats combined, the Carloses and Moises Alou have 10 HR. 17 players have more including Mike Jacobs.

The lone bright spot in this dark storm was Marlon Anderson. He made an incredible catch in the first inning. Even though he went 0 for 3 to drop his average to .173, with major holes and left and right for the time being and major weak spots and first and second, I hope he gets a lot more playing time.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 11 Mets 4

This series is one game away from being an absolute disaster.

That play by Luis Castillo, who by the way, we have for his great defense, completely screwed up Pelfrey who clearly lacks the mental toughness to overcome plays like that.

And when you toss in the fact that Castillo struck out with second and third and 1 out, it makes me want to kill him.

And the Mets signed him for 4 years and $25 million in the offseason.

At least the Mets got 14 good games out of Moises Alou before he's going back on the DL.

Without him and Church the Mets might not ever score a run.

But Reyes did have two more hits.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 6 Mets 2

This is why Mets fans are going out of their minds. This team can't put together a prolonged streak of anything. After two good games they went back to their old ways.

Bad starting pitching, bad relief pitching and bad hitting. It's amazing the team is above .500 with the way they've played.

.500 is basically what they are, not having won or lost more than 2 games in a row in over a month. In fact, since that 5 game winning streak in mid April, the Mets are 12-15.

Dealing with this particular game, Claudio Vargas wasn't terrible, but he wasn't good enough either.

Matt Wise put the game out of reach as Mets relief pitchers often do.

The big difference here was that the Braves got hits when they had men on base, something the Mets almost never do.

I was pleased to see Reyes get 2 more hits. I firmly believe that if he is going well everyone else will contribute enough to get this team some wins. But they really need him to get hot and stay hot.

And if they lose Church that could be big trouble. He got a concussion on that play in the 9th inning which is worrisome because it's his second concussion of the year (remember his spring training collision with Marlon Anderson?) It's rare for a baseball player to get concussed, especially twice in a couple of months. He'll probably miss a couple games but the Mets need him in the lineup.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 6 Mets 1

This game started off very promisingly. Castillo homered (his second as a Met) then Wright, Beltran and Church all reached base (Wright could not have scored on Church's single). Run in, bases loaded no outs then Alou and Delgado stranded the runners. They both hit the ball hard but why can't the Mets ever get a sacrifice fly?

After that the Mets went down 22 straight.

John Maine was bad but he's been so good so far this season that you really can't complain, the occassional bad start is going to happen. Plus he wasn't so bad that the game was out of reach, he just didn't have his best stuff.

Aaron Heilman sucks. But every outing like this (gets ahead 0-2, gets to a full count and allows a home run) means he's less likely to ever pitch in a pressure situation again, and hopefully it's one step closer to him being off the team.

Glavine struck out Delgado in the fourth inning on a high inside fastball that Glavine blew right by him. I don't understand why every team doesn't throw every pitch to Delgado a high inside fastball.

This is why Mets fans weren't overly excited about the sweep of the Yankees. It can all turn around so quickly, especially against the Braves in Turner Field.

If the Mets don't win the nightcap they'll have erased all the good work they did against the Yankees.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Braves 3

This was a huge win because the Mets never beat the Braves and after the way this series started to come back and beat Hudson and Smoltz in succession, and knock them out of the game. Awesome!

Carlos Delgado finally woke up. Two homers including a a shot off Smoltz to left field. He needs to start going to left field more because his bat is no longer quick enough to pull pitches with authority.

But when Delgado hit his first homer of the year I remember hearing Wayne Hagen on the radio say that this would definitely get him jump started. Didn't happen then and I don't think it will happen now. Sure he is not going hit .180 all season (we hope) but he's not going to suddenly snap out of it and hit .280 with 35 homers either.



It was also nice to see Raul Casanova come through with a couple of big hits including that blast in the second inning. He is 9 for 21 since becoming the de facto starting catcher.

I still like Nelson Figueroa even though this was his second subpar start in a row. I like the way he battles, I like the way he challenges hitters, I like the way his family has their own luxury box when he pitches, and I like the way he only gives up 3 runs per game giving the Mets a chance to win his starts. They are 3-1 when he starts.

Awesome catch by Church in the 7th. I think Beltran may have had a chance at it if Church hadn't been coming on so hard but once he saw Church, Beltran made the right decision to slide and avoid a collision.



Billy Wagner has been awesome this season. I hope we will remember this when he blows a save, because it's going to happen eventually.

Willie did a good job managing the bullpen in this game, getting an inning out of Schoeneweis and giving Feliciano a chance to get a right hander so Sanchez could get the day off.

Happy Recap: Mets 4 Braves 3

This was a very satisfying victory because the Mets really needed a good bounceback after a few bad games in a row.

Starting with the negative though, John Maine pitched what has become an all too typical performance for a Mets starter (5 innings, 100 pitches) and even though he only gave up 3 hits and 3 walks his pitch count was so high because he got into a lot of deep counts. Normally the Mets are not going to win too many games where the bullpen has to pitch 4 innings, even with a 2 run lead, but this time Schoeneweis, Feliciano, Sanchez and Wagner shut the door.

Wagner has not allowed a hit in 9 innings this year.

Wright broke his 0 for 19 streak, the longest of his career, with a hit in the crucial 4th inning.

Carlos Delgado however continued his slump with an o for 4. But after Beltran's double and Church's triple in the fourth Delgado made his greatest contribution so far this season. He ran in front of Teixeira to prevent him from throwing out Church at home. That gave the Mets their 4th and deciding run.

I hate the contact play. It is not effective, almost anything you can score on if you are running on contact, you can score on if you are not running. Although this Delgado grounder was an exception, the Mets got Pagan thrown out at home on a weak Reyes grounder in the sixth. It's a much worse play with none out, but even with one out it usually isn't a great play.

Right now the biggest problem with the Mets is not the weak starting pitching, the horrible bullpen or the lack of timely hitting. It's Jose Reyes's prolonged slump. Right now his on-base percentage is less than ,300. They cannot win if he doesn't start getting on base and scoring runs.

The Braves are 0-8 in 1-run games so despite outscoring their opponents by 30 runs, they are only .500.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 6 Mets 3

What was galling about this game is that for once it was the other pitcher who melted down, lost the strike zone and walked the ballpark. And the Mets still couldn't win.

I was actually impressed with Mike Pelfrey briefly here because he fought through some major trouble in the first then came back with two strong innings.

Then there was that crazy bottom of the third. Jurrjens was right, McClelland was squeezing him on a couple of those calls. And I can see that was very demonstrative in questioning the call but I still think the umpire was way out of line. I think Cox did make a smart move by coming out and getting himself ejected to save his pitcher. And even though the impact wasn't immediate, Jurrjens came back the next inning and started a streak of 10 straight batters retired.

But the Mets gave Pelfrey the lead heading into the 4th inning and he blew it. One of the keys to being a winning pitcher is coming back with good clean quick innings after your team scores. In this case Pelfrey walked the leadoff batter. 5 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 4 walks, 1 strikeout. That's a bad line.

David Wright is now in a 0 for 18 slump.

Carlos Delgado is now in a 3 for 30 slump. It was very surprising that Willie rested him against a right-handed pitcher. But he has been so bad that they need to so something with him because shooting him for the insurance money, as beneficial as it would be isn't really feasible.

Just after the Braves went ahead in the 6th, a series of fights and food-and-beverage throwing altercations took place on two decks on the third-base side. Several fans were forcibly removed by security and one person was arrested for assault, New York Police Department spokesman Det. Kevin Czartoryski said. I heard the announcers mentioning this, plus you could hear the crowd, but they never showed it and never really explained what was going on.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 3 Mets 1

Johan Santana got his first introduction to being a Met in this game. You pitch great, you get no run support and the bullpen sucks.

And even when you double to get yourself on third with one out the weak hitting second baseman can't hit the ball deep enough to drive you in. It is sickening that the Mets cannot get runners in. And that was the main difference in this game. The Mets got Santana to third with one out but couldn't get him in but the Braves got Kotsay to third with one and Escobar drove him home.

The Mets did start 2-3 in 1986 so I don't think it's time to panic yet, but Pedro is out, the bullpen is terrible and I hate Carlos Delgado.

Delgado is 5 for 10 with the bases empty and 2 for 10 with runners on. All four of his strikeouts came with men on base. And how did he get doubled off first on a ball that was obviously going to be caught?

And once again the Mets get swept in Turner Field.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 11 Mets 5

Too bad spring training doesn't count because John Maine looked like a completely different pitcher. I don't buy that he was too fresh, and throwing too hard. He was just bad.

And speaking of just bad there was Jorge Sosa who couldn't throw strikes and eventually allowed the grand slam that but this game out of reach and turned it into a blowout.

As hot as the Mets hitters have been so far this season to get off to only a 2-2 start is a little disappointing.

I have never seen a play before like the one with Reyes up and the bases loaded. It was a horrible call by the umpire to rule it a catch, but it was a horrible play by Pagan to run past Church on the bases. But I think Church would have been running home if he hadn't seen the umpire rule it a catch. I'm glad they went back and fixed the play but I don't think I've evern seen them do that before, especially not on a play with so many variables.

But at least I'm not writing this recap and pointing to that play that cost us the game.

Happy Recap: Mets 4 Braves 3

This game wasn't crucial (the Braves are out of it either way) but it was a good sign that after the bullpen blew the lead the offense came back to get a run and the win. But it was a bad sign that the bullpen blew the lead.

John Maine pitched well for the second straight time against the Braves. Although those two good starts sandwiched a bad one in Cincinnati Maine is starting to pitch a little better.

Maine shouldn't have even allowed a run in this game but a fly ball to center landed in between Reyes and Beltran. After that, for some reason Maine melted down and walked the next three batters to force in a run and tie the game.

The Mets took the lead back on a home run by Marlon Anderson (he is incredible) then added an insurance run on a single by Reyes after a pinch hit triple by Milledge. Reyes was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, continuing to break out of his slump.

After a scoreless 7th by Sosa, the Mets bullpen went to work. Heilman got the first two outs but then walked Renteria and gave up a single to Teixeira so Willie went to Feliciano to face the lefty Brian McCann. McCann walked and Willie went to Mota. Mota gave up a single to Francoeur which tied the game.

But the Mets showed heart and fought right back to take the lead again in the bottom of the inning. Beltran singled, stole second and went to third on a groundout by Alou. Then Shawn Green, on Rosh Hashanah got the game winning hit.

Billy Wagner seems to have gotten his groove back, throwing a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 13 Mets 5

For the second straight start El Duque got hammered, this time giving up 8 runs in only 3 innings. His ERA has gone up from 3.07 to 3.75 in those two starts.

I thought El Duque might wiggle his way out of it, after he walked in a run he got a double play when Beltran nailed McCann at home to end the second inning with only one run.

One thing about that play that really pissed me off. Paul LoDuca didn't block the plate. He stood out of the baseline and reached out with his glove. He easily could have missed the tag or had the ball jarred loose.



But El Duque couldn't settle down, he had no control, walking Kelly Johnson to lead off the third, then giving up a home run to Yunel Escobar.

And things got even worse for El Duque in the 4th. The first 5 batters of the inning reached base against him for 3 more runs. Aaron Sele came out of the bullpen and got two outs, but then allowed a homer to Mark Teixeira to make the score 9-0 and pretty much end this one.

There were some good signs on offense. Jose Reyes had his second good game in a row, hitting three doubles. He should have scored in the first but he was too anxious on a comebacker and got thrown out by the pitcher.

Moises Alou and Paul LoDuca both homered.

The Mets wore their caps with NYPD, FDNY, PAPD and OEM logos on them as they did right after 9/11 in 2001.



Cool picture of David Wright pursuing a foul ball.