Unhappy Recap: Nationals 12 Mets 4

This game started off well as the Mets got 3 runs in the first as they took advantage of an error by the Nationals, and then Beltran slugged a 2 run homer. Shawn Green extended the lead to 4-0 with a homer in the top of the 4th.

But then the old Brian Lawrence resurfaced. Lawrence was pressed into duty because El Duque has a bunion on his right foot (the dangers of being 80 yeards old) and because Pelfrey is pitching Wednesday to give Glavine and Pedro an extra day of rest. Why didn't Philip Humber get the start? I have no idea.

In the bottom of the 4th the Mets wished they had started anyone else other than Lawrence. He allowed 6 straight batters to reach base before he was pulled for Sele who got 2 outs on 2 pitches to get the Mets out of the inning still tied.

Sele allowed another run in the 5th, but at 5-4 to the deficit wasn't so bad. But Then Scott Schoeneweis came in. He got the last batter of the 5th but he walked the first batter in the 6th. An error by Wright put two men on with nobody out. The Nationals tried to sacrifice but Schoeneweis threw the ball into right field bringing home two runs and putting a runner on third. After an out and a walk the Nationals tried to sacrifice again. Jorge Sosa who was in the game this time looked at second, then decided to come home instead. He would have had the runner dead at home, but his hesitation cost him. Then a walk and two outs made the score 9-4.

Two physical errors and one mental error. And later in the game the Mets would make two more errors, one by Castro, one by Reyes, for a total of 10 errors in 2 games.

In the 7th Willie Collazo gave up a double, then Joe Smith came in and gave up a single and a homer to make the score 12-4.

The bullpen sucked once again, absolutely killing the Mets for about the 20th game in a row.

Unhappy Recap: Phillies 9 Mets 2

The starting pitching sucked, the bullpen was worse and the offense didn't hit. Not the way the Mets wanted to start off their most crucial road trip of the year. They needed at least a split in Philly and 2 of 3 in Atlanta.

Brian Lawrence is done as a Mets starter. The quality of his starts has gotten progressively worse and he is so hittable and he only pitched more then 5 innings once in 5 starts, in which the Mets went 1-4. Saturday against the Braves would have been his next and last turn but the Mets will find someone for that spot, then put Pedro in it the next time through the rotation.

Willie is overusing Jorge Sosa and now every time he comes in he gives up a run. Schoeneweis was horrible.

Lastings Milledge strikes out just about every time up recently. He's 3 for his last 17 with 10 strikeouts.

Carlos Delgado struck out with a man on third and one out when the game was still close.

Pat Burrell hit another home run. His 38th in 128 games and 450 at bats against the Mets. For comparison, he has a very similar number of at bats against the Marlins against whom he's hit 21 homers and against the Braves (14 homers). This freakin guy kills the Mets.

Unhappy Recap: Padres 7 Mets 5

The Mets got about all they can expect from Brian Lawrence (4 runs in 5 innings), he can probanly pitch better but all they can hope for is that he will keep them in the game, which he did.

Carlos Beltran who has been on fire lately got a 2 run double to cut the lead to two.

But the overworked bullpen blew it wide open. Mota came in and retired 5 batters in a row then got an 0-2 count on Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez singled then Mota walked Cameron. Two hits later it was 7-2 and the game was basically over.

But the Mets mounted a furious comeback in the bottom of the 9th. Anderson doubled, Conine singled, Reyes made out and Castillo reached on an error by the pitcher (he fired about 5 feet over the first baseman's head from only two feet away). Then it really looked like the Mets were going to come back as a popup was dropped in the short outfield. But Castillo was holding on at first and couldn't get to second in time. But Beltran singled to give the Mets a chance.

By this time Trevor Hoffman was in to face Delgado. A homer would have tied it, but Delgado struck out.

Delgado went 0-5 in this game. He struck out with two on in the first, he flew out with the bases loaded in the third, he fouled out with Beltran on second in the fifth and then in the 9th he ended the game, all four of those times ending an inning. For the season he is batting .175 with 2 out and men in scoring position, but he is only 5 for his last 50 in those situations. Plus it is clear that San Diego has a book on him, he was thrown nothing but high and tight fastballs and he was swinging and missing at all of them.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 10 Mets 7

A horrible, terrible, deflating loss. Although it comes off a 3-game winning streak the Mets really need to start pounding these horrible teams, .500 is not enough. But they cannot seem to do the things they need to do to build a long winning streak and put the Braves and Phillies away.

Even more troubling is that now the offense is finally starting to click but the starting pitching has been awful, the bullpen has been awful and overworked and the defense and baserunning has sucked.

The Mets got off to another good start with a home run by Beltran in the first inning for a 2-0 lead. In the second Reyes singled, stole second and scored on a hit by Castillo, all with two outs.

In the third inning they loaded the bases with no one out but Anderson grounded out (force at home), DiFelice popped up but Lawrence helped himself by driving a run home. That was followed by a Reyes walk which forced in another run and the Mets had a 5-0 lead again.

But it didn't last long as Lawrence's first hit allowed was a 2-run homer to Adam LaRoche.

Lawrence got another big hit in the 5th to give the Mets a 7-3 lead, and put him in position for another win.

But Lawrence allowed another run then turned it over to Mota who gave up a run for the second straight night thanks to some horrible outfield defense, this time it was Marlon Anderson who butchered a flyball, which cut the lead to two.

And then everything went to shit. Willie made a mistake here. He should have given one inning each to Mota, Feliciano, Heilman and Wagner. Instead he tried to stretch Mota who gave up a walk to start the 7th. Then Willie took him out and brought Feliciano to face the Pirates' only lefty. LaRoche singled and then Willie went to Heilman. Without Sosa that meant Heilman had to pitch two innings. Either Willie should have use Schoeneweis to try to get the lefty, or stayed with Feliciano, his best pitcher.

But really you can't blame Willie for what happened next because so many plays were just complete fuckups, and a manager has no control over that. After Heilman gave up a hit to cut the lead to one he fielded a sac bunt and for some unknown reason looked towards third base, he had no play, and by the time he looked to first it was too late and the bases were loaded with nobody out. The next batter got a hit to tie the game but amazingly Heilman got a strikeout and double play to keep the game tied. For now.

And it's hard to blame Heilman for what happened next. He had two outs and two chances to get out of the inning unscathed. First Wright made a horrible throw to first on a slow grounder. It was a tough play to get the out, but his errant throw put the runner on second. Then Heilman allowed a single to right and Anderson made a great throw home and had Freddy Sanchez dead at home, but Mike DiFelice dropped the ball.




Heilman allowed two more hits to make it 10-7. Heilman pitched 2 innings, allowed 6 hits, 5 runners scored while he was in the game but none were charged to his ERA, two were inherited and three were unearned.

Very tough loss, but to put it in perspective, it's not a disaster. The Mets did get 2 of 3 on the road. Brian Lawrence started this game and you can't expect to win his starts. And the bats have come alive. If the Mets take 2 of 3 in Washington this will have been a very successful road trip.

And I still feel a little confident about the bullpen should the Mets make it to the playoffs because Mota won't be there and Heilman will be the 5th reliever after Wagner, Feliciano, Sosa and El Duque.

One interesting side note, the Mets had won 133 consecutive games in which they had a 5 run lead, the longest active streak in the majors. The last time they lost a game in which they had a 5 run lead was April 30, 2004, against the Padres who used Brian Lawrence as their starting pitcher that night.

Unhappy Recap: Marlins 4 Mets 3

You knew Billy Wagner wasn't going to go the whole season without blowing another game...you hoped he would, but it wasn't realistic. Even the best closers blow 4 - 5 games per year. Entering this one Wagner hadn't allowed a run in 21 innings starting June 15. The Mets do need to beat up on the Marlins but this loss was nowhere near as crucial as a loss would have been had Wagner blown it against the Braves.

It was great to see Beltran come back off the DL and hit a huge 3-run homer that should have been the game-winner. His presence in the 3 hole should do a great deal to improve the lineup, by pushing everyone else down one slot.

Brian Lawrence once again pitched well enough to win, which is about all you can ask for from your 5th starter. He seems to have the 5th spot sealed up, for now.

Happy Recap: Mets 12 Brewers 4

The Mets started this one off by giving Brian Lawrence a lead on doubles by Wright and Delgado, and an RBI single by Alou.

Lawrence then came out and shut the Brewers down in the first inning (other than a double by Braun), with his fastball in the low 80s. Lawrence waited until the second inning to get Tom Glavine Fever, giving the two runs right back. Then in the 5th after Wright gave him the lead with a home run, he gave up a home run to the first batter in the bottom of the inning, Corey Hart.

But Lawrence got the win thanks to an inside the park home run by Damion Easley. It should have been a double but Bill Hall got too close to the wall, and it hit the part that juts out and the ball scooted past Hall to his left. It wasn't even a close play at the plate.

The Mets broke it open in the 7th. After Castro struck out with the bases loaded, Milledge singled (it should have been a 2-base error on Hardy who just misplayed a grounder in the hole), then Sosa ripped a double to make it 8-3. They added four more in the 9th on a double by Anderson and a homer by Reyes.

Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada nearly got into a fight with manager Ned Yost in the dugout after the 7th inning.

The Mets last saw Brewers starting pitcher Chris Capuano on May 13. Coming into that game he was 5-0 with a 2.31 ERA. But the Mets pounded him that day and since then he is 0-8 with a 6.27 ERA.

Jorge Sosa looked decent in relief and will probably stay in that role even though I was very unimpressed with Lawrence.