[caption id="attachment_696" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Jon Niese is not the only Met that needs a sit-down with the manager. There were more than a handful of players who came out flat in last night's 9-4 loss at the Phillies. (Photo Credit: Drew Hallowell) "]
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Not even an earthquake could shake some life into these Mets.
The “Amazins” appeared to be as hapless as ever in their fifth straight loss; a 9-4 defeat to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park last night, just hours after a minor earthquake shook the east coast.
The Mets could not get anything going until very late in the ballgame – presumably when most fans gave up and tuned out of the SNY telecast.
Jon Niese got knocked around for five runs, before departing with the bases loaded and no out in the bottom of the fifth.
Pedro Beato could not close the door and allowed two of those base runners to score, before allowing two more to cross the plate. Fortunately for Beato, three of those four runners were charged to Niese, but the team was still in a 9-0 hole with just under half of the game yet to be played.
They still would have been losing, but if the Mets capitalized on their run scoring opportunities they had in the first and second innings the game might have still been competitive.
In the first, the Mets had runners on the corners with no out and David Wright at the dish. Wright grounded sharply to third base, while Angel Pagan sprinted for the plate. The throw came to home and Pagan was a dead duck, but he didn’t even try to score. Instead of attempting to slide or bulldoze through former Met Brian Schneider, he jogged in while a tag was easily slapped on him. The demoralization only continued as the Mets stranded the bases loaded later on that inning when Nick Evans looked at a strike three call.
Then in the second, the Mets had two runners in scoring position with no out. But the next three Mets: Niese, Pagan, and Ruben Tejada, all struck out looking to squander another threat.
The Mets would not get another base runner until the seventh inning, as Phillies’ starter Vance Worely recorded the next 12 he faced before Evans doubled to lead off the seventh.
Evans’ double showed at least some residual blood flow in an otherwise dead offense. He got the Mets on the board when he scored on Justin Turner’s RBI groundout, but the Mets were still well behind.
They inched closer when Lucas Duda smashed his seventh homer of the year, a two-run job, to bring the Mets just a bit closer at 9-3. The Mets scored again in the ninth when Evans scored again after a leadoff triple.
The Mets and Phillies will play their series finale this afternoon at 1pm. Mike Pelfrey, who was tossed around in rumors this week about next season’s closer’s role, will start for the Mets. He will be opposed by Kyle Kendrick. The Mets will get an off day tomorrow before hosting the Wild-Card leading Braves for three games in the Citi.
Game Notes:
Manager Terry Collins is starting to lean toward trying to see what guys can bring to the table next year. Since Daniel Murphy’s injury, Collins had been playing Lucas Duda at first base, but last night he started Duda at right field, presumably to groom him for the job next year. He also replaced David Wright and Jason Bay with Willie Harris and Mike Baxter respectively. Both subs had an at-bat apiece (Harris singled and scored, Baxter popped out). With that move Collins might be trying to piece together next year’s bench.
According to the NY Daily News, All-Star shortstop and MVP candidate Jose Reyes might start his rehab assignment this Thursday for the Double-A Mets in Binghamton. He might get three or four games of rehab, which at the moment could put him on track to return during the Mets series at home against the Marlins.
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