WRIGHT WATCH: David's fifth HR of the season!

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

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Mets streak extends to five in loss to Brew Crew, 6-3

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

Coming off a season-high fifth straight loss and sensing negativity amongst his team, manager Jerry Manuel talked to his Mets squad privately for nearly 20 minutes after a 6-3 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday night at Miller Park.

Among the things Manuel discussed with his team was the negativity that comes with losing and how to stop it from ruining players' confidence.

He also mentioned individualism as a potential issue.

Because of the team's current losing streak and its 9-18 record in June, Manuel said it's imperative players don't let doubt slip in their heads.

Third baseman David Wright, who put the Mets ahead with a two-run homer in the first inning, said it's easy to block out distractions or an individual's slump when the team is winning. But when the team is struggling as bad as the Mets (37-39) have recently, it seems as though negativity and doubt is all around.

Indeed, the Mets played far from perfect baseball Tuesday night against the Brewers (42-35), as two key defensive gaffes in the fourth inning ended up costing them the game.

With one on and no one out, Brewers right fielder Corey Hart hit a deep fly ball to center field. Fernando Martinez went back for it, but just as he made his way under the ball, he slipped and fell to his knees as the ball dropped to the ground.

Mets starter Johan Santana promptly walked J.J. Hardy on four pitches, and Ryan Braun lined a bases-clearing double to left field. Braun went to third base on the throw home, taking a wide turn at third as the ball got by catcher Omir Santos. Santana was backing up home plate and threw to third to try to nab Braun, but the throw sailed into left field and Braun scored.

After the inning, Santana was noticeably upset in the dugout following the sloppy play.

Santana (9-6) took the loss, giving up six runs -- five earned -- on nine hits in six innings, coming out after giving up a home run to Prince Fielder in the seventh inning. Brewers starter Mike Burns (1-1) earned his first career win, allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Alex Cora led off the game with a walk and Wright hit a two-run homer for an early lead, but the Mets managed nothing else until Martinez hit his first career home run with two outs in the top of the ninth.

Aside from blocking out negativity, another part of Manuel's discussion with the team was believing in itself. Manuel told the team he thought the current 25 players in the clubhouse were good enough to win games and keep the Mets competitive until one or more of their injured players return.

Santana and Wright both said they agreed with Manuel.

Notables:

Dan Warthen got ejected from the game while defending Johan Santana, who he thought the umpire was squeezing for strikes. This was not the first time the Mets had taken issue with this particular umpire concerning Santana.

Alex Cora was 1-3 with a run scored and a walk.

Gary Sheffield was 1-4.

Ryan Church continues to perform better since battle with his stomach bug, going 2-4.

Nick Evans and Fernando Martinez each went 1-4. Martinez hit his first major league home run in this game.

The performance of the night for the Mets belonged to David Wright and his 3-4 night. He scored one and plated two on his homer off of Burns in the first inning, his fifth of the year. His average climbed back up to .345.

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Mets skid to four games straight, lose 10-6 to Brewers

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

When manager Jerry Manuel pictures a team with a sub-.500 record, he sees a below-average baseball club.

As of Monday night, that image now includes the Mets.

Fernando Nieve lost for the first time this year as a starter and the Mets fell below .500 for the first time since early May, losing to the Brewers, 10-6, on Monday night at Miller Park.

Monday's loss was the fourth straight for the Mets, tying a season-high losing streak they have had three other times. The loss also dropped them to 37-38, the first time they've been under .500 since May 5, when they were 12-13.

Given the injuries New York has faced all season, Manuel said playing approximately .500 until the All-Star Break is going to have to be one of the goals for the team.

And while winning one out of every two games doesn't sound all that challenging, it can be -- and has proven to be -- for a lineup without most of the team's top players.

The Mets came to Milwaukee looking to get back on track after getting swept by the Yankees over the weekend, and seemed to have the perfect guy to help them do so.

Nieve had won his first three starts for the Mets, but he couldn't get No. 4, as he was unable to get out of the fourth inning.

The right-hander took the loss, giving up three runs on 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Elmer Dessens came in for Nieve (3-1) with the bases loaded, one out in the fourth and the Mets behind, 3-0. Dessens got Ryan Braun to fly out to right fielder Ryan Church, who then threw out Brewers starting pitcher Braden Looper at home plate for the third out to avoid any more damage.

New York put up two runs in the sixth inning thanks to an inning-extending error by Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee.

With Church on first, Fernando Martinez popped up to shallow left field. McGehee backpedaled for the seemingly easy catch, but the ball fell in and out of his glove. On the very next pitch, Brian Schneider smoked a double off the wall to score Church and Martinez and pull the Mets within one.

The one-run deficit was short-lived, as McGehee redeemed himself in the bottom of the inning with a grand slam.

Looper (6-4) picked up the win, allowing three runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

The Mets rallied in the top of the ninth by scoring three runs, but the season-high 19 hits given up by their staff was too much to overcome, as Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman induced a grounder to earn a one-pitch save, his 18th of the year.

Despite the team's recent struggles and his more public talk of potential trades as of late, Manuel said he might not have much of a choice but to stick with his "below-average" team for the foreseeable future.

Although left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez is nearing the end of his comeback -- he is scheduled to make a rehab start in Triple-A Buffalo on Friday -- other players aren't on the same track.

Center fielder Carlos Beltran traveled to Colorado on Monday to get a second opinion on the bone bruise in his right knee, and the team has said that mid-July would be the earliest timetable for Jose Reyes' return from a partially torn right hamstring tendon.

Add in that power-hitting first baseman Carlos Delgado hasn't even begun to swing a bat yet after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip, and it could be a while before the Mets shed their skipper's label.

Notables:

Daniel Murphy went 1-4 with a run scored and a walk.

Gary Sheffield went 3-5 with a three-run homer off Villanueva in the ninth. He knocked in three and scored once.

Ryan Church went 4-5 with a run scored.

Fernando Martinez went 2-5 with a run scored.

Brian Schneider went 1-3 with two RBI's and a walk.

David Wright went 1-5 with a run scored and a RBI on his 23rd double of the season. His average dropped to .339.

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Mets fall victim to the broom, lose 2-4

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

The number hung prominently in the Sunday night air, as if Citi Field were Indy -- "500." In a house that clearly was divided, the number prompted hope and dread at the same time. The Mets and Yankees approached it from decidedly directions, the Mets seeing it, preceded by a decimal, as the symbol of mediocrity and a measure of how much they have back-peddled of late; the Yankees seeing it as an objective and hoping to embrace it as a milestone achievement.

And in the end, the Mets' ongoing moonwalk brought them precisely where they didn't want to be, at the juncture of 37 victories and 37 losses. The Yankees prevailed at every turn. This Subway Series tilt brought two 500s and no 50-50 split for New York's two baseball teams. And this three-night, intra-city exercise produced nothing approaching an even split.

The Mets were thoroughly vexed by their 4-2 loss Sunday and by the Yankees' sweep of the three-game series. With poor performance, they made their final Interleague foray for 2009 a no-win situation in every way. Their winning percentage dropped to .500, a danger zone according to manager Jerry Manuel, and they were the victims when Mariano Rivera earned the 500th save of his storied career.

Although their winning percentage is at the break-even point, the Mets' glass appears to be half-empty. They demonstrated more resistance Sunday than they had in the three previous engagements with the Yankees, but that only fed their frustration and sent them to Milwaukee with a cynical self perception that can undermine them as much as disabled list assignment for another front-line player.

Manuel had said he would search for a bridge for the purpose of jumping if his team fell to .500. And after three games in Milwaukee, the Mets play a makeup game against the Pirates on Thursday. He need not search; Pittsburgh proper has 88 bridges.

In too many of their 47 seasons-plus, the Mets have viewed a .500 winning percentage as an objective -- something to be pursued, even celebrated. In some seasons, the mark of mediocrity was seen as the unreachable star. It wasn't supposed to be that way this season though, not with Francisco Rodriguez and Citi Field and all those aspirations born in February and March.

But now as June's door is closing, the Mets are reeling. They doubled their offensive output of the previous two nights, but lost for the fifth time in six games against the Yankees nonetheless. Their 16th loss in 25 games since they ended their prosperous May with a 28-21 record put their overall winning percentage where it hadn't been since their 26th game May 6.

Yet remarkably, they are the second-place team in the National League East, and their deficit appears manageable, 2 1/2 games.

A poorly played top of the first was the Mets' undoing in this one. An ill-advised play by Daniel Murphy at first base and, three batters later, Murphy's inability to handle a low throw set the stage for the three runs the Yankees scored against losing pitcher Livan Hernandez before the Mets' offense took its first swing at winner Chien-Ming Wang.

With Derek Jeter on second base, Murphy tried for an out at third on a ground ball by Nick Swisher. His well-intended, double-clutched throw arrived late, and the Yankees had two of the eight base runners Hernandez would allow in seven innings. Mark Teixeira became the third when he doubled into the left-field corner for two runs -- Fernando Tatis kicked the ball around for a while as Swisher scored without a thrown. Three batters later, Teixeira scored on a sacrifice fly by Jorge Posada, and the Yankees had, in one, six-batter sequence, as many runs as the Mets would score in the series.


With the Mets' offense so compromised, Manuel has spoken repeatedly of the need to play better fundamental baseball. But perfection rarely is the result when it also in the objective. And with Mets, flawless execution is more fantasy than fact.

Manuel had Argenis Reyes pinch-hit for Hernandez in the seventh inning when the Mets trailed, 3-2, and had a runner on first with none out. He needed small-ball execution from a player who has little else to offer offensively. Reyes bunted too hard and to the third base side. Alex Rodriguez made a splendid play, and Jeter made a clutch short-hop pickup of his throw. The Mets didn't score in the inning -- and not because their disabled list is overpopulated.

They still trailed by one run in the ninth when Posada hit a soft pop to short center. It appeared to be a playable ball for either shortstop Alex Cora or second baseman Luis Castillo. Neither came very close, and Posada's presence on base evolved into the Yankees' fourth run when Francisco Rodriguez walked -- of all people -- Rivera, who never had reached base in a regular-season game.

No one confused perfection and the Mets' execution in the ninth.

But the mistakes continue, and the offense sputters at best. The Mets had nine hits in the series. Their margin for error is so thin it has no other side.

Manuel acknowledged perfection is more readily produced when no one is striving to achieve it. But he also says it is necessary given the roster attrition.

If not, .500 may become a target for Mets.

Notables:

Daniel Murphy and Luis Castillo each had a hit, with Luis plating one run.

Gary Sheffield went 2-3 with one run scored.

David Wright went 0-3, dropping to .342.

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Yankees take second game from Mets, in blanking style 5-0

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

After Saturday's 5-0 loss, it's undeniable; for now, the Mets are have-nots, the Yankees are have-lots. And the difference manifests when the two share a field.

The Yankees winning on a combined one-hitter was not far-fetched before A.J. Burnett threw his first pitch. And when it happened, it wasn't an aberration so much as it was an indication.

The Mets won't argue the point.

Alex Cora's was a softly worded acknowledgment that the Mets see the disparity and know the score. He paused, recalled how the Mets had won three of their four games against the first-place Cardinals before the Yankees took over the Citi.

That can't be disputed, either. Given what the Mets have and lack, winning four of seven games in a week against two superior opponents would qualify as achievement, even if the losses are lopsided and some victories are squeaky.

The loss on Saturday night was more lopsided than the five-run differential suggests. If not for Cora, the man least likely, the Mets would have endured an indignity beyond simple defeat. Cora dropped a single into right-center field leading off the sixth inning. Otherwise, the sequence of zeroes to the right of the word Mets on the scoreboard would have been one longer and uninterrupted.

The Replace-Mets were no match for Burnett.

Before the single, Cora was hitless in 21 career at-bats against Burnett.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel suggested that Burnett (6-4) had snappier stuff when he held the Mets scoreless on four hits for seven innings in the Bronx 13 days earlier. The Yankees right-hander was pretty snappy in this one, too. He walked three and struck out 10 in seven innings, and his handsome performance followed by 24 hours the dominant performance of CC Sabathia on Friday night, when the lefty allowed three hits and one run in seven innings.

It should be noted that Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo were in the lineup against Burnett during his first start against the Mets this season. Their places were taken by Jeremy Reed and Argenis Reyes on Saturday.

But to hear Cora, it is the defused state of the Mets' batting order that allows pitchers to try to dominate in the first place.

He noted how the dimensions of Citi Field and the absence of power in the Mets' batting order allow pitchers to exploit them.

Manuel's assessment of Burnett seemingly reinforces Cora's theory; Burnett didn't need to be as effective at Citi Field. The spacious ballpark helped his defense.

Losing pitcher Tim Redding tried to use the ballpark, too. It didn't work.

Redding (1-3) surrendered home runs to two switch-hitters, both batting left-handed and hitting pitches over the left-center-field wall. Nick Swisher hit his 14th with the bases empty in the second inning. Jorge Posada hit his 10th, with two runners on base, to complete a four-run rally in the sixth and prompt Redding's removal.

Interesting -- isn't it? -- that Posada's home run was the fifth hit to the opposite field at Citi Field. All have been hit by Mets opponents -- Swisher on Saturday night and Alex Rodriguez on Friday night, preceded by the Nationals' Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn.

Saturday's five-run margin appeared insurmountable to the Mets, who have had runners reach base in only four of 18 innings this series. And what they had done for five innings -- remain hitless with three walks -- was hardly encouraging for them.

The hitless first five innings were the latest variation on a theme. The Mets were without a baserunner in the first four innings against Sabathia on Friday night, they were hitless in the first three against the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter on Thursday and they had one hit in the first five innings against Joel Pineiro on Tuesday.

Notable:

Alex Cora was 1-4 with the lone hit against Burnett.

Everyone else was 0-infinity, including David Wright whose average dropped to .364.

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Mets embarass themselves in 9-1 loss to Yankees in Citi opener.

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

Had they beaten the Yankees on Friday night, the Mets would have been the first-place team in the National League East. But they didn't. Instead, they lost, 9-1, with E's, committing three errors in one hideous second inning, and they emerged from the first Subway Series game at Citi Field with a 37-35 record, wearing a neck brace because of the whiplash of the preceding 18 innings.

One night after they gave one of their best all-around performances in beating the Cardinals, the Mets played one of their worst defensive innings in years to put the Yankees in position for another victory in this intracity, Interleague competition. The score was less lopsided than the 15-0 spanking in the Bronx 12 days earlier, but none of the Mets found any reason for encouragement in the smaller margin.

That game was grotesque; this was merely unbecoming. If only the remains of the Mets' batting order could swing like the pendulum this team is.

And who could argue that? Consider the Mets' totals for five games this week: Monday -- six runs, 14 hits, no errors; Tuesday -- no runs, two hits, one error; Wednesday -- 11 runs, 16 hits, no errors; Thursday -- three runs, five hits, one error; and Friday -- one run, three hits, three errors.

The opposing starting pitcher, of course, has influence. The Mets managed two hits in nine innings against Joel Pineiro's ground-ball machine on Tuesday, and three -- all in one inning -- across seven innings against winning pitcher CC Sabathia and none in two against Brett Tomko on Friday. The Mets had no other baserunners. They struck out nine times. Their run was provided by Gary Sheffield, who led off the fifth inning with his ninth home run.

But then, this loss, the Mets' third in four games against the Yankees, turned first on misplays by their infield, three in a sequence of seven batters that -- if you choose to connect the dots -- completed some sort of sick cycle that involves only Friday night games against the Yankees. Second baseman Luis Castillo, as he was reminded several times in this latest loss, made one error for the ages on June 12. It came on the final play. Before the 14th Yankees batter on Friday night, the other three infield positions -- David Wright, third base; Alex Cora, shortstop; and Nick Evans, first base -- had contributed to the chaos that led to four runs against losing pitcher Mike Pelfrey.

He allowed four hits and, after the four runs had scored, a walk in the Mets' first three-error inning since May 2004. The hits were legitimate, but not particularly well-struck. The errors were earned; only two of the runs were.

This is how it happened: Leading off, Melky Cabrera reached second base on an infield single and an errant throw to first by Wright. After Pelfrey struck out Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena doubled down the left-field line, scoring Cabrera, and Sabathia singled though the middle to score Pena. Brett Gardner singled softly down the left-field line, the second of his five hits, to advance Sabathia to second. Cora cleanly handled a ground ball by Johnny Damon but made a wide throw to second for an error that allowed Sabathia to score, Gardner to reach third and Damon to advance to second. Then, when Evans misplayed Mark Teixeira's ground ball for the third error, Gardner scored.

They now have lost four of Pelfrey's five most recent starts. He surrendered six hits and two walks in five innings on Friday. Pelfrey (5-3) has pitched fewer than six innings in four of the five as well.

Elmer Dessens and Sean Green, allowed three and two runs in the eight and ninth innings, respectively. Dessens surrendered the 564th home run of Alex Rodriguez's career and Gardner's third of the season. But those runs and home runs were produced for the sake of the Rotisseriens. The Mets' defense had settled the issue hours earlier.

Notables:

Gary Sheffield accounted for the Mets' only run with his home run.

Fernando Tatis and Nick Evans had a single a piece.

David Wright went 0-4, dropping his average down to .351.

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Santana and Mets top Carpenter and Cards in pitchers' duel, 3-2

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

Prior to Wednesday's game, the Mets hadn't yet laminated his paper slip for his seventh spot the lineup in the clubhouse. Proving that they should, Nick Evans stepped up to home plate and smacked a home run out of Citi Field.

When he arrived at the ballpark Thursday morning, Evans was again in the lineup -- though again he could not be immediately certain. It was still empty.

Name tag or not, Evans ensured continued relevance in this Mets meritocracy Thursday afternoon, hitting a Chris Carpenter pitch harder than any of his teammates, and glowing from the importance of the resulting two-run double in the fourth inning. On a day when both starting pitchers knew they had no margin for error, Evans allowed Johan Santana and the Mets to edge Carpenter and the Cardinals, 3-2, in a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners.

So many times in baseball, pitchers ignore their counterparts. They'll tell you they have to face the opposing lineup, not the opposing pitcher, and so they hardly acknowledge their foe.

But Santana, ditching none of his pride, admitted that he was anticipating facing Carpenter from the moment the Cardinals touched down in Queens.

In terms of sheer stuff, Carpenter appeared to outpitch Santana, Carpenter also made one mistake -- to Evans. And the first baseman, who not two months ago was sent to Port St. Lucie, Fla., to work on fundamentals and speak to a sports psychologist, drove that cut fastball into the right-field corner for a two-run double.

Knowing that Carpenter had shown him exclusively cutters and curveballs in his first at-bat -- a strikeout -- Evans felt safe looking for more secondary offerings in his second plate appearance.

And after Carpenter had allowed a leadoff single to Luis Castillo, an infield hit to David Wright, and a soft RBI liner to Fernando Tatis, Evans timed his hit quite well. Carpenter, who was dominant all afternoon, struck out four straight batters at one point and induced five straight ground balls at another, but he stuttered for just a moment in that fourth inning.

It was exactly what Santana needed.

While Carpenter breezed throughout the early going, Santana labored, walking three batters in total and allowing at least three baserunners in each of the first two innings. He permitted one of them to score -- Skip Schumaker on Yadier Molina's RBI single -- and then put up his shield.

So Santana matched him pitch for pitch, growing stronger as the shadows grew longer. He allowed just one more run on Joe Thurston's double in the sixth. And though Santana was spent after seven innings, throwing 110 pitches -- Carpenter needed 82 to achieve the same feat -- he left with a lead and the benefit of a rested bullpen.

Pedro Feliciano -- making his Major League-leading 41st appearance -- and Francisco Rodriguez closed out the final two innings, each of them putting a runner in scoring position but neither one cracking while helping the Mets win their first series since June 7.

New York has had excuses, losing Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, J.J. Putz and others to injury. But the club has been reluctant to admit the looseness of its footing. The Mets have had no choice but to battle -- doing so quite well at first, winning seven of their first nine series since the start of May -- but they have struggled of late.

The Mets don't know when any of the injured stars might return, only that it will be some time. And so they will continue to scrap and continue to scrape, hoping that they can pass this test.

Notables:

Luis Castillo and Fernando Tatis each went 1-3 with a single and a run scored. Castillo had a walk, while Tatis had an RBI.

Daniel Murphy had a single in his appearance as a pinch hitter.

Player of the game, Nick Evans, went 1-3 with his game-deciding home run.

David Wright went 1-3 in today's game. His average remained at .356.

went 1-3 with a single and a run scored.

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Mets' bats pummel Cards, 11-0

Posted on 25 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Late in the seventh inning Wednesday night, Mets general manager Omar Minaya called the dugout to inquire about the condition of David Wright. Minaya had noticed Wright take an awkward, perhaps compromised, step when he crossed first base on an infield hit and saw his third baseman downshift as he approached third base on an ensuing double. In this Mets season of pulls and pains and tears and strains, it only was proper for Minaya to cross his fingers, dial the trainer and hold his breath.

An hour later, after the Mets had thoroughly steamrolled the Cardinals, Wright himself responded to other inquiries about his body. He promised to be in the lineup Thursday afternoon when the Mets and Cardinals engage each other for the fourth time in four days.

Turns out the Mets need Wright's legs as well as his bat. The National League's leading hitter contributed four hits to the Mets' most lopsided victory this season, an 11-0 thrashing of the team that had shut them out the previous evening. And he played a primary role in the synthetic, but quite convincing Reyes Run the Mets scored in the sixth inning.

With Jose Reyes still assigned to the disabled list, Wright led off with a single. He advanced to second base on an infield out and stole third, forcing the Cardinals (40-33) to play their infield in. He scored when Fernando Tatis pulled a single through the left side, a hit that might not have happened if the infield had been deployed at normal depth.

Call it a Wright Run, if you want, but understand how much of a role he played in its manufacture and that it was produced under duress, as most Mets runs are these Days of the Disabled. The Mets had scored five times by the time Tatis delivered Wright. And no offense to winning pitcher Fernando Nieve, but 5-0 leads have been known to disappear. So the run hardly constituted superfluous scoring. And how it was manufactured was equally important.

With the Carlos Brothers, Reyes and Gary Sheffield not in the batting order, the Mets hardly have a scratch-and-claw image. But there was Wright in the afterglow Wednesday, his claws showing as much as his league-leading .356 batting average and his reluctance to acknowledge pain equally apparent.

More than they had Monday night, when they amassed 14 hits and six runs, the Mets demonstrated offensive resourcefulness -- Wright's Reyes Run and three opposite-field hits by No. 4 hitter Ryan Church, one of them a Citi Field double, which is to say Church might have hit his third home run if the Mets' new home had been built with shorter walls or allies. He drove in two runs, one less than Fernando Tatis.

Indeed, Brian Schneider might have hit his third three-run home run in a week, but he directed his double in the sixth to where the right-field wall angles away from the plate and demands more umph.

Nick Evans did go beyond the walls of the Citi. Starting at first base, he hit the third home run of his big league career, with a runner on base in the fourth against losing pitcher Brad Thompson (2-3). The three-run fourth provided Nieve (3-0) a four-run lead that allowed him to survive six innings after he had thrown 69 pitches in the first three. He allowed three hits and four walks and tightened his grasp on a place in the rotation. Manager Jerry Manuel said as much.

The Mets (36-34) produced 16 hits, their second-highest figure this season, and the most lopsided shutout victory since Aug. 13 last year when they defeated the Nationals, 12-0. So lopsided was this one that Manuel used Livan Hernandez as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. And this after they had been shut out on two hits Tuesday.

So the Mets' peculiar June -- exasperating at times, exhilarating in other instances -- continues. They have won eight of 21 games since their stellar May and maintained a hold on second place in the mediocre National League East, and done so through a spate of injuries that have diminished to a point that scoring 11 runs had seemed beyond them.

But who can say what is beyond them -- good or bad? In two games, they totaled 30 hits and 17 runs. In the game in between they managed two and none. The line that separates optimistic and realistic is thinly drawn for this team and subject to blurring, based on the effectiveness of the starting pitcher. Even Manuel acknowledged that negatives of Tuesday "temper everything," because he knows Thursday could be another Tuesday. Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals' starter Thursday, could be another Joel Pineiro. And the Mets can be Oliver Perez -- positively pendulum-ic -- at the drop of a hat. Or a popup.

Notable performances:

Luis Castillo had a hit at second base, as did his replacement, Version 2.0, Argenis Reyes. Castillo did score twice, however.

Ryan Church had a great day at the plate, going 3-4 with two runs scored and two RBI's on his two doubles off Thompson and Perez.

Fernando Tatis showed life again, going 2-4 with a run scored and three RBI's.

Nick Evans, perhaps benefiting from being reunited with his BFF, Daniel Murphy, went 2-3 with a homer in the fourth off Thompson, knocking in two and scoring twice.

Brian Schneider, Jeremy Reed, and pitcher, Fernando Nieve, also added a hit a piece. Schneider plated two.

The player of the day honors go to David Wright. D-Wright went 4-4, with a double and two singles. He scored three times. Wright's average jumped to .356.

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Mets can't get runs for Livan, drop game 0-3 to Cards.

Posted on 24 Jun 2009 by Danielle

The ground-ball outs accumulated; the scoreless turns at bat passed. And manager Jerry Manuel chose to look for ways to elicit offense from his diluted batting order rather than conjure June trades that might fortify the Mets.

Even as the Cardinals and the sinking pitches of Joel Pineiro were stifling the lineup, the manager searched for a way, but the Mets scored nothing, producing two hits and 22 ground-ball outs in a 3-0 loss.

Pineiro shut down the Mets on the second straight night they were without the resting Gary Sheffield and injured regulars Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, and he gave his corner outfielders a night free of fly ball responsibility. The hits he allowed -- singles by Luis Castillo in the third inning and pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed in the ninth -- were to center field. The fly balls the Mets connected on were hit to center as well.

The Mets have been shut out three times this season, the other times by the Yankees, 15-0, and by the Giants, 2-0. Neither shutout came in a complete game; neither starter -- A.J. Burnett and Matt Cain, respectively -- was nearly as effective.

Pineiro became the first pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout against the Mets since Wandy Rodriguez of the Astros did so on July 6, 2007. The most recent two-hitter against the Mets was thrown by Randy Johnson, then of the D-backs, on Aug. 5, 2002. And Pineiro himself pitched the first eight innings of a 3-0 shutout of the Mets on Sept. 27, 2007.

Pineiro, who had as many hits as the Mets and scored one more run, threw 100 pitches in the fifth shutout of his career and his second this season; 77 were fastballs, 74 were sinking fastballs. And the Mets, who also lost to him in April, regarded him as more of a four-seam-fastball guy until they hit nothing but ground balls for four innings.


The way Pineiro was pitching on this night, the Carlos Brothers and Reyes might have been grounded, too.

Livan Hernandez (5-2) was the losing pitcher in this one, defeated for the first time in 11 starts. He was responsible for all three St. Louis runs, only two of them earned. He allowed eight hits and three walks, one intentional, and struck out three.

Hernandez had retired six batters after walking his first when Pineiro led off the third with a double to left-center. Brendan Ryan followed with a bunt that Hernandez fielded with the intent of throwing to third base, but Pineiro had made no attempt to advance, and Ryan had himself a single that set up the Cardinals' first run.

Skip Schumacher followed with a ground ball to first base. Daniel Murphy handled it cleanly, but his throw to second base went wide for an error that allowed Pineiro to score and Ryan to advance to third.

The Cardinals threatened in the fifth, but Hernandez struck out Pujols with a runner on second base. They did score in the seventh, when Pujols avenged the strikeout with a well-struck, first-pitch, bases-loaded single to left that provided the Cardinals' second and third runs.

Notables:

The only players to get a hit were Luis Castillo and Jeremy Reed.

David Wright left Citi Field batting .346.

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Commentary: The Replace-Mets

Posted on 23 Jun 2009 by Danielle

It's been a strange year for the team that calls Flushing home and looking back on last night's win, the game was a clear reflection of the series of quirks and chance occurrences that is the genetic makeup of the New York Mets.

Two hours before the game, the Mets announced that Carlos Beltran was headed to the disabled list for an indeterminable amount of time, leaving David Wright as the only member left of the Mets offensive core and prompting Mets fans everywhere to bid the chance of a playoff berth in the 2009 season goodbye.

Looking at the lineup, it seemed as though the Mets were destined to bite the dust.

On June 22, 2009, the New York Mets sent out...

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