21
2011
Defensive Struggles Kill The Mets In 6-2 Loss
An article by 
Jonathon Niese had a good outing, but two errors in the fifth inning lead to two unearned runs, and the Mets offense struggled today in its 6-2 loss to the Cardinals
Game Notes
Jonathon Niese pitched a good game, but his pitching line will not show that. Jonathon went six innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on five hits, walking one while striking out seven and giving up a two-run HR to Albert Pujols in the first. Niese was victimized by poor defensive plays in the fifth, because outside of the HR, he only allowed one other run. The defensive struggles of Lucas Duda and Angel Pagan have been evident for the last few weeks, with Pagan struggling to field balls cleanly and Lucas Duda struggling at first base.
The bullpen today was essentially mop-up, with D.J. Carrasco pitching two clean innings, striking out one. Manny Acosta came out for the first time in five days, and gave up one run on two hits walking one and striking out one. Hopefully, this was rust and not his usual #AcostalypseNow routine
The bats today were fairly quiet, and the only run scoring hits were a Justin Turner RBI groundout scoring Jose Reyes and a Jason Pridie RBI single scoring Lucas Duda. Other then those hits, not much damage was managed against Jake Westbrook, who gave up four hits and walked one in eight.
Reyes, Turner, Beltran – 2 for 11 with an RBI, a walk and two strikeouts. As the top of the lineup goes, so do the Mets.
Lucas Duda – 2 for 3 with a run, but that big error in the fifth could have been inning-ending.
Turning Point
The aforementioned Duda play. Ends the inning, game is 3-1.
Game Ball
Carlos Beltran, not based on his day at the plate, but because there is a pretty good chance this was his last game at Citi Field. Carlos, you were maddening sometimes, injury prone and probably slightly overpaid, but when you performed, you turned in huge seasons. You will be missed
On Deck
Tommorrow, the Mets will begin a big road trip in Florida, and will see the return of David Wright at third base. Mike Pelfrey will face off against fellow maddening sinkerballer Chris Volstard and the Marlins. Game time is 7:10 P.M.
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
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Pagan is literally a joke now.
Did you hear Terry’s post game last night?
Took all the heat for Pagan’s recent struggles!
He said he told Pagan to change his approach and should not have.
How much affect that REALLY had who is to say it’s still up to the player to hit, and as Keith has pointed out his shoulder is still flying out in his swing.
Now that he’s back in a spot where he is comfortable lets give him a chance to straighten out his problems.
As for the fielding I take that as taking his batting issues into the field with him.
A), Pagan came out of the gate terrible, it’s not recent struggles.
B), He threw to a base nobody was covering. I can handle the occasional booted ball (although with him it’s not occasional), but it seems like once a game he’s screwing up.
C) If he’s taking his at-bats into the field, then he needs time off. That’s not major league, that’s bush league. I have no problem starting Hairston in LF and Pridie in CF till Beltran is traded, the see if Pagan can do better in RF, a less strenuous position.
RE A: Yes he did, then came back after getting hurt and did really well.
April .159 BA
May .429 BA
June .300 BA
July .167
RE B No excuses here. It was boneheaded to say the least.
RE C: No argument! But as much as he was the goat yesterday he was the hero the day before. Day game after a night game in dreadful heat?
My feelings on Pagan are, he’s not really the guy from 2010, but he could be better than he has been. the 1st base coach was out of his box and standing near 1st base so I can’t blame Pagan TOO much for thinking he was one of our guys covering first.
It was a bonehead play for sure and maybe if he does it again he should sit and rest especially if I am right about the nightgame day game fatigue.
But he is not a leadoff hitter and no one was really hitting in April except for Reyes.
No one will ever mistake him as the best CF in the game, but he isn’t the worst either boheaded plays included.
He was the hero the other night for sure, but he caught a middle-middle pitch and did what he was supposed to do with it. Let’s not forget it was his only hit. I’m not over the moon about a 1-5 day, even if it was a walkoff home run. And let’s relax on .429 in May. He had 10 hits in 21 ABs, nine singles and one double.
Just saying you can’t expect a player to be all star or the hero every game out especially not at his salary.
He made a mistake and thats why Pencils come with erasers.
Could he get better? He has shown he can play better.
Could we get better? Sure but at what cost?
Sure sounded like they may have been pressing because everyone seemd to think yesterday was beltran’s swan song, and Pagan just idolizes him so he probably more than the others…
He ensured the series win the night before so I won’t crucify him for losing the sweep for us.
Where was Duda on the ball to short centerfield? Was he trying to act as a cutoff man? Crazy. He should have been near 1B.
No,a runner was attempting to score. Duda played it right. Pagan threw the ball to the first base coach.
Then where was Niese? Both Duda and Niese were backing up home?
No, Niese was backing up. Duda was the cutoff. Everyone played that right except Pagan.
Duda was the cutoff on a ball maybe 60 feet beyond the skin part of the infield? Turner was the closest after the ball went through. Reyes should have been the cutoff and covering 2B at the same time.
Pagan never set himself and his throw was off balance.
Des, Xtreem had it right Duda was the cutoff man according to the guys in the booth when it happened Duda was where he was supposed to be.
No Des Duda was where he should have been.
Pagan made a bonehead play and mistook the 1st base coach as ours. Despite the uni.
Everyone did what they were supposed to except Pagan there.
Duda should be like the 4th choice to be playing first base, defensive wise.
Losing Beltran in the OF is really going to hurt. Pagan defensively has not been as good as last year and depending on if Bay hits the DL, that OF could get real ugly, real fast.
Angel Pagan has been a huge disappointment defensively this year and aside from last night’s walk-off he is having a brutal year. I had high hopes for him after last season. The sad part is that after July 31st, he’s the best outfielder the Mets have right now. Very frustrating.
Pagan is a sub. He has some talent. But the team needs an upgrade there. His fielding lately has been terrible. It is another case of the mets getting a guy, who they already unloaded once, who overperforms for a time and they think “All right, we got one on the cheap here,” instead of using critical analysis, seeing that he really was not that good a CF (despite what Gary Cohen thinks), that he swung at too much crap, and maybe he just got a lot more cripple pitches for that one particular stretch (it happens)than he normally would have. It would just have required a trained eye with an objective viewpoint, not the usual crossing your fingers and hoping that the guy can repeat, which is how the mets used to do things.
On the other hand, I think Niese has a chance to be a pretty good pitcher. Let’s see if he physically wears down in August and September like he did last year. If he does not, then I think he has a chance to be a good number 3. And if he masters a change, maybe better.
pagan is overrated by mets fans, therefore making him the second most overrated met imo.. also, this lost was on niese, he didn’t have it, guess what, it happens, move on and dobetter next time around, the offense didn’t hit anyhow, it wouldn;t have matter how he pitched the rest of the way..let’s get’em tonight..
also, i know we’re 8.5 games out, but we got the marlins, reds and nationals the next 10 games.. is it a dream to go 9-1 8-2 7-3 against this teams? of course, i am assuming we’ll lose either 1 or 2 pelfrey’s game so.. let’s wait on trading beltran and see how wright does having beltran in front on him..