11
2011
Niese Strong But Defense Fails In 3-2 Loss To Padres
An article by 
Jonathon Niese went out and had a great outing, but the Mets defense continued to struggle in their 3-2 loss to the Padres
Game Notes
Jonathon Niese pitched seven and two-third innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits, walking two and striking out seven. Niese had great control, and was victimized on two occasions by poor Ruben Tejada fielding plays, one of which led to his exit from the game in the seventh.
D.J. Carrasco came out, threw one pitch and got an out thanks to a great David Wright fielding play. Carrasco began the ninth as well and got out of trouble, only walking one and allowing one hit in his one and one-third of an inning.
The offense today managed three hits, but had nine strikeouts to six walks. The inability to square up pitches against the Padres made this game very dull from the offensive standpoint. Turner stole a base, and other then the walks…there wasn’t much offense.
Mets inability to throw out runners has been exploited yet again, allowing four steals including a double-steal in the eighth.
Lucas Duda – 1 for 3 with a walk, two RBI and a strikeout
Jason Bay – 1 for 4 with two strikeouts
Ronny Paulino – 0 for 4.
Turning Point
Tejada muffing the ball that would’ve ended the eighth.
Game Ball
Jonathon Niese. Pitched a great game, worked well into the eighth and was ONE play from getting out of the inning and staying in line for the win.
On Deck
The Mets will be traveling to the West Coast to face the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Dillon Gee will face off against Ian Kennedy and game time is 9:40 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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Oh Tejada…
At least Niese continues to look solid.
Tough day for the Mets.
Let’s get the next one!!!!
LGM!!!
Sigh. Ruben Tejada in the majors. Sigh…
A 3-6 homestand, now 25-32 in our supposedly “friendly” confines. You gotta think with a decent home record we’d still be in it. Since when did our home cooking start to taste of bad fish?
http://midwesternmet.blogspot.com/2011/08/game-117-padres-3-mets-2.html
Right on Midwestern. 6 games over .500 on the road but 7 under at home. What gives? If they had the opposite home record they’d be right there in the race. Another problem, which has been year long, is their defense, or lack thereof. Jon Niese deserved better today. Tejeda’s strength is supposed to be his defense. Not so much. Maybe he’s just suffering nerves trying to impress in the Majors. Maybe that’s the case with Turner and Duda as well. Whatever the reason the defense has been a major bugaboo with the 2011 Mets. Which makes the job Terry Collins has done in keeping this team around the .500 mark all the more impressive. Imagine if he had a healthy Reyes and Davis, along with Wright, to anchor this infield?
I think the loss of Murphy and Reyes bats has set in. AS Collins said each player is fighing for a spot in 2012.
Really a tough loss today Mets should have won the game. Tejada’s error sealed it, I like him and I hope he works on his offensive skills and defensive fundamentals over the winter. Niese should have won he should have 15 wins right now. To me though the highlight of the game came when Kiner was talking about the few players that hit balls out of the Polo Grounds in dead center. He named a couple of guys then went on to say “a colored player” hit one out, and Gary & Keith paused for like 4 seconds and then chimed in Josh Gibson. I almost hit the floor, I was like really Ralph? I mean I know your up there in age but saying colored in 2011? I know he probably did not mean it, but it still makes you think.
I didn’t hear Ralph Kiner talk about the Polo Grounds but no one has ever hit a ball out in ‘dead center’ A few players have hit one over the fence just to the right or left of dead center, but to hit one out of the Polo Grounds facility in dead center was impossible. Wikipedia says:
“No player ever hit a fly ball that reached the 483-foot distant center-field wall, which fronted a part of the clubhouse which overhung the field.”
Wikipedia goes on:
“After the 1923 remodeling, only four players ever hit a home run into the center field stands:[18]
Luke Easter in a Negro League game in 1948
Joe Adcock in 1953 (April 29)
Hank Aaron and Lou Brock on consecutive days (June 17 and 18) in 1962.
This is why we need Jose back in 2012, Tejada has been up with club enough times to not being having the heebeejeebees at SS.
Come on back hand the ball,out at first.
Tejada has shown since his return from AAA that his defense has not improved and his hitting is suspect, Mets dont have any other options in minors so this looks bad.
Bay still has not learned to stay away from that outside breaking pitch, he is so predictable to opposing pitchers.
And we still have to play the Padres on the road, what a depressing home stand.
Tejada is beginning to frighten me. I was under the impression that Tejeda’s shortstop play was “lights out put it in the bank solid.” It’s not. If Tejda were a shortstop hitting prospect like a young Hanley Ramirez or Miquel Tejda then it would be a different story. But when you hit like Rafael Santana in a slump you better make 98% of the plays. I think I prefer Ruben Tejda at 2b. He seems lock solid there at shortstop…I don’t know, even his throwing is a bit, not so strong, I just don’t trust him I guess.
2014 here we come.. hopefully by then we’ll know what we have in guys like duda, tejada etc.. nimmo, fullmer and wheeler will be here, so the other 22 spots in the roster are up in the air.. is a shame really, but reality has finally set in, i think this team is done.. we’ll keep watching because we fans, but this team is just out there to maybe be spoiler, i’ve even accepted the fact that reyes might be gone. sandy and his “small market mentality along with his “let’s get draft picks” mentality won’t pay reyes what he deserves annually
just think next year our starting ss is going to be tejada,dark days are coming.
metsaddict77,
i like tejada, he’s going to be a good player, but as the days go by, is clearly-er, that he is best suited for 2B, maybe that’ll force management to sign reyes, or at least offer him a good offer.. with that being said, tejada is aggressive defensively, he’ll get better evetuanlly, but imo, he’s best suited for 2b..
Yesterday’s two errors shouldn’t surprise fans who’ve be following Tejada closely. Tejada is a good kid but not a good player. His defensive numbers over the past two years are terrible. Look ‘em up. Here’s one. Last year, based on Fld%, he was only ranked #77 out on 92 guys who played 50 or more games at 2B.
This blind faith that he’ll be better one day wears thin. He makes both mental and physical mistakes. He should be at Binghamton or Buffalo proving he belongs at CitiField. When Tejada can hit more than his weight and field without a ton of errors, then and only then does he deserve a shot at any job on the Mets.
I’ll give this accolade to our temporary shortstop. If baseball plays were evaluated on ‘style points’ Tejada would be ranked up there with the best. But baseball is not highboard diving and it doesn’t take place at Arthur Murray dance studios. Those spots are style venues. The baseball field is all about performance.