7
2012
Mets Fall To Nats 5-3 For Third Straight Loss
An article by 
Jeremy Hefner didn’t have his best outing of the season, but was victimized by a home run and some defensive errors and the Mets offense struggled against the Nationals in their 5-3 loss on Wednesday
Game Recap
Jeremy Hefner coming off of his last outing couldn’t duplicate the same level of success today against Washington. Hefner went six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits, walking one and striking out three. The aforementioned home run came off of the bat of Adam Laroche, and one of the runners on base was thanks to a Daniel Murphy error. While not a poor outing from Hefner, it just wasn’t as stellar as his last outing.
The bullpen was forced into some work today, and received two-thirds of an inning from Tim Byrdak, allowing a run on one hit, while walking one. Miguel Batista came out for the last inning and one-third, and allowed one hit and one strikeout while walking two. With the much welcomed news that Pedro Beato was called up, hopefully the Mets pen will not have as much heavy-lifting tomorrow as they did today.
Offensively, the Mets managed three runs on three hits the entire game, drawing five walks. Ike Davis was the only Mets player with an extra base hit. When a team manages three hits, but does score three runs it is a curious situation. Runs scored on a Kirk Nieuwenhuis RBI single in the third, an RBI groundout by Lucas Duda in the fourth and a Omar Quintinilla RBI groundout in the seventh.
Game Notes
Daniel Murphy continued his struggles both offensively and defensively, going 0 for 4 today with a strikeout, and making two more fielding errors. As the SNY broadcast mentioned, he seems to be losing focus during the transfer, and that is if he gets passed the actual catch
Josh Satin was designated for assignment to make room for Pedro Beato, while Chris Young was placed on paternity leave to allow Jason Bay to be on the roster. Once Young returns, it seems likely either Vinny Rottino or Jordany Valdespin would be heading down.
Ike Davis went 1 for 2 with two walks, a double and a run scored. By Ike’s recent standards, this is a good game.
Tim Byrdak is at 33 Games played this season – we have yet to reach the All-Star Break
No Player Of The Game today, with the second straight ugly day of baseball who honestly performed to deserve it?
On Deck
The Mets will look to salvage a game from this series, sending RHP R.A. Dickey (8-1, 2.69)to the mound to face off against the Nats and RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 6.43) at 1:05 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
29 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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Fourth place.
Daniel Murphy was a machine last year. When he was AB his presence was large, similar to Capt Kirk’s and Murph would take massive cuts but was not a hacker – he was that confident.
Now he’s very tentative, very timid. He’s too good a hitter and I think this defensive “work the pitcher” approach is the cause of his hitting problems……and Ron Darling said so much in post game analysis.
He’s right.
is this approach the same approach that has the team so many games above 500?
Hefner again as long as he stays away from rain he has given the Mets good innings from the back end of the rotation. I just wish they had used him 1st before they went with Schwinden. He went 6 innings gave up 3 earned runs. Hard to win when you can only muster 3 hits total in the game.
Need to at least avoid the sweep 2morrow with Dickey on the hill.
LGM!
1. Who am I?
Lack power, lack speed, lack range, lack defensive skill, struggle against lefties…
2. Who am I?
Can’t hit.
Isn’t there any way we could package these two gentlemen with a legit prospect and acquire Toronto’s prospect Jake Marisnick or Giant’s OF prospect Gary Brown? Or both? Somebody? Anybody?
Really, all I want are skilled players, y’know at least a few tools in the satchel.
I’ll take Valdespin’s yips over Murph’s limitations any day of the week.
Well put. His average is soft because of his lack of extra base power so we have a .280 singles hitter with no positive attributes. People haven’t really noticed because they’ve been focused on Ike.
OK – Here’s the solution – a bandage, as it were…
SP – Santana, Dickey, Niese, Young, Gee
Relievers – Francisco, Beato, E. Ramirez, Parnell, Batista, Byrdak & Edgin
Field Positions By Number:
1 – Pitcher
2 – Thole/Johnson
3 – Derek Lee (exhumed)
4 – Valdespin/Turner
5 – The David
6 – MYGODIDONTHAVEANANSWER
7 – Bay/Niewenhuis
8 – Niewenhuis/Torres
9 – Duda
Bench Players: Hairston, Rottino, Baxter, Turner, Johnson
Ike is not well. He couldn’t try harder. Might be the Valley Fever. He needs a break. I truly believe he’ll be back to his effective self, but he needs a break, as does our line-up.
Murph is very good trade bait, and we should trade him to Toronto with Familia for Jake Marisnick, an OF prospect with a righty power bat and great speed.
Our team will remain competitive, but don’t expect miracles. We’re not ready.
Not surprising that Murphy is stinking it up at second with the glove.He is not athletic enough to play 2nd base well.What is surprising is his metamorphis into a singles hitter with no lift in his swing.I thought he had the potential to hit 12-15 home runs a year,The way he swings now, i will be surprised if he hits anything out of the park.If Turner was not hurt, we could platoon them.I do not understand the love for Murphy this front office has.We will be a better team when we find a real 2nd baseman.
I say sit Murph and let Spin play cause he might be going down plus he is a natural 2B and let Murph clear his head and start remembering how to field, throw, make transfer at 2B, maybe extra wk with Teufel will help but he has looked awful.
Hefner did great and for lack of offense might have won game.
How many games do we have to give to these wanna be 1st place team over the last year?
Man Murphy had a bad game, i cant believe he botched that play! they will not get swept by the nationals though with dickie on the mound vrs wang! i wrote all about it on my blog and how to bet it so i implore u to come bgeck and check it out here http://baseballpitboss.com/2012/06/the-ultimate-baseball-porno-matchup-dickey-vs-wang/
Murphy just isn’t that good. He never has been. He’s a no-power thirdbaseman with good contact skills and a solid batting eye. That’s a good reserve.
IMO, Murph is the finest natural hitter we have.
I mean, what can you really say when a bad defensive team who’s been overachieving at that department has back to back game with sh**** defense?
That Hefner picture just about says it all, doesn’t it?
Where is Des? I promised I’d be here after people realized your boy Murphy is horrible! He leads all 2B in errors and has zero range. Add to the fact that he is nothing more than a glorified singles hitter. Get rid of this stiff while you can get something back for him. He is a caretaker for either Havens or Valdespin anyway.
Wow , Murph has a bad game and everyone is overreacting!
I think Muprh really needs a day off and he really needs to start pulling the ball…but he’s 2nd on the team in doubles…he’s hitting .390 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. I think that his D is passable and has gotten much better as the season has progressed, I’m very impressed with the improvement around the bag.
As for “Spin”…you want to replace a .300 hitter who is near the top of all Mets offensive leaders this season for a guy who’s OBP is .179! and who’s inability to field a ground two ground balls cost them the game on Tuesday! REALLY?!?!?!
And we have to get our stories straight…for those who love the whole OBP thing and love the fact that the Mets are walking all the time, then a .300BA CANNOT be soft. You can’t have it both ways.
I’m not going to say that I’m happy with Murph right now, both because of his play the last two nights and his overall performance…I feel his bat is a little weaker than I’d predict, but his glove has been better than I thought it would be. But Murph has been consistent and one of the reasons why the Mets have been winning. I can think of three players (not including Bay) that are bigger disappointments on both sides of the ball and are hurting the Mets more than Murph is.
Hey, I want no part of V-Spin at 2B, AAA is fine by me. Murphy is not that bad at 2B, he just gets the yips. It happen to him in the OF as well. He played fine the tail end of his first season in LF then the next year has an error or two and then all hell breaks loose. I think it’s because he has never been allowed to struggle through a position. That is part of the process.
‘I want no part of V-Spin at 2B’
Glad someone else said this. My sentiments exactly. Spin might be a ‘natural’ 2nd baseman but he’s not getting it done there either, IMO. He’s just less bad at 2nd base than he is at SS.
That and even though he’s got some nice power in that bat, he’s still a hacker with no plate discipline. He could definitely benefit from more time in triple A. Problem is, every time we turn around there’s another injury to the IF and he’s been up and down here b/c he’s on the 40 man.
Let’s remember what the differences are between 2nd and Short. At short, you need to have better range and a strong arm, 2nd, you need to have better footwork (both around the bag and because the throw to 2nd is an unnatural against you body throw) and you need to be a little bit more heads up because you have to be able to cover 1st and you have a bigger role in bunt plays and things of the sort.
But you still have to field the balls hit at you the same and if “Spin” can’t pick those ground balls hit right at him at short, then way would we have faith on him playing 2nd.
I really don’t want to see Valdespin anywhere near the infield again. If he has a future, it’s in the OF. I’m not a fan of small sample sizes, but my gut just tells me that this kid can’t hack a middle infield position at the MLB level.
Said much better than I did, regarding Spin. I’m with you on the ‘gut’ feeling that OF will be the better suited position for him.
USMF, don’t talk sense around here.
Tejada, Cedeno, where are you? We need you.
Funny how quickly people change their minds about this team. Monday, this team was on their way to the playoffs, they have a bunch of Cy Young candidates in the rotation, and we’re going around looking who to trade for and what we’re willing to part with blah blah blah.
Today, everybody sucks, the pitching is weak, nobody can field, Murphy is the worst player in the world blah blah blah
That’s what a pivotal series against a team currently leading in the NL East will do to people. This was a MUST WIN series, and they blew it. Can you really blame some of them,Donal? Don’t worry though, if the Mets take care of the Yanks this weekend, this pointing the finger shit will be thrown by the wayside & it will be back to the premature playoff talks again. Oh yeah, isn’t it funny that not all that long ago, Joe D wrote an article about Murph’s D and people mentioned how much he improved (with some mentioning that he will make mistakes) and now he’s shitty? Funny people.
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/05/can-we-stop-worrying-about-murphy-at-2b-now.html
I said before the season that this was a middle of the road team, talent wise. I pegged them for around 80 wins. So, I pretty much expected swings like this.
” This was a MUST WIN series, and they blew it.”
It’s June and they still have a playoff spot. If the Nats burn out and the Mets keep their pace, this series will mean nothing at the end.
It’s June and they still have a playoff spot”
IT’s june for your convinience yet you mention playoffs… SMH.. Btw, not they don’t hold a playoffs spot…
You are right, they are a loss back (1/2 game).
That being said wouldn’t that be MLB’s worst nightmare if it actually finished that way with 4 teams tied for the WC. That would be fun.
My point was how this was not a make or break series. Its too early and they still have (or had) a spot anyway.