26
2012
Stranded Runners Doom Mets In 5-3 Loss To The Cubs
An article by 
Well, we dropped this one to the Cubs 5-3 and these losses are getting hard to stomach.
Summary
So… Dillon Gee started this one and did not pitch horribly – but he did not pitch well enough to win on this Tuesday night. To be fair, it really was not a bad pitching performance, but the concept of pitching to a game comes into play here, and Gee just did not have his best stuff.
Overall, it could be a lot worse, as Gee went five innings and gave up nine hits and two walks, resulting in four earned runs. He struck out six and pitched out of trouble a bit – because it could have been a lot worse. Hefner and Byrdak combined for a subsequent two scoreless innings. Hampson took over and recorded an out while allowing two hits and a runner to reach on an error. Batista finished up the pitching, and allowed the runner to score for an unearned run charged to Hampson, but getting the last two outs.
Randy Wells, the Cubs starter, was knocked out of the game after 3+ innings after he allowed six hits and four walks to the Mets offense. They managed to score two runs in the second after four consecutive singles, but it died off there.
There was a really odd moment between Duda and Teufel where Teufel waved Duda around, and he stayed put at third on an Ike Davis double. I did not see this moment, so I hope someone can describe the moment for me. I believe it was in the third inning. I am curious as to who was at fault, if anyone. We scratched out a run in the fourth, but that was it – a Wright Sac Fly, I believe.
It was a sloppy game all around defensively and Tejada had the only official error for the Mets, which led to the fifth Cubs run. Davis lost his temper in the eighth and was ejected after he touched the first base umpire with his club during an argument(see:above). It was not anything major, so I do not foresee any suspensions or anything, but tempers were definitely flaring for the Mets.
There was frustration or defeat…or both. Tough series so far.
Goat Of The Game
Gee did not have it – but equally, the Mets offense left 12 men on base.
Notes
12 men LOB… that is not going to cut it. Gee drops to 5 – 6. Wright lost his 15-game hit streak today, going 0-3, but picked up an RBI.
Stolen base number 4 and 6 respectively for Hairston and Torres today, while Kirk got CS number 3.
Thole was the only Met with a multi-hit game.
On Deck
2:20 signals the end of this series, where Jon Niese takes the mound for the Mets in an effort to avoid the sweep.
About the Author: Satish Ram
I am a Senior Writer and Editor here at MetsMerized - where I specialize in Minor League coverage. I have been on the staff since 2007 and I am currently in my third semester of college in New York City. You can find me at www.facebook.com/SatishRam or @SilverHeatMMO. Feel free to message me - I love talking about the Mets or baseball overall with anybody.
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Ram – I saw the Teufel/Duda miscue. Both coach and player are responsible. Duda pulled up to third thinking he was not going to be sent. As he approached the bag (meaning right on it) Teufel waived him home with a very weak gesture. As Teufel waived Duda home, Duda realized correctly that it would’ve taken too much coal to re-start his locomotive and likely would have been thrown out at home. So he stopped. With two outs. Ouch.
The team is playing poorly. In fact, they really are not playing like a team. There is little evidence of cohesion in their team defense, and they are not batching hits together offensively to form a rally. Instead, we have a collection of individual ballplayers that, for the most part, have serious holes in their game.
Even worse, the structure of this team is flawed. We are far too laden with left-handed hitters and, until yesterday, ironically did not have enough left-handed pitchers in the bullpen. I call it the curse of Takahashi in recognition of Sandy Alderson’s failure to retain him in the Met bullpen when it made most sense to do so.
For all of his profound insights and glib expression, Sandy needs to balance this roster and Terry Collins needs to align the pieces so that they fit and that they play cohesively. until that happens, be prepared for frustration and inconsistent play.
Horrible game from the stands. Nightmare continues.
When we needed strong D, we got terrible plays…balls off gloves that sort of thing.
Teufel seems to be a pretty lousy 3b coach; hardly the first incident this year. Cubs fans turned to me and said, “What kind of base running is that? Coach was sending him.
We had several chances to blow that game open, but didn’t. Never got the big hit when needed. Power outage as usual.
Beyond that, Gee simply didn’t pitch well enough. He’s really the lower end of ML as far as I’m concerned.
Hard to fathom how you drop two in a row to the Cubs.I don’t expect to get swept today, but not sure I would be too shocked.
If this is a June swoon, I hope it’s the tail end. Otherwise, we are going to be in a world of hurt after the LA series.
I can’t put my finger on it, but Satish is right to suggest there’s just a real feeling of imbalance with this team.
Hey, for once, it wasn’t the BP that stunk just the rest of the team.
I agree Teufel is a terrible third base coach, absolutely not the first or second problem over there.
The Mets play down to their opponents…not an attitude you want from a
play off team.
The ump blew the call in the eight inning pick off attempt. Ike tagged the guy out with his second swipe as the returning runner cleverly pulled his arm away from Ike’s first swipe. Ike’s big mistake was touching the ump with his glove arm. Lots of frustrations showing in the two Cubs games. Our defensive play right now stinks. At least four errors could have been called. On a positive note, I was happy to see Ike get mad at the ump. This club is not docile — it’s not just going through the motions. It just may not be a playoff team.
Des, the most impressive defensive play to me was Kirk’s failed attempt to catch a short fly ball in center. He seemed to be playing perhaps a few steps too deep, but man did he ever race to the ball and then dove flat out to catch it.
I am convinced that Kirk is a Met!
My concern is with Daniel Murphy. Last year he was driving the ball, this year he is slashing at the ball like he is Juan Pierre. Why would he change his whole approach to hitting this year, NOT doing well and stay doing it?
Maybe the new batting by Hudgins is affecting him but he seems lost the last month and is not attacking the ball the way he used to.
Mets have not played well at Wrigley in quite a few years, maybe the small locker room, I don’t know why they play so bad here, has to be playing down to opponent as mentioned.
Our lineup is still to heavy lefty and we need a better RH bat, Hairston does not get it for me, he is terrible against RH pitchers and strikes out too much plus his defense is below par.
Really Hairston again in LF? Spin should of been kept up for those starts cause I see Hairston as over matched against a hard, side throwing RH like today’s Cub pitcher.
Maybe with Tejada back it might get better but the defense looks bad and giving up extra at bats it killing this team.
Terry looked last night like a volcano about to erupt and he held it in check but if ever there was a time to blow up it was last night.
Mets have not put together consistent, good at bats since the Tampa series and leading the league in two out rbi is balanced out with putrid avg with RISP!
Hoping for Mr. Calm, Nothing bothers me Mr. Niese today to give this team a good outing but unless you are hitting it don’t matter.
“Mets have not put together consistent, good at bats since the Tampa series and leading the league in two out rbi is balanced out with putrid avg with RISP!”
Mets are 5th in the NL with RISP at .260. The average is .245.
They also happen to be 3rd in RS with RISP in the NL.