The last time the Mets were in Pittsburgh, I wrote a piece about PNC Park having similar effects to the Mets as Atlanta’s Turner Field once had, and to an effect, still has.  Over the past few years, PNC Park had become a house of horrors for the Mets.  They failed to clinch the division title there in 2006, they suffered repeated late-inning setbacks there and earlier this season, the Pirates won all three games played there, with a fourth game being rained out and made up today.

Before today’s game, the Mets were 6-10 in Pittsburgh since 2005.  Early on, today’s game appeared to be the latest in a long string of losses at PNC Park, as the Mets fell behind 5-0 after three innings of play.  Tim Redding was ineffective, being charged with all five runs in only 2 1/3 innings of work, raising his ERA to a bloated 6.99.  The final blow came when Pirates catcher Robinzon Diaz launched a double off the left field wall in the deepest part of the ballpark.  Pat Misch was called in to relieve Redding and all seemed lost for the Mets.  But then, the Ghostbusters were called in.  Although they hadn’t done so in quite a while, the Mets players crossed streams with their bats and put together a rally.  They scored eight runs over the next three innings to take an 8-5 lead and the day appeared to be saved.  Unfortunately, not even Frankie could make them relax today.

The Pirates had chipped away at the Mets’ lead by scoring a run in the seventh inning to make the score 8-6.  That was still the score when Frankie Rodriguez entered the game in the ninth inning.  An infield hit by pinch hitter Freddy Sanchez brought up the tying run to the plate in the form of Adam LaRoche.  He proceeded to tie the game with a long bomb to right field, sliming Frankie and the Mets and appearing to perpetuate the notion that the Mets were cursed at PNC Park.  After two more hits put the winning run 90 feet away, Frankie settled down and retired Brandon Moss on a liner to Luis Castillo.

In came the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in the form of Matt Capps.  He was looking tough, throwing strikes and retiring the first two batters.  He had two strikes on a member of the Three Fernandos (Tatis) before drilling him near his left kidney. (Ouchie!)  Tatis shook away the pain and stole second base, setting up another RBI situation for Ryan Church.  As he was supposed to do, Church defeated the demons of PNC Park by lining a base hit to center field, scoring Tatis when the ball was overthrown by centerfielder Andrew McCutchen.

With only Bobby Parnell available to him, Jerry Manuel opted to stay with Frankie Rodriguez to pitch the tenth inning.  His confidence in his closer was rewarded when Frankie pitched a 1-2-3 tenth inning, giving the Mets a thrilling 9-8 victory before trekking across the state of Pennsylvania to Philadelphia for their crucial three-game series with the Phillies this holiday weekend.  Coupled with the Phillies’ 5-2 loss to the Braves tonight, the Mets now find themselves only one game behind the first place Phillies and Marlins, who are tied atop the National League East.

The Ghostbusters were able to save the day today.  The bats came alive and although he suffered a small setback in the ninth inning, Frankie recovered quickly and made short work of the Pirates in the tenth.  The PNC Park Poltergeists were vanquished for today.  All good movies end up with sequels made.  Let’s hope this sequel involves exorcising the Phillies next.

For many years while the Atlanta Braves had a chokehold on the rest of the National League East, Turner Field was a veritable house of horrors for the New York Mets.  Since it opened in 1997, the Mets are 34-66 at Turner Field and have had numerous crushing defeats, including some of the season-ending variety (see 1999 season).  Last year, the Mets were 1-8 in Atlanta, easily their worst record against any team on the road.  Clearly, Atlanta was not one of the cities the Mets looked forward to visiting every season when the schedules were released.

It appears that Turner Field may not be the only ballpark that causes the mighty Mets to turn into the mini-Mets.  Is it possible that PNC Park in Pittsburgh has become the new Turner Field in the mind of the Mets’ players?

Granted, the Mets have been playing shorthanded so far in their current series at PNC Park.  However, the Mets were also short a few guys last week while they were winning five out of six games at Citi Field.  If they could defeat the Nationals and Marlins a few players short of a full deck, surely they could defeat the lowly Pirates.  Ah, but the aura of PNC Park has permeated through the Mets’ bats and gloves.  How else can you explain squandering a 5-0 lead Monday night?  Not even Johan Santana could fend off the PNC Park Monster Tuesday night in a 3-1 loss that saw him give up the first major league home run to Jason Jaramillo and back-to-back RBI doubles to Nate McLouth and Adam LaRoche.  This week’s games are just a small sample of the unfathomable defeats the Mets have suffered at PNC Park over the years.  Do any of these other games bring back memories?

July 8, 2005:  The Mets held a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.  It wasn’t even a save situation, so Willie Randolph brought in Aaron Heilman to start the ninth inning.  Unfortunately, Heilman created a save situation for Braden Looper.  The two of them combined to give up four runs in the ninth inning, followed by another run in the tenth.  Pirates win 6-5.

September 15-17, 2006:  Needing one win to secure their first division title in 18 years, the Mets proceeded to lose all three games in Pittsburgh.  Fortunately, these losses did not have a negative effect on their season.  However, it was now becoming obvious that the Mets were having difficulty playing at PNC Park.

August 18, 2008:  The Mets were holding on to a slim lead in the National League East.  The previous week, they had lost a heartbreaker to the Bucs at Shea Stadium when they couldn’t hold a 5-1 seventh inning lead.  The bullpen gave up three runs in the seventh inning followed by three more in the ninth, leading to a 7-5 loss.  The Mets needed the bullpen to recover from that bitter taste the Pirates had left in their collective mouths just a week earlier.  Unfortunately, they wasted a beautiful shutout performance by John Maine by giving up five runs over the last three innings en route to a 5-2 defeat.

Is it any wonder the Mets have lost the first two games at PNC Park this year, losing in similar fashion to numerous previous losses there?  The Mets are now 6-9 in Pittsburgh since they became perennial contenders in 2005.  At least when the Mets were losing all those games at Turner Field, they were losing to a Braves team that was playing regularly in October.  The Pirates haven’t had a winning record since 1992 and could set the all-time record for consecutive losing seasons this year.  No Mets team, no matter how injury-depleted they are, should have that type of record against a team whose annual goal is to be mediocre.  No matter how you slice it, it appears that PNC Park is becoming the new Turner Field, a ballpark where good things only happen to the team wearing the home whites.  I’m just glad the Mets don’t have to make a return trip to Pittsburgh this season.