Game Summary

The Mets lost another one of those games that could have easily been a win for them if not for shooting blanks whenever they needed a timely hit. The Orioles outscored them 6-4 despite a 12 hit attack from the Mets offense.

Game Recap

Tim Redding, making his sixth start of the season started off solid but in the end he was charged with four runs on seven hits in 5-1/3 innings, including a two-run homer in the second inning by Orioles rookie catcher Matt Wieters. Redding said he didn’t have his best stuff after the game.

In the seventh inning, Pedro Feliciano cam into the game with the score tied at 4-4, but made a couple of bad pitches giving up a single to Nick Markakis and two-run homer to Aubrey Huff to put the Birds ahead for good.

Bobby Parnell and Brian Stokes both had scoreless stints and rebounded from shaky outings last time out.

Offensively, Gary Sheffield homered in the sixth inning to bring the Mets a run closer. It was part of a 2 hit day for Sheff, and he has now homered in three of his last five games.

After Sheffield homered, the Mets loaded the bases, and pitcher Mark Hendrickson walked Alex Cora to force in a run and make it 4-4. But in a critical spot and with a chance to break the game wide open, Fernando Tatis grounded into a double play.

Daniel Murphy had three hits in the game, all singles, and scored a run.

Carlos Beltran and David Wright went 1-10 in the game, leaving six runners on base between them.

Ryan Church had two hits, and I wish we could just leave the guy alone in rightfield. With consistent playing time, Church could give us a big second half.

Game Thoughts and Notes

Despite playing with a DH and playing games in two of the top three homerun hitting parks in the game, the Mets have not found their power stroke. Where would they be without Gary Sheffield? If you take away Sheffield homers, the Mets would be ranked dead last in MLB. As it stands now, they are ranked 28th with 41 homers.

Feliciano was holding lefthanded hitter to a .125 average coming into the game last night. He was as close to being automatic as you can get before being tagged by Huff for a two-run homer. After the game he admitted he shouldn’t have shook off Brian Schneider on that pitch.

For rookie Matt Wieters, it was the first homerun of his career. It seems like the Mets give up a lot of these first homeruns going all the way back to 2007. I wonder if they keep stats on things like that?

The good news? The Phillies also lost last night, so the Mets still remain just three games back.

Game Ball

Gary Sheffield

On Deck

The Mets will send Livan Hernandez to the mound to try and nail down the rubber game tonight.