The Mets (67-83) lost 8-5 to the Giants (70-81) on Tuesday Night
Zack Wheeler took the ball for the Mets, but struggled with his command against the team that traded him back in 2011. Wheeler managed to work around a leadoff walk in the 1st, but 4 walks in the 2nd (including one to the pitcher with the bases loaded) allowed the Giants to put up 3 runs in the 2nd inning.
New York fought back against former Met Yusmeiro Petit, getting a run in the 3rd before taking the lead in the 4th behind RBI hits from rookies Wilmer Flores and Matt den Dekker. MdD ran himself off of the basepaths by taking a reckless turn around 1st after his single, but the ensuing rundown ultimately allowed the go-ahead run to score.
The next inning, Wheeler’s 6th walk of the game helped Buster Posey drive in the tying run with a grounder to Murphy. In the 7th, Angel Pagan gave the Giants a lead they would never relinquish with a long homer to left. San Francisco tacked on 2 more in the 8th and 1 in the 9th.
The Mets tried to put together a rally in the bottom of the 9th, but after Daniel Murphy‘s RBI single made it a 3-run game, Lucas Duda and Andrew Brown both flied out to end it, giving the Mets yet another loss.
Wheeler was very disappointing today. He ended up going 5 innings and throwing 107 pitches, giving up 4 runs on only 3 hits thanks to a whopping 6 walks.
In case you’re wondering why Yusmeiro Petit left the Mets, we traded him for Carlos Delgado during the 2005 offseason. Remember when we used to make moves for impact players? According to our front office, “significant steps to improve the roster” are on the way, but given the track record of the Wilpons and Sandy Alderson when it comes to being honest, I am quite skeptical.
Speaking of Sandy, Angel Pagan really killed us tonight, driving in three, walking twice, and leaving the yard in the 5th. I guess the Andres Torres experiment didn’t work out. And whatever happened to Ramon Ramirez?
Travis d’Arnaud left the game early with a sore shoulder after being hit by a foul ball. His propensity for injuries is quite frustrating given that he is seen as our teams “future”, but hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow or Thursday. We have to hope that these injuries truly are all freak injuries— injuries that are not an indicator of an injury-riddled future for the young catcher.
Wilmer Flores also left the game early. Terry Collins said that it was mostly a lineup move, but Flores did seem to be having trouble with his ankle again. On the bright side, he swung the bat well today, as did his fellow rookie Matt den Dekker.
How great was Jerry Seinfeld tonight? The handful of innings he spent in the booth with Gary, Keith, and Ron were gold… the Mets might want to try to get him on the air a bit more often.
The year is winding down, and it’s really getting pretty ugly. Again, each loss helps us in terms of our draft pick, and it looks like we will be able to sign a top free agent without losing that pick this offseason… if Sandy is so inclined. Let’s see what “The Plan” has in store for us. Sandy has been talking about 2014 for so long that he must improve the team this winter… or else.
The biggest Mets news of the day? Matt Harvey might be able to avoid Tommy John, which is great, assuming that they are responsible and don’t let him pitch if it will put his long-term health at risk.
The Mets will try to even their series against the defending champions tomorrow. Aaron Harang (0-1, 4.50 ERA) will take the mound against Matt Cain (8-9, 4.24 ERA) at 7:10 PM in Flushing.
