Mets lose to the Reds at home

The New York Mets lost to the Cincinatti Reds by the score of 6-5 on Monday night. Chris Schwinden started for the Mets and pitched pretty well but got a no decision. The bullpen used six relievers and the results were mixed. The majority pitched well but a couple of them didn’t. The offense had a good night with 13 hits and five runs scored. Jose Reyes and Ruben Tejada led the offensive charge with three hits each.
Schwinden pitched five innings giving up five hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked one and struck out five. Daniel Herrera gave up two hits without recording an out, Ryota Igarashi pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings with a strikeout and Tim Byrdak took the loss giving up two hits and two runs without recording an out. Byrdak is 2-1 on the season, Josh Stinson got charged with a blown save which was his first. Stinson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit, run and a walk. Dale Thayer pitched one perfect inning striking out one and Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect inning striking out one.

Reyes had three hits and two RBI, Tejada had three hits and Willie Harris had two hits and a walk. David Wright had a hit and an RBI, Nick Evans had two hits and two RBI and Josh Thole had a hit. Jason Pridie had a hit, Schwinden had a walk and Mike Baxter also drew a walk. Evans, Reyes and Harris each had a double and Pridie had a triple. The Mets were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Reyes had a stolen base and Tejada was caught stealing. Schwinden had an error.

The Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on a Joey Votto sacrifice fly. In the second Devin Mesoraco hit an RBI double to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the third Wright hit an RBI single and Evans hit a two run double to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. Dave Sappelt had an RBI single in the fourth inning to tie the game at three. In the bottom of the fourth Reyes hit a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Chris Heisey hit a three run homerun in the seventh to give the Reds a 6-4 lead. The Mets would score one more run in the bottom of the eighth. Reyes hit an RBI double and the final score would be 6-5 in favor of the Reds.

The New York Mets will finish with a losing record but they would like to get a couple of wins and take the final series. The Mets record is 76-84 on the season. They were playing so well for so long, it wasn’t like they were legitimate contenders but they were hanging in there being right around 500. They got to September and just disappeared. It is possible they just got worn out, this is a good learning experience for the young guys though. The Mets did a lot of good things this season and they are headed in the right direction. They really need to straighten out their money situation with the owners and hope that they could get some pitching. The Mets would like to see Johan Santana back next season, he is an ace but what capacity will he be at. The Mets have a pretty good lineup especially if Jason Bay has found something in the last month and continues it into next season. The Mets biggest problem is winning at home and they are going to move the fences in at Citi Field to try and help with this problem. It seems that a lot of the problem is mental with the Mets and maybe even moving the fences in a little will get them thinking good thoughts and it isn’t so bad anymore. When you aren’t winning you will try anything to get it turned around.