Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Mets comeback only to blow the lead and lose to the Cubs

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Flushing,NY(September 10)-The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs by the score of 5-4 on Saturday afternoon. Chris Capuano started and pitched very well. Bobby Parnell blew his fifth save and took the loss. He is trying to learn the job of closer and has not been doing a very good job of it. Jason Bay continues to finish the season strong and Lucas Duda and David Wright also had good games.

Capuano pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked one and struck out six. Ryota Igarashi pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run and he struck out one, Daniel Herrera struck out the only batter that he faced and Parnell pitched one inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout.

Jose Reyes had a hit and an RBI, Ruben Tejada had a hit and Duda had two hits. Wright had two hits and an RBI, Bay had two hits and two RBI and Nick Evans had a hit. Mike Nickeas had a hit, Jason Pridie and Willie Harris had a walk. Duda and Reyes each had a double, the Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Wright and Pagan each had a stolen base, Bay was picked off. Reyes and Wright each had two errors. Capuano picked off a runner.

In the first inning the Cubs took a 1-0 lead on an error by Reyes. In the fifth inning Reed Johnson reached on a force attempt and error by Reyes allowing a run to score and making it 2-0 Cubs. In the eighth inning Marlon Byrd hit an RBI double to make it 3-0 Cubs. In the bottom of the eighth Reyes hit an RBI double, Wright had an RBI single and Bay had a two run single to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Aramis Ramirez hit a two run single to give the Cubs the 5-4 lead. The game would end 5-4 in favor of the Cubs.

The Mets and Cubs have split the first two games of their three game series. The Mets record dropped to 71-74 on the season and the Cubs improved their record to 63-82. The Mets are trying to reach the 500 mark but they just can’t seem to get there. They win some and they lose some, they are never too far away yet they can’t sustain a winning streak to get there or above. Bay has continued to really show something in the final month of the season. The Mets are hoping the changes that Bay has made will last through the end of the season and he can carry it into next season. The two teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday night. The game on Sunday will also be played on September 11th, the tenth anniversary and the Mets will have a special pregame ceremony. It should be an emotional night for everyone involved.

Friday, September 9, 2011

The Mets lose both ends of a doubleheader to the Braves

The New York Mets lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Atlanta Braves on Thursday evening and Thursday night. They lost the first game by the score of 6-5 and the second game by the score of 5-1. Chris Schwinden made his major league debut in the first game and didn’t pitch very well picking up the loss. In the second game Dillon Gee pitched pretty well and the bullpen didn’t do it’s job. The offense in the second game was held down, Josh Thole was the only player with a multi-hit game. In the first game Jason Bay had a big evening as he looks to salvage at least some part of his season and have something positive to take into next year.
Schwinden pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs with a walk and four strikeouts in the first game. He is 0-1 on the season and his career. Daniel Herrera pitched two innings giving up one hit and striking out two. Ryota Igarashi pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up one hit and one run with two walks, Tim Byrdak pitched 2/3 of an inning and recording a strikeout and Bobby Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. In the second game Gee pitched six innings giving up four hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked two and struck out six. Herrera pitched one perfect inning and Pedro Beato pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout. Gee picked up the loss and saw his record drop to 12-6 on the season.

In the first game Justin Turner and Lucas Duda each had two hits and David Wright had a hit and a walk. Angel Pagan had a hit and a walk, Bay had two hits and four RBI and Nick Evans had a hit and an RBI. Wright and Duda each had a double and Bay had a homerun. The Mets were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. In the second game Jose Reyes had a hit, Turner had a hit and Bay had a hit, RBI and a walk. Willie Harris had a hit and a walk, Valentino Pascucci had a hit and Thole had two hits. The Mets were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Bay had a stolen base. Reyes and Tejada each had an error.

In the first game the Braves jumped right out in front. Freddie Freeman had a two run double and Martin Prado had an RBI single to make it 3-0 Braves. In the bottom of the first Bay hit a grand slam to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Chipper Jones hit a solo homerun in the third inning to tie the game at four and Jason Heyward had an RBI single to give the Braves a 5-4 lead. In the eighth inning Michael Bourn was hit by a pitch and a run scored giving the Braves a 6-4 lead. Nick Evans hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 6-5 game. 6-5 is how the game ended up in favor of the Braves. In the second game the Braves jumped out in front again. Dan Uggla had an RBI single to give them a 1-0 lead. Bay hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first to tie the game at one. In the fifth inning David Ross had an RBI single to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Jones hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to extend the Braves lead 3-1. Ross hit a solo homerun in the ninth to make it 4-1 and Jones had an RBI double to make it 5-1 and finish the scoring in the game.

The Mets lost both ends of the doubleheader and dropped back to three games under 500. Gee bounced back with a quality start in the second game after his last start was one of the worst of his season. The Mets offense was very silent in the second game scoring only once in the first inning. Reyes has an 11 game hitting streak. The Mets record is 70-73, they will play the Cubs in a three game series at home over the weekend. The Mets will try and get back on the winning track Friday night.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Mets win the rubber game 1-0

The New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins by the score of 1-0 on Wednesday evening. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched a gem. The offense was pretty much non existent. Jason Bay was the only player with multi hits and the Mets only managed five hits all together.
Dickey pitched seven innings giving up four hits and no runs. He walked three and struck out three. Dickey improved to 8-11 on the season with the win. Drew Stinson pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Manny Acosta pitched an inning striking out two earning his first save.

Jose Reyes had a hit and two walks, Ruben Tejada had a walk and Lucas Duda had a hit and an RBI. David Wright had a walk, Bay had two hits and Mike Nickeas had a hit and a walk. Duda and Bay each had a double. The Mets were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Wright and Tejada made errors and Nickeas had a passed ball.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and it stood up. Duda had an RBI double. The Mets played their 146th and final game at Sun Life Stadium which has been renamed so many times over the years. The Mets have not fared particularly well in the Marlins ballpark and will not be sad to see the place go. The Marlins are set to open up a retractable roof stadium next season. They finished 74-72 all-time at the multi purpose stadium. The Miami Dolphins the football team also plays there. The Marlins have won two world series since 1993 and the Mets are still looking for their first since 1986. The Mets improved their record to 70-71. They will head home to play a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday weather permitting as New York has been getting hammered again by rain. The Mets will then play the Cubs for three and the Nationals for four all at home. This will end up being a nine game homestand.

Monday, September 5, 2011

New York Mets news and notes as the season winds down

Here are some Mets news and notes from Monday, Labor day.

Today at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Ike Davis spoke with reporters and said he was in Port St. Lucie this past weekend participating in baseball activities, and is pain free.Davis said he will workout for the next two days with the team in Miami and will then shut his activity down for a month to allow for further recuperation. The team will move him to the 60 day disabled list.

In addition, Johan Santana visited with the team in Miami today, and told reporters he will pitch in another rehab game this Friday either with Single-A St. Lucie or with Savanah in the South Atlantic League. He could rejoin the Mets sometime after that, as the minor league season will have concluded at that time.

Also, assistant GM John Ricco spoke with reporters and said Jon Niese is still experiencing pain in his side when he sneezes, and is therefore not close to returning.  The Mets have had some crazy injuries this year as well as the last couple of years, this is something that really has to be addressed in the off season.

Meanwhile, the Mets announced they have recalled outfielder Mike Baxter and selected the contracts of righthanded pitcher Chris Schwinden and first baseman Valentino Pascucci from Triple-A Buffalo. Baxter will wear #23, Schwinden will wear #63 and Pascucci will wear will wear #15. All three players will join the team in Florida tomorrow.

Schwinden, 24, was the Mets’ 22nd round pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. He was 8-8 with a 3.95 ERA (64 earned runs/145.2 innings) with Buffalo this season. He allowed 138 hits, issued 48 walks and struck out 134 batters. According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Schwinden could start one of the games in their doubleheader against the Braves on Thursday.

Pascucci, 32, hit .259 (114-440) with 58 runs scored, 29 doubles, one triple, 21 home runs and 91 RBI in 129 games with the Bisons this year. He appeared in 32 major league games with the Montreal Expos in 2004. He hit .177 (11-62) with six runs scored, two home runs and six RBI.

Thanks to metsblog.com for providing some of the information here about the Mets.  They do a great job over there and if you aren't familiar with the work should check it out.

Yankees news and notes after Monteros big day

Here are some notes from after the Yankees game and their thrilling 11-10 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.  It was like a playoff atmosphere and young Jesus Montero really got everyone excited with his first two major league homeruns. 

“I’ve seen everybody doing that, and I was dreaming of that before,” Montero said of the curtain calls. “I’ve seen Jeter and Posada and everybody doing that, and I’ve always told myself, ‘One day, I’m going to be one of those guys.’ It was an amazing moment. I’m so happy right now.”

Montero said that it was Jorge Posada, of all people, who was telling him to climb the steps of the dugout and acknowledge the fans. A pretty classy move if you ask me, considering Montero is basically seizing Posada’s job.  I think Posada realizes this is the end for him and there is nothing he can do about it, he has had a great career and at some point it happens to everyone, he took Girardi job when he was young and coming up. 

“He was telling me, ‘Get out there! Get out there! The fans want you. They want you to say hi!’ ”

What really stands out to me is the manner in which Montero hit both homers. They just about landed in the same spot, and neither of them just made it out, it was way out in the bleachers,  Montero crushed both balls the opposite way.

Girardi compared Montero’s opposite field power to a young Alex Rodriguez. Now that’s a lofty comparison. The fact that he could stay back on those balls and drive them with such ease is incredible less than a week into his major league career. Girardi had been DHing Montero against lefties, but he hit both home runs against righties.  I think right now it is the easy thing to do, let him play against lefties but eventually he will be hitting against anyone.

“You have to be able to do that to hit a ball like that out,” Girardi said of Montero’s ability to stay back on the ball. “It’s using you lower half to elevate low pitches, and that’s the other thing that he does well.”

It’s hard not to think that Montero should be the full-time DH, considering the fact that he pulled two hard singles against a left-handed pitcher yesterday. Offensively, he seems to be the complete package.  He has done nothing but hit in the minor leagues and there is no reason to think he won't do the same in the majors. 

“His numbers kind of speak for themselves,” Curtis Granderson said. “He’s always hit in the minor leagues, and sure enough, he’s swinging the bat really well so far.”



Girardi talked about how Montero has sparked the team.

“It can energize a team when young kids come up and perform at a high level, especially in the dog days,” he said. “We’re going at it pretty hard here. Our guys generally get excited when young guys have success.”

When asked if he believes Montero will be a key component in the postseason, Girardi offered some cautious optimism. “The one thing is you don’t get too giddy over one game, and you don’t get too down on another,” he said. “You wan tot watch him over a period of time. But we’ve always said that this young man can really swing the bat.”  I would agree with what he is saying but it is hard not to get excited about the kid and what his potential is. 

After all of the pregame talk about Freddy Garcia’s success this season, he simply didn’t have it today. For only the second time all season, Garcia failed to give the Yankees five innings. He was knocked out before the end of the third, allowing seven runs. The Orioles hit just about everything hard. I don’t want to make too much out of one bad start, but it would be difficult to argue that Ivan Nova isn’t the Yankees No. 2 starter right now. “They hit every pitch that I threw,” Garcia said. “It wasn’t one pitch. They hit sliders, split, slow curve, fastball. They hit everything that I have. I’ve got to forget about it, and just think about my next start.”

 Luckily for the Yankees, Baltimore starter Brian Matusz didn’t have it, either. He didn’t make it out of the second inning. In total between the two teams, 12 pitchers were used. “It was a hitters day,” Garcia said.

What felt like the big blast before the Jesus Show was Robinson Cano’s grand slam in the second inning. After going down 5-2, the Yankees fought back to make it 5-4. Cano came up with the bases loaded, fought off some tough pitches, and then absolutely smoked at ball out to the bleachers in right field. In year’s past, people have discussed his inability to come through with runners in scoring position. But this season, he seems to have drastically improved his focus in those situations. You just feel like he’s going to get that big hit. The grand slam was his third of the season, and seventh of his career. “That was a huge hit for us,” Girardi said. “Robbie has been dynamite all year. The one thing I’ve said about Robbie is that I wouldn’t count him out of that (MVP) race yet.”

 Mark Teixeira also homered for the Yanks. He went 2-for-4, including a hard hit single from the left-side, where he has been struggling.

 The Yankees brought in former Yankees Scott Proctor. It was his first appearance in a Yankee uniform since July 27, 2007 (against Baltimore, ironically). He pitched two innings, allowing three hits and one run. The most impressive relief performance came from Luis Ayala, who gave the Yankees 1.2 innings without allowing a hit. He’s been an unsung hero, with an impressive 1.90 ERA.

 Girardi said that both Dave Robertson and Rafael Soriano were unavailable today. He’s clearly getting cautious about their workloads here in the home stretch.  He should be also as you want them fresh for the postseason.  I think this is what Girardi does the best, managing the pitching staff and making sure the bullpen isn't overused and that everyone gets enough rest. 

Mariano Rivera had a bit of a rough inning, allowing one run, but still held onto to pick up his 597th career save. He’s now four behind Trevor Hoffman for first-place all-time. “I thought he threw some pretty good pitches,” Girardi said. “He gave up some hits, but that’s going to happen. What I didn’t like was that they put up on the board that he had only given up two hits in eight innings.” (He was joking about that last part.

 Girardi said at his press conference that Hector Noesi will rejoin the team tomorrow. There was a rumor flying around the Dellin Betances may be in line for a call up, but Girardi wouldn’t confirm it. He said they still have to discuss if anyone else will be brought up besides Noesi.  Donnie Collins who is a beat reporter with Scranton Wilkes Barre is reporting that Ramiro Pena, Greg Golson and

 The Yankees have now won five straight, and with Boston’s loss, have extended their lead in the division to two and a half games. Phil Hughes will get the start against Tommy Hunter tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.

Jesus Montero hits his first two homeruns as the Yankees defeat the Orioles

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 11-10 on Monday afternoon. It was certainly a hitters day as both starting pitchers really struggled. Freddy Garcia started and for only the second time all year he failed to pitch at least five innings. The Yankees offense bailed him out though as they scorched the ball off of the Baltimore pitching. Jesus Montero had the big game with his first two major league homeruns. They were both impressive shots to the right field bleachers. Robinson Cano hit his third grand slam of the season.
Garcia pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up nine hits and seven runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out one. Scott Proctor who was making his first Yankees appearance since 2007 pitched two innings giving up three hits and one run with a walk and two strikeouts, Aaron Laffey got the win pitching 2/3 of an inning and walking one and Luis Ayala pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one walk and he struck out one. Laffey is 2-1 on the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run, Cory Wade pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up one hit and Mariano Rivera picked up his 38th save of the season and 597th of his career. Rivera pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run, hitting a batter and striking out one. It was just not a good day for the pitchers although the bullpen did pretty well for the most part.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson had a hit and two RBI and Mark Teixeira had two hits an RBI and a walk. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, two walks and was hit by a pitch, Cano had two hits and four RBI and Andruw Jones had a hit, RBI and a walk. Russell Martin had two hits and Montero had two hits, three RBI and a walk. Jeter, Granderson and Martin each had a double. Teixeira and Cano each hit a homerun and Montero had two homeruns. The Yankees were 3-6 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Dickerson made an error and Martin had a passed ball.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Nick Markakis solo homerun. The Yankees came right back in the bottom of the first with two runs. Teixeira hit a solo homerun and Jones had an RBI single. In the second inning the Orioles regained the lead with four runs. Robert Andino had an RBI single, Martin had a passed ball allowing another run to score and make it 3-2 Orioles. Kyle Hudson reached on a fielders choice and a run scored and J. Hardy had an RBI single to make it 5-2 Orioles. In the bottom of the second the Yankees came back with six runs to take an 8-5 lead. Granderson hit a two run double and Cano hit a grand slam homerun. In the third inning Mark Reynolds hit a two run homerun to make it 8-7. In the fifth Andino hit a solo homerun to tie the game at eight. In the bottom of the fifth Montero hit his first major league homerun to give the Yankees a 9-8 lead. Montero hit a two run homerun in the seventh inning to give the Yankees a 11-8 lead. Montero also received two curtain calls for his heroics. In the eighth inning Markakis hit an RBI single making it an 11-9 game. In the ninth inning Ryan Adams had an RBI single to make it 11-10. Rivera struck out the last batter with runners on second and third.

The Yankees have won five games in a row. The Yankees won the first game of this three game series although the two teams will play four games in a row. The Yankees and Orioles will complete this series on Wednesday afternoon and then play a day game on Thursday which is a makeup game but it will be in Baltimore. The Yankees extended their first place lead in the AL East to 2 ½ games over the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox lost 1-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees will be calling up a few more players on Tuesday. The call ups will be Ramiro Pena, Hector Noesi, Greg Golson and George Kontos. The Yankees are also debating calling up one of their top pitchers Dellin Betances. Montero looks like he will be making the postseason roster as the Yankees DH but they still view him as a catcher. He will most likely be the backup catcher next year and also DH. A lot of people doubt if he will ever be a good defensive catcher in the majors but if he hit’s the way he has all of his life they will find a spot for him. Montero said this about his homers “The first one I hit it, I was like, that’s a homerun for sure. I know right field is right there. So when I feel the bat, it was like Gone. The other at-bat I hit it kind of the same, it felt the same way, and it was an amazing moment.” Montero said this about the curtain calls “I see everybody doing that. I was dreaming of that before. I was always telling myself before, One day I’m going to be that guy, It was an amazing moment and an amazing feeling.”

Girardi said “I think sometimes you put a ton of pressure on yourself when you have an opportunity to get there. Well now he’s here, he knows he’s going to get at-bats and we’re going to see what this young man can do.” Girardi also said “The one thing is, you don’t get too giddy on one game, and you don’t get too down on another game. We’ll watch him over a period of time. We always thought that this young man can swing the bat.” The Yankees will attempt to win their sixth straight game on Tuesday night with Phil Hughes making the start. Hughes has been up and down since coming back off the disabled list and is looking to try and stay in the rotation and make the postseason roster. The Yankees right now have CC Sabathia and are unsure after that how it will line up. Ivan Nova and Bartolo Colon are most likely going to start in the playoffs but that last spot is between Garcia, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes. There will probably be one of them in the pen and the other left off the roster entirely. The Yankees first have to worry about winning the division and seeing how everyone is then. The season ends on September 28th and the playoffs start a couple of days after that. The Yankees right now have their biggest lead in a while and they would like to finish up strong, win the division and then see what happens from there. The Yankees are always trying to win a World Series and having home field advantage would help.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Yankees complete the sweep of the Blue Jays

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 9-3 on Sunday afternoon. CC Sabathia made the start and pitched very well. Rafael Soriano gave up a run but was able to shut it down from there even with the tying run at the plate at that point. Cory Wade closed out the game easily. The offense was led by Derek Jeter who tied a career high with five RBI, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher hit homeruns as well as Jeter. Jesus Montero playing in his third game had two hits. Montero looks to be more comfortable after recording his first major league hit on Saturday.


Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out ten. Sabathia picked up his 19th win of the season and is 19-7 with a 2.97 ERA on the season. Soriano pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run and Wade pitched one inning giving up one walk and striking out two.

Jeter led the offense with two hits and five RBI, Brett Gardner had three walks and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and Swisher had a hit and two RBI. Russell Martin had a walk, Montero had two singles and Eduardo Nunez had a hit. Montero after starting his career 0-6 is now 3-10. Jeter, Rodriguez and Swisher all hit homeruns for the Yankees. The Yankees were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Gardner had a stolen base and an error.game and that was how it would end. Swisher hit a two run homerun and Jeter had a two run single.

The Yankees swept the three game series from the Blue Jays. The Yankees are now 10-5 against them on the season. The Yankees extended their AL East lead to 1 ½ games over the Boston Red Sox who lost to the Texas Rangers. The Yankees moved to a season best 32 games over 500 at 85-53. The Yankees have won seven of their last eight games and appear to be peaking at the right time. Sabathia was taken out before facing Bautista who is 0-18 against him in his career. Sabathia became the first american league pitcher with 19 or more wins in three straight seasons since Dave Stewart did it with Oakland from 1987-1990. The Yankees after the game announced that they will remain with a six man rotation for now. Sabathia doesn’t know when his next start will come but he will go out and do what he can whenever that start is. He said he would prefer a five man rotation but he isn’t going to complain and after throwing a lot of pitches once again a little extra rest isn’t going to hurt him. The Yankees will now open up a three game series against Baltimore at home before going to Baltimore for a makeup game and then to the West Coast to take on the Angels and Mariners.

The Yankees opened up the scoring with a first inning run. Teixeira had an RBI single. In the third inning the Yankees took a 4-0 lead on a Jeter three run homerun. In the fourth the Jays broke through with an RBI double by Mark Teahen and an RBI groundout by Jose Molina. The Yankees now had a 4-2 lead. In the sixth inning Rodriguez hit a solo homerun to make it 5-2 and then after a Jose Bautista monster homerun into the left field bleachers to make it 5-3 the Yankees broke the game open. The Yankees scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning making it a 9-3

The Mets win the rubber game to take the series in Washington

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 6-3 on Sunday afternoon. Mike Pelfrey made the start and pitched ok. Pelfrey couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning. The Mets bullpen did an outstanding job, four pitches combined to go 4 1/3 scoreless innings. The offense was led by David Wright who had a couple of hits. The rest of the offense was spread around with several players getting a hit.
Pelfrey pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs. He walked five and struck out three. Ryota Igarashi pitched to one batter and got him out also earning the victory. Igarashi is 3-1 on the season. Drew Stinson pitched two innings giving up one hit and walking one, Jason Isringhausen pitched one inning giving up one hit and Bobby Parnell picked up his fifth save pitching an inning and walking one batter.

Ruben Tejada had a hit and two RBI, Justin Turner had a hit and Lucas Duda had a hit, RBI and a walk. Wright had two hits, Angel Pagan had a hit and Jason Bay had a hit. Josh Satin had a hit, Willie Harris had a hit and two RBI and Mike Nickeas had a hit and an RBI. Pelfrey had a hit. Duda had a homerun, the Mets were 3-6 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a Tejada two run single. In the fourth the Nationals took a 3-2 lead. Danny Espinosa hit an RBI double, Chris Marrero hit an RBI groundout and Wilson Ramos had an RBI double. In the sixth inning Duda hit a solo homerun to tie the game at three and Harris had a two run single to give the Mets the 5-3 lead. Nickeas had a sac bunt to score a run making it 6-3 and that would be all the scoring in the game.

The Mets record is 68-70 and although they are out of contention they are still fighting. Terry Collins has a tough job trying to win games and develop the young players at the same time. He has done a great job tough and so has the team for all they have endured this year and are still hanging in there. The Mets won two out of three in this series and now head to Florida to take on the Marlins for three games. The Mets will then come home for a nine game homestand with a doubleheader against the Braves opening it up on Thursday.

Mets lose on a walk-off as Parnell blows the save

The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals on Saturday night by a score of 8-7. Dillon Gee made the start and did not have a very good outing. The bullpen did a good job with three scoreless innings and getting the ball to Parnell but then he blew the save. Parnell is being groomed as the closer and it is a learning experience for him right now. The offense was good led by Angel Pagan and Justin Turner.
Gee pitched five innings giving up six runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out six. Pedro Beato pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits, Daniel Herrera pitched to two batters and retired them both and Manny Acosta pitched two scoreless innings walking one and striking out five. Parnell pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with two walks, it was his third blown save of the season and his record is 3-5 on the season.

Jose Reyes had a hit, Turner had two hits and Lucas Duda had an RBI. David Wright had a hit and a walk, Pagan had two hits and two RBI and Jason Bay had a hit and two RBI. Nick Evans had a hit and two RBI, Ronny Paulino had a hit and Willie Harris had a walk. Wright had a double, Evans and Bay each had a homerun. The Mets were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Pagan had a stolen base and Paulino made a throwing error.

Ian Desmond hit a solo homerun in the first inning to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. In the second inning the Nationals took a 5-0 lead. Jesus Flores hit an RBI double and Tom Milone hit a three run homerun. In the fourth inning Pagan had a two run single to cut the lead to 5-2. Evans hit a two run homerun and the game was a one run game at 5-4 Nationals. In the fifth inning Roger Bernadina hit a solo homerun to give the Nationals a 6-4 lead. Bay hit a two run homerun in the sixth and the Mets had tied the game at six. In the seventh inning the Mets took a 7-6 lead on a Duda sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the ninth inning the Nationals won the game on a walk-off two run single by Ryan Zimmerman.

The Mets have lost the first two games of the series in Washington. They will attempt to avoid the sweep on Sunday afternoon. Bay had been 0-35 on the road before his homerun. The previous record for a Mets position player was 0-32 by Cleon Jones. Al Leiter was 0-70 on the road but he was a pitcher. The Mets are now three games under 500. It is amazing some of the losses they have had this year but they continue to play hard and fight to the finish which is a good sign for them. The Mets have gone through a lot this year with the change in manager and GM, the owners financial mess and now the latest minority owner having his deal fall through. The Mets have played well for most of the year considering the circumstances. They have to continue to fight and set 500 as a goal for the season. If they can do that they should feel good about coming into spring training next year and making progress.
 

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