Padres 5 – Mets 1 June 2, 2010

San Diego Padres center fielder Tony Gwynn steals second base on New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes in the ninth inning during their National League MLB Baseball game in San Diego

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsFor the ninth time this season the New York Metropolitans lose a road series. After a promising home stand where the Mets won five of six against last year’s world series teams the Mets go on the road and lose series to the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres.

Wednesday night’s game was the ultimate worst for Met fans.

The team got off to a nice start. Ace pitcher Johan Santana struggled but held the Padres scoreless and a fourth inning single by Jeff Francoeur scored Jason Bay. It wasn’t much but it was all Santana needed.

Santana held the Padres scoreless through 7 innings.

In the eighth inning the Mets use three different relievers, Pedro Feliciano, Elmer Dessens and Francisco Rodriguez, to get to the ninth inning.

Former Met Heath Bell shut down the Mets in the ninth, and K-Rod was set to save the 1-0 game.

However, K-Rod found trouble in the ninth when Tony Gwynn Jr, singled into right field and then surprisingly stole second on catcher Henry Blanco. That would prove to be huge. Rodriguez would strike out pinch hitter Matt Stairs and Jerry Hairston, Jr. Then the pesky David Eckstein would single to left field, scoring Gwynn and knotting the game at one a piece.

After a scoreless 10th inning, the Mets would come to bat in the 11th, without success. Then the Mets brought in lefthander Raul Valdes to pitch the 11th. Valdes would struggle. He would give up a double to Tony Gwynn Jr. A bunt was tried by John Garland, it was picked up by Valdes who fired it to third and the Mets had life. Valdes would load the bases for the Padres big hitter Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez made solid contact and that sick in the gut feeling came for Met fans again. Gonzalez’s hit landed into the left field bleachers for a grand slam and the Mets lost a tough one in San Diego 5-1.

It’s the sixth grand slam given up by Mets pitching this season, the most in the majors.

The Mets failed to win their first road series since July of last year.

Box score

Mets 4 – Padres 2 June 1, 2010

New York Mets Wright beats tag at second by San Diego Padres Eckstein for third inning stolen base in San Diego

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe story of this game was the continuation of Mike Pelfrey’s fantastic season. He went 8 strong innings only giving up 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks. He was in complete control. Francisco Rodriguez took over in the ninth and things went a little crazy but he got out of trouble. Rodriguez gave up 3 hits and 1 run but managed to work out of a jam.

The offense was led by David Wright going 3 for 4 with a solo homer. And Ike Davis was 2 for 4 with a 2-run homer. Overall, the Mets had 10 hits and 4 walks making a nice recovery from last night’s disaster.

Box score

Padres 18 – Mets 6 May 31, 2010

New York Mets vs Atlanta Braves

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsI can’t remember seeing so many pitchers get hit so hard as the Mets did last night. Hisanori Takahashi finally got hit after two great starts. He gave up a grand slam in the second inning to Jerry Hairston, Jr. and it was all downhill from there. The bullpen came in to help him out and gave up 12 MORE runs! It was unbelievable.

The Mets had some decent offense with 8 hits and 5 walks scoring 6 runs. Rod Barajas hit his 11th homer of the season. But this game was a laugher right from the start, the Mets were out of it.

Box score

Mets 10 – Brewers 4 May 30, 2010

Mets batter Francoeur hits a solo home run off of Braves starting pitcher Medlen in MLB National League action in Atlanta

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets avoided the sweep with a win in the finale of the series in Milwaukee. Jerry Manuel ran a strange lineup out there with Fernando Tatis playing first and hitting cleanup. Tatis has been historically poor against Randy Wolf, so the idea was clear that Ike Davis would get into the game at some point. Davis came in as a defensive replacement in the sixth.

R.A. Dickey was solid going 7 IP and giving up 4 ER. His knucler wasn’t working that well so we saw a lot more fastballs than in prior starts. But he managed to keep the Mets in the game without his best stuff.

The Mets offense exploded today with 16 hits and 8 walks. Jeff Francoeur was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, 3 runs, and 2 RBI’s. A huge game for him. Hopefully, that will get him going again. Angel Pagan also had another good game at the plate. He went 2 for 5 with his fourth homer, 2 runs, and 2 RBI’s. Even Luis Castillo got in on the act with a big two-out single to score 2 in the sixth.

It was a good way to finish a series that started badly. The Mets are off to San Diego to begin a series tomorrow night.

Box score

Brewers 8 – Mets 6 May 29, 2010

Mets Nieve reacts after giving up a two out solo home run to Brewers Kottaras in a MLB National League game in Milwaukee

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThis game was a disaster right from the first inning for the Mets. They started the inning looking good with a run scoring double by Jason Bay only to give it up an more at the hands of Fernando Nieve. Nieve was dreadful in his first start of the season giving up a grand slam to Cory Hart in the first and another run in the second before he hit the showers.

Oliver Perez made an appearance to give up 3 more runs over 2 IP. That raises his season WHIP to 1.97 which seems almost impossibly bad. Hart touched Perez up for his second homer of the game and third in two days as well.

The Mets did have some offense in the game putting up 6 runs on 9 hits and 4 walks. But they struck out 12 times in the game. Angel Pagan was the biggest culprit with 3. Ike Davis was 1 for 5 with a 3-run homer (5th of the season).

The Mets have lost the series in Milwaukee and need to salvage tomorrow’s game to avoid the sweep.

Box score

Brewers 2 – Mets 0 May 28, 2010

New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana prepares to pitch to a Milwaukee Brewers batter in the second inning of a MLB National League game in Milwaukee

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe game was defined by two great starting pitching performances. Johan Santana and Yovani Gallardo went toe-to-toe through eight scoreless innings. Gallardo made it through the ninth. But Ryota Igarashi gave up a 2 run walk off homer to Cory Hart in the bottom of the ninth.

Both Gallardo and Santana were really on tonight. It was a pleasure to watch until Igarashi gave it up in the ninth. The Mets didn’t have much offense. How much could there be in a scoreless game?

Rod Barajas and Santana had two hits apiece. That accounted for 4 of the team’s 8 hits.

It’s a disappointing way to lose but the Mets have been flying high this week and Santana was outstanding. The Brewers just got the best of them tonight. It happens.

Box score

Mets Home Stand Review- May 21-27, 2010

New York Mets' Reyes and Pagan celebrate after they beat the Philadelphia Phillies to sweep their MLB National League baseball series in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsConsidering the defending American League and National League champions were visiting, I’d say a 5-1 home stand was reasonable, no?

Friday, May 21st: Yankees 2, Mets 1
Saturday, May, 22nd: Yankees 3, Mets 5
Sunday, May 23rd: Yankees 4, Mets 6
Tuesday, May 25th: Phillies 0, Mets 8
Wednesday, May 26th: Phillies 0, Mets 5
Thursday, May 27th: Phillies 0, Mets 3

Predicted Mets Home Stand: 4-2.

Actual Mets Home Stand: 5-1. This is even better, because as I stated in the review, 4-2 got the Mets back to .500. Now, the Mets sit at 25-23, two games above!

Without a doubt, the absolute best part about this home stand was sweeping the Phillies. And shutting them out in all three games! The Mets won the series by a combined score of 16-0. That’s like the score of a Canada-Afghanistan hockey match.

There were a couple members of the team that were a huge part in this successful home stand. The first is Mike Pelfrey. Big Pelf won both of his starts on this home stand, shutting down the Yankees and Phillies for most of their respective games. The second is Jose Reyes, who had multiple hits in all five games the Mets won on this home stand. That whole “the Mets go as Reyes goes” theory? It’s more than a theory, it’s an utter reality. Continue reading “Mets Home Stand Review- May 21-27, 2010”