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The Mets (16–15) lost to the Dodgers (19–14) by the score of 5 to 4 in Los Angeles.
For a boxscore and recap, go to SNY.
…forgive me if you’ve heard this story before: the Mets have a lead, their starting pitcher keeps them in the game, they stop scoring, the pitcher slips up, the Mets fall behind, shut down their bats and ultimately lose the game…
…it’s always a difficult pill to swallow when the Mets have an early lead (3–0 in the third), but let it slip away, run by run, inning by inning…especially at 1 am…
…Nelson Figueroa pitched well enough, until the fifth, during which he got the first two batters out, but during which he also allowed a two-run home run to Mike DeWitt…
…the following at-bat, David Wright, Moises Alou and Carlos Delgado went down in order…and, to me, the air left the balloon…
…figueroa would have had a far worse line had it not been for David Wright, who looked outstanding on defense…on the other hand, Carlos Delgado is no longer even a good defensive first baseman, he’s now teetering on bad…and slow…
…also, speaking of defense, though it’s hard to get on Ryan Church for all that he’s done this season, including a home run early in the game, he was a bit confused on a key place last night while standing on the warning track, gazing at a fly ball he judged as maybe being a home run, but which wasn’t, and ended up being an inside-the-parker…what happened, ryan…
…it was great to see Willie Randolph put on the triple steal, with Angel Pagan taking second, Moises Alou stealing home, and a pig flying in to third…
…give a game ball to alou, for his hustle…
…also, give credit to Aaron Heilman for throwing two scoreless innings…he’s looking better…
…lastly, and most importantly, the Mets were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position…
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that last stat is indicative of what’s wrong with this team. I’m watching the replay on SNY right now, and the 2nd inning just ended: you know, the one where they had 2 runs in, bases loaded, nobody out and their 2 best hitters coming up. And those 2 hitters tap into a 1-2-3 double play and strike-out. That’s absolutely awful: you have a pitcher on the ropes like that, you NEED to break the game open. I’ve never seen a team that was so awful with the bases loaded, it’s like nobody wants the pressure of being up there in a big RBI spot or something. Where are the Robin Venturas and Mike Piazzas, who always seemed to come through in those spots?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not giving up on this team, I still believe they have winning baseball somewhere in them, but so far, this has been the most frustrating Mets season since 2002.
In 2006, it was like it was someone new all the time coming up big in clutch spots. D. Wright did it most of the time. And I think he’s pressing big time right now in big spots because he feels more pressure than anyone else to come up big in those spots.
I dunno man. I can’t sleep after last night’s loss.
But - the glass is half-full approach:
It’s May 7th. We’re 1.5 out of first and a game over .500, and we just put our projected opening day lineup out there for the first time two days ago.
That’s the approach I have to take, foolheartedly or not, or else this team will shave 15 years off my life…
This was a really odd game to watch. In the first three innings they scored four very bittersweet runs. Men were on base, lots of men, and they brought at least one home each inning…keeping me mildly satisfied. But they also left many of them on base and didn’t fully capitalize on the situations.
Figueroa wasn’t great, but with the Mets scoring their early runs, he kept the team in the game. Though apparently we need to redefine “keeping the team in the game” with the Mets. Generally it means keeping the score within reach, but with the Mets it should mean keeping the lead, since the Mets apparently don’t have comeback victories anymore.
In the new poll I voted that Willie is to blame for this loss…but he isn’t really to blame for this specific loss. I think he’s just more to blame for how the Mets have played the last two years. His nonchalant attitude is destroying any energy the Mets once had.
The new 2008 Mets slogan, “death by a 1,000 cuts”….
in no way will this have the same tragic ending as ‘07, it could be a much more painful process.
honestly, these guys need to go back to the fundamentals of baseball.. hitting w/ men on base, and more importantly w/ 2 strikes. Hojo, these guys need to shorten up and simply put the ball in play…yea, we dont pay d.wright to hit singles, we pay him to win ball games. pitching: someone needs to hammer home that on a 1-2 and 0-2 count, the hitter shouldnt see a strike. (note: the 1st 5 runs on saturday were all scored w/ 2outs, on 1-2 or 0-2 counts…also see Perez mon nite). infield/outfield drills: run downs, chain of command on pop ups, and more importantly, backing up throws. church got lucky monday nite, look at the tape.
execution is 90% of it, but these coaches are professional coaches, they need to be able to fix these problems. we give away ballgames every other day. will we ever see a winning streak greater than 4 games ?? (tops last year, 3 or 4 times).
i’m hitting my breaking point…
The way we play the game you have to wonder what they were doing and being taught in spring training. Isn’t that what ST is for?
Thats what is so frustrating about this team, matt hit it right on the head. its like they have a quota of runs for each game and once they reach that they just have no chance to score again and we are subject to endless choppers to the second baseman and first baseman and the classic Beltran I don’t give a $hit at bats.
I’ve never had less confidence in a team’s ability to come back than this years team. If they get to the 7th and are losing, you can sht it off. This team has 0 fight, its frustrating.
As hard as I am on Willie, I can’t honestly say he lost this specific game, at least from a tactical perspective. But this team needs a spark. Besides his constant mishandling of the pitching staff, Willie’s sonambulist routine is making a bad thing worse. I almost feel sorry for the guy–he’s a good person, but a lousy manager.
Get Backman where he once belonged!
I agree. This one wasn’t Willie’s fault…but the attitude need to change…ASAP!
I admit that I am currently in “jump off the ledge” mode right now.
But I want to remind myself and everyone else of something. Last year, for the first two months of the season, the Mets were the 2006 Mets. Then June 1st came and it all went to hell. Just like that. How did they go from being so great to so mediocre? I’m not exactly sure, but it goes to show you that in baseball, things can inexplicably change that quickly.
Which is why, with all of the individual talent on this team, I still hold out hope that things can inexplicably change this year, that quickly, and for the better.
And, just like that, things can get to ‘06 levels again. I share your hope. We haven’t seen the best of Johan, for one–that comes later in the year. What we have seen out of him so far is pretty good. Pedro should be coming back around June 1st, as well.
It’s a long season. Let’s remember something–the Phillthies had a horrid April last year. They came on like rockets at the end. We can do the same.
so did the Rockies. It’s possible. But you’d just love to see SOME life from this team, right now.
You won’t find a bigger D.Wright fanboy than me, but he’s GOT to give you a better AB than he did vs. Broxton last night with a runner on 2nd, 2 outs, in a one run game. It’s like he had absoultely no idea what was going on there. Just my two cents…
there were a lot of ABs last night that took on that description. and, a few by wright.
He’s got to work on his throwing arm, too. I love the great stops he’s becoming famous for at third, but if he throws 20% of them over Delgado’s head, that ain’t so good. Gold glove, lead arm. I know we’re talking about offense here, but this stuff counts too.
i don’t know who you blame exactly for this, but when the mets went down (ONLY A RUN!), the game just felt over. the hitters went to sleep. this is something we see in almost every loss: mets get down and refuse to scrap their way back up. sometimes, but not last night, the pen implodes and the game becomes a blowout.
who gets the blame? well, certainly leaders should, no? can it really be the mets have so many weakminded players that they can’t imagine a comeback after falling behind by ONE RUN in the 5th? if so, can a manager have any impact on them?
this team has no heart.
win a game, lose a game. story of the last 150 games or so. i’m getting bored of the same old story.
You can’t make a comeback when you are lifeless with no fire. That comes from the manager and filters down to the players, who are obviously weak minded and not competetive.
I know, right? Every single one of them made it to the majors on raw talent. Not one showed any fire or desire to get here.
I went to sleep last night with the mets winning 4-1. I wake up to here that the mets lost 5-4. What a horrible way to start off work. What the heck is up with this team? I’ve said that they are a .500 team, but I just don’t want to believe that. I want to see this team win. Is that to much to ask??
I’m a little confused why we are giving out a ‘game ball’ to a player on the losing team.
Good point, don’t the winners get the ball?
Delgado is totally done, he can’t even bend over on defense to field a simple ground ball. Meanwhile Mike Jacobs hit his 9th HR last night, nearly double our team leader. Another brilliant Omar trade for a nearly washed up, now totally washed up vet. And don’t preach 2006 to me, we actually could have did what we did that year with Jacobs at first, its not like we won the WS.
I’m officially renaming this team the New York LOBs.
So frustrating …
This was a tough loss considering we had SEVERAL opportunities to have a very healthy lead over the dodgers. There is a glaring problem that finally came to the spotlight in last nights game. The mets will do fine in working the bases…steal here, bunt there… but they fail horribly when it comes to getting the guys home. Hojo’s job is cut out for him after last nights loss. It will be interesting to see what they can do about that in the future
Like matt said its hard to get on church because he has been the shining star on this club since jump but man did he mess up last night. Even if he thought it was a HR just pick up the ball and throw it in. Im sure he got an earfull for that one.
I thought Figs did a good job against this offense. Granted Dwright made awsome plays to bail him out but all and all he did his best to keep a lead for us. Heilman came in and threw a solid 2 innings…Granted we were behind and didnt let the deficit grow….perhaps a new role for him? Or maybe he can build on this and come in and try to keep a lead…who knows.
This was a tough one guys and frankly we lost this one ourselves. This is one of the better teams in the NL and it took a misplay from church to beat us. I would have liked more fight but doesnt seem like they had it in them anymore after they lost the lead. Lets get em today and at least finish strong….go mets…
Only a fool would think that Delgado for Mike Jacobs was a bad trade.
Then call me a fool, 2006 was the only year Delgado was a better player than Jacobs. One year is not worth a career, unless you win it all which we didn’t. Delgado didn’t even want to play here for crying out loud.
Grab a seat. Catch a little something called mediocracy
I put a lot of the blame on delgado, he should have caught that ball that was hit to him which allowed the dodgers to make it 4-3. Delgado just flopped on the ground like a seal on land. He is pathetic.
Figueroa did not “pitch well enough until the fifth.”
Loads of hits and walks and hard-hit outs from the start of the game.
It just took the Dodgers five innings to catch up to him.
Carlos Delgado has never been a “good” defensive first baseman, certainly not in his time with the Mets. He’s not “teetering” on the brink of being bad — he fell off the cliff years ago. He might be the worst in baseball at his position. Numbers bear this out — in years past he is consistently at the bottom of every defensive measure. And this year, he looks even worse.
Willie’s failure to replace him defensively late in games is yet another example of how he is a subpar manager. Willie, the ghost of John McNamara is speaking to you — we can’t afford to have this immobile statue in the field.
They left 10 LOB in the first five innings last night. That is difficult to do. Does anyone know the Mets team numbers with the bases loaded since the beginning of 2007(including HRs, RBIs, etc.)? They have to be horrible, and well below the league average.
why did willie use beltran as a pinch hitter last night. i mean, he is struggling worse than probably anyone on the team, including delgado. he could have used anyone else and we would have had a better chance. on another note, why did God make me a Mets fan? why do I have to be tortured like this? What did I do to deserve this? It’s just unfair!
and talk about no fight…the dodgers got the lead in the 5th inning and as soon as we were behind, the 6th and 7th innings were 1-2-3 innings, which we had NONE of the first 5 innings. Then in the 8th and 9th innings we got 3 hits, from Church, Schneider and Pagan. 3 guys who were not on this team last year. That says something about “willie’s guys.” These 3 havn’t taken on the personality of their manager yet and havn’t realized that the new york mets aren’t supposed to fight back when we are down by a run at the end of a game. Which is why they got hits and no one else did from the 6th inning on…coincidentally the same amount of time that we were losing, hmmmmm.
how do you not thank darling for talking you up during the game?