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The Mets (42–44) lost to the Phillies (48–39) by the score of 3 to 2 in Philadelphia tonight.
For a recap, boxscore, stats, etc., go to SNY.tv.
However, in case you missed it, know that Johan Santana looked great, but, for some bizarre reason, was removed by Jerry Manuel after the eighth inning, despite having thrown just 95 pitches while letting up just two runs and six base runners. Naturally, though he struck out Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell, Duaner Sanchez let up a double to Pedro Feliz and then a walk-off single to Shane Victorino to end the game.
What’s worse, the Phillies were freakishly pumped up following the win, leaving me quite worried right now.
In the fifth, the Mets sent up eight batters, but managed to only score two runs, leaving the bases loaded on a strike out by Carlos Beltran. In the first, Jose Reyes was able to reach third base with just one out, but David Wright and Beltran both popped out. In the ninth, Brad Lidge needed just five pitches to retire Damion Easley, Ryan Church and Marlon Anderson.
Santana has a 2.48 ERA in his last six starts, during which the Mets are 0–6 while averaging just two runs per game.
Honestly, I’m totally confused why Santana was pulled from the game. The only thing I can think of is that Santana struggled against Howard, Burrel and Feliz in their previous time up. But, still, given his pitch count and rhythm, and the fact that he’s ‘the ace,’ he should have remained in the game. That said, the offense should have blown this game wide open in the fifth, and they didn’t, and so they are equally to blame for this loss.
Eventually, Phillies or no Phillies, the Mets will have to win and get over .500 and, again, the clock is ticking.
The Mets continue their four-game series with the Phillies tomorrow in Philadelphia at 7:05 pm, with John Maine (8-6, 3.86 ERA) facing Jamie Moyer (7-6, 4.13 ERA).
i want people to see how much the phillies have owned us. every real mets fan is haunted by at least some of these games:
1. 6/5/07- utley hits a 2 run home run off feliciano in the top of the 10th. mets lose 4-2
2. 6/6/07- mets up 2-0. rollins hits a 3 run dinger off heilman in the 7th inning. mets lose 4-2
3. 6/7/07- mets up 3-2 in the 9th. burrell ties the game with a home run off wagner. phils score 3 in 10th. mets lose 6-3
4. 8/28/07- mets up 2-0 in the 8th. feliciano gives up a home run to rollins in the 8th. howard hits a walk off in the 10th off MOTA
5. 8/29/07- down 1 in the 9th, marlon anderson gets called for interference trying to break up a double play. if he doesnt get called for interference, the mets tie the game. instead, the mets lose 3-2.
6. 8/30/07- mets come back from down 5 runs. up 10-8, burrell hits a homer in the 8th. utley hits the walk off single in the 9th off wagner. mets lose 11-10
7. 9/14/07- mets up 2-0.. utley hits a game tying home run in the 6th. dobbs drives in the game winning run on a sac fly in the 10th. mets lose 3-2
8. 9/15/07- mets up 3-1 in the 7th. jimmy rollins puts the phils up 5-3 with a triple (beltran misplays the ball). mets lose 5-3
9. 9/16/07- mets tied 5-5 in the 6th inning. give up a run, followed by a greg dobbs grand slam. mets lose 10-6.
10. tonights game
these are 10 devastating losses to our main rival that would make any sensible person convert to a cricket fan. 10 games in the last 2 years where we had the lead and blew the game, getting beaten by the same usual suspects!!!! how is this possible.
looking at this stuff made me realize that our bullpen is always the suspect in causing us to lose all these damn games.
reading that physically hurt.
Remind me….Why did we get Santana?
Oh Yeah! It was because he can win games like this!
If he’s given a chance to that is.
That’s why I don’t care about beating the Yanks or Cards… the bottom line is the Mets can’t beat the Phils when it counts.
man i just…want to cry like a little girl. this hurts so bad…i thought i was a gangsta…
well i knew ten was going to happen once the game came back from commercial and duaner was on the mound.
i knew ten was going to happen when the game started, and guess what…tomorrow will be 11, and sunday will be 12 and monday will be 13. you can count on that friend
NO REASON TO PITCH TO VICTORINO THERE!! AHHHHHHHHH
if you can’t get victorino out, you don’t deserve to win.
the pitch he hit wasnt even a strike
stop complaining
i know right. Duaner did a good job busting him inside after going away away away,
why the heck was church playing so deep? with two strikes and and a pesky hitter at the plate, he should have been in closer, in case a flair or a sofft single fell through. i think the play at the plate could have been closer had church had not been playing in the second row.
Not getting Reyes in in the first set the tone for the game. Team seem to press at the plate after that. A lot of bad at bats.
I posted this in the previous thread and it deserves to be repeat here………………..
I will say this for the 5th time today. You don’t mess with a line-up that had 39 hits in the previous 3 games. We all know Church had 2 concussions and we don’t want him to play if he’s not feeling well, but if this was just a day of rest against the team you are chasing, then it’s unbelievable to me. It’s not just about one player, with church in the line-up, he LENGTHENS the whole line-up from top to bottom. The offense finally started to click and what does Manuel do? he sits one of the key cogs in that offense that was really starting to hit and hit it’s stride.
It just makes no sense. Team offense is very delicate in baseball, you change one piece and it throws it all out of whack. I know Beltran , Wright and Delgado didn’t perform well today and everyone is right in pointing the finger on them for the Mets loss today, but by removing Church from the line-up it changed the WHOLE DYNAMIC and flow of the batting order. It has a direct affect on everyone else. Dumb.
I totally agree with you. You have to consider these four games as playoff type games, therefore your best players must be out on the field.
Not only do we miss Church’s bat in the lineup, but also his defense. If he is playing, Chavez is playing left field and makes the catch on Werth’s single in the sixth inning, which was the turning point of that inning. And then did you see Aguila’s throw home it was awful. I am not saying Endy makes the throw home, but Aguila did not even look like a major leaguer throwing the ball home.
Only thing that would make sense is if Church came to Manuel and told him he wasn’t feeling well. But I think this was a stupid, pre-determined day off for Church by manuel to me it’s officially the first Dumb move in my mind by Manuel since Willie’s departure. No one’s perfect but manuel and the Mets have to show more sense of urgency, Like you said, this four games series HAS to be considered like play-off games. No excuse for not playing ALL your horses. I didn’t see the Phillies resting any of their key players?
Yeah, I agree with this being his first dumb move. And let’s just play devil’s advocate and say that Church did come to him and say that he needed the day off, then this goes right back to Minaya and the poor makeup of this roster and the status of our minor league system.
I believe that the man is a pathetic GM. People are going to say that he brought over players like Beltran and Martinez and made a name for the franchise. But if you look at those moves, he blew away Beltran and Martinez with money and years that no one else was even close to offering. And for Santana we were pretty much bidding against ourselves because the Red Sox and Yankees were just bluffing. Its the minor moves that make a GM worthy and I think more often than not his moves have blown up in his face.
He needs to go period.
A–friggin–men!!!!
As for overpaying with Martinez and Beltran—look at the team he was trying to bring them to for an explanation of his overpaying…And were Pedro and Beltran Minaya’s only moves? He brought Church over too…was that a bad move? How about getting Maine? Duaner Sanchez (recall how he pitched before the accident…)? Billy Wagner? Role players like Endy and Easley and Valentin—-very solid when healthy. Perez has been an enigma but Minaya got him in a desperation move when Sanchez was injured…pretty impressive under the circumstances. Apart from his trades of Bannister and Bell, which I didn’t like, the obvious grounds for criticism of Minaya has been his gamble that older players would stay healthy or play true to their histories…The results on that have been mixed…none moreso than Alou, Pedro, and El Duque all of whom are great when healthy but leave huge holes when not. Delgado was great the first year he was here…same with Pedro. These past two years Delgado seems to me to have problems with his eyesight…When he sees the ball (daytime) he can still hit the tar out of it; otherwise ( at night) he strikes out a lot. His contract and diminishing skills make him hard to move…It’s a shame we NY fans didn’t get to see him in his prime…he was a great hitter.
What’s so frustrating like tonight and the game in STL the other night is instead of getting back to .500, the team goes back to 2 under. It’s like one step forward and two back.
We come together cuz OPPOSITES ATTRACT!
isn’t it perez’s turn to pitch tommorrow?
no, it is maine’s turn and thank god he is going to pitch tomorrow. this is the only guy along with pelfrey that i have confidence in.
i must be missing something, b/c maine pitched in st louis and Perez last pitched against the yankees.
They said a week ago they wanted to split up the lefties. Perez was supposed to be in the bullpen in St. Louis but the situation never really arose.
they looked very unprepared at bat all game.
Killer in the 5th? Santana swinging at ball 3, 4 and 5 (who the heck could he swing 2-0? and 2-1 was in his face) Then, Beltran wiffing on a ball at least 2 feet out of the zone to end the 5th.
ALthough having Durbin K 6 of 7 batters didn’t do much either.
Still, if Santana doesn’t give up a bunch of hits together, they could still win. And once again, not having a real LF costs them, since quite possibly Endy would have caught the first hit (by Werth).
agreed that Santana should have been out for the 9th.
But, Lidge was coming back out anyway, so probably the Mets weren’t scoring in the 10th either!
This might have been the final nail.. Or at least put the final one real close.
And man, tomorrow is as close to a must win as you can get in July, because if they lose, I could see them packing it up and getting swept, while feeling sorry for themselves.
ANd if they leave Philly 5 under .500, and 8.5 back, Omar can just atart making his fire sale plans early.
In post game interview, at least Duaner did not try to pass the blame. I have alot of respect for him for that. Very stand-up.
Don’t bash Santana. The lineup needs to take accountability. We can’t blame the pitcher for not throwing a shutout every goddamn start.