Summary:
The Mets fell 4-3 to the 9-14 Astros in Houston tonight, failing to muster much offense and playing a somewhat sloppy game overall.
The game was a serious pitcher’s duel through five scoreless innings between R. A. Dickey and Bud Norris, with neither team mustering any offense at all.
Dickey was excellent through 5 hitless frames, but once again succumbed to the longball, allowing a 2-run blast to 1B Matt Downs in the bottom of the 6th to put the Astros ahead 3-0. Dickey was good overall, but the one gopher ball put a serious blemish on an otherwise positive outing.
The Mets were unable to scratch out a single extra base hit, and were only able to score in one frame tonight, putting a 3-spot on the board in the top of the 7th courtesy of four singles and a walk, the big blow being Kirk’s game-tying 2-strike, 2-out, 2-run single.
The game stayed tight until Manny Acosta does what mediocre relievers do. CF Jordan Schafer singled and stole second while Thole bobbled the ball and failed to make a throw, and then scored on SS Jed Lowrie’s laser shot single to center. This made it 4-3, where it would end, as the only Met to reach base the rest of the way was Ike Davis with a 2-out single in the 8th.
Byrdak and Parnell finished off the 8th, but Brett Myers retired the Mets 1-2-3 in the 9th to end the 4-3 win and earn his 5th save.
Overall, a sloppy game-errors, poor baserunning, and some shoddy fielding as well. Let’s hope it is a 1-game trend.
Plays of the Game:
Clearly Downs’s 2-run HR and Lowrie’s game-winning single head the very small list of big plays in this game. Kirk’s 2-run single was perhaps the only big Met play tonight.
What’s to Like:
The continuing development of serious resilience-after the Friday loss at home to SF, after the Monday doubleheader sweep, after the 6 error horror show in the first game in Colorado, the team came back to win the next day each time, and in the same fashion they came right back tonight after giving up 3 runs to tie the game immediately…in addition, even with the loss, the team is now 9-2 in 1- and 2-run games; this is a fabulous sign…Kirk’s plate discipline and maturity-another great at bat and key hit for the rookie…Ike’s baserunning in the 7th-he wisely took 2nd on Baxter’s flyout to right, and also held his ground at 3rd on Thole’s groundout to the pitcher…Baxter’s offense-he continues to hit and have fine at bats…and the continuing fine starting pitching. Dickey is allowing too many HR, but yet another quality start kept the team in the game.
What’s Not to Like:
The defense-it is far from certain that Thole would have thrown Schafer out in his SB attempt in the 8th, but bobbling the ball and not getting a throw off made a SB a certainty; as the announcers mentioned though, the pitchers were not holding runners on as they should be…another problem is Murphy’s 5 errors-tonight’s was a particularly ugly one-not costly, but the type of play which Murph must somehow overcome; 5 errors in 23 games are far too many, and tonight’s was on a play which was definitely not difficult…it is hard to tell if this is due to lack of concentration which seems unlikely, or simply the bad instincts which may prove to doom the Murph-at-second experiment…but overall, this kind of defense will hurt this team.
The continued lack of power is another serious issue-as predicted here and elsewhere and continuing from last season, the Mets continue to hit and get on base, but the near-total lack of power has the NL’s number 2 team in BA and OBP scoring runs at just the 9th best clip. The team needs Ike, Duda, and Wright to start driving the ball to end this disturbing trend.
Questionable Managing:
Astros skipper Brad Mills may not have much to work with, but he seemed to be rolling the dice by continuing to leave the clearly tiring Bud Norris in to face lefties Thole, Duda, and Kirk in the top of the 7th. He then changed pitchers every batter for 5 straight Met PAs in the rest of the 7th and the 8th, managing as though it was extra innings in game 7 of the World Series. It wasn’t.
What’s Trivial But Interesting:
When Bud Norris slipped and threw a wild pitch behind and over Wright’s head in the top of the 4th, granted it was not a blazing fastball, but Wright did not flinch. This seems to be yet another piece of evidence that Wright may indeed be fully recovered from the Cain beaning which robbed him of his excellence for over 2 years.
What’s Next:
Tomorrow night at 8:05 PM in Houston, Jon Niese tries to keep his excellent 2012 start going against ex-Phillie J.A. Happ. Happ has been striking out more than 1 per inning, but has been decidedly mediocre thus far in 2012.
This pitching matchup clearly favors the Mets, who look to bounce back from a taut but somewhat sloppy loss to a weak team.
You cannot win them all, and the Mets still have to like where they are, but this was a seemingly winnable game which simply got away. The Mets failed to muster much offense against a pretty poor group of pitchers, and now must win tomorrow to get back on track and put themselves in position to win this series against an eminently beatable team.
25 comments
Stickguy
5/1/2012-7:37am at 7:37 am (UTC -4)
this was the type of game a team needs to win to stay in the race. start losing like this, and it gets late early!
Practically makes tonight a “must win”, otherwise they will be staring at the very real possibility of getting swept by the astros, and that would be a very, very bad thing. And probably stick a fork in all the good buzz from April.
So, no pressure neise! though the bats showing up would be handy.
dickey and the 1 bad inning. How this team manages to go from “is this finally the no-no game” to “crap, what a freaking debacle” so quickly is befuddling.
and please, no more Manny. he is a mop up guy at this point, so like with Batitsta the day before, when you can sneak him through 1 inning against favorable matchups, count your blessings and don’t push you luck.
anyway, Carrasco is probably back soon, right? So manny goes? I would also like to see Edgin up though, so that would mean Batista too. though DJ certainly has the ability to pitch himself out of a job within 10 days…
srt
5/1/2012-7:59am at 7:59 am (UTC -4)
NIce write-up, Kingman. Like the tidbits of ‘What’s To Like’, ‘What’s Not To Like’, etc.
I was laughing at Mills using one BP arm per batter – until Terry left Acosta in for the second inning. I just knew that would be a recipe for disaster.
If I’m not mistaken, Manny got off to a poor start last year as well and was very solid in the second half. Either way, this is what middle relievers usually do – that’s why they’re middle relievers.
This game was certainly winnable. We made the erratic Norris look like an ace out there. In order to take this series we’ve got to win the next 2.
Who hear thinks Schwinden has a chance against Wanny???
srt
5/1/2012-8:00am at 8:00 am (UTC -4)
*Who here*
Stickguy
5/1/2012-8:18am at 8:18 am (UTC -4)
not me. but, as I told Knog in a post yesterday, this is the Mets, so expect them to lose the seemingly guaranteed wins, and win the games that look like a total mismatch.
tonight is key though. Need Neise to dominate, and the bats to wake the hell up.
kingman 26
5/1/2012-12:31pm at 12:31 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks MF4D–appreciate that!
trs86
5/1/2012-8:25am at 8:25 am (UTC -4)
The only thing I take issue with is that it’s not really a power outage that is causing the lack of runs.
They are
League average in runs scored (7th), tied with the Dodgers.
2nd in hits.
7th in 2B.
Almost dead last in 3B.
1 under league average in HR.
last in SB.
8th in SLG, ahead of league average.
2nd in OPS+
We are playing station to station baseball and that is much more of a reason as to why we can’t score with all the hits we are getting. That and obviously not coming through with RISP. (.242 .333 .338 .671). Just imagine if that number were the same as this number (.268 .341 .390 .731). The difference might seem slight but it makes a huge difference in runs scored.
Also interesting is that on average the worst spot in the lineup for the Mets in terms of average has been the #4 spot (other than the pitcher of course).
srt
5/1/2012-9:16am at 9:16 am (UTC -4)
Duda’s slow start, Ike’s poor start and Bay’s continued power outage have all contributed to not being able to get these runners home. Middle of the lineup was virtually a black hole for the first 3 weeks or so.
We have less speed than in years past – with Pagan and Reyes gone. Torres is supposed to have some speed, Wright is pretty goo, Kirk looks decent for a guy his size and Baxter can fly. Other than that, we’re not stretching singles into doubles, doubles into triples, not going 1st to 3rd on singles, not always scoring on singles with a man on 2nd.
Prismo
5/1/2012-9:51am at 9:51 am (UTC -4)
Not surprising the 4 spot has been weak.
Terry seems to love the idea of sticking a slumping hitter in the 4 spot to get him going.
kingman 26
5/1/2012-12:30pm at 12:30 pm (UTC -4)
They are scoring just under 4 runs a game–that’s not going to get it done unless we continue getting quality starts almost every day, and even then that’s not enough.
The lack of power isn’t the entire reason–terrible speed and clutch hitting surely are parts of it too–but a few more extra base hits would not hurt.
NJstuckinTX
5/1/2012-9:04am at 9:04 am (UTC -4)
I think it was Downs who hit the 2-run HR, if I’m not mistaken.
Going to the game tonight. 6th row back on 3B side, just 1 section away from the dugout. I’m hoping the generate some offense against JA Happ-less.
srt
5/1/2012-9:17am at 9:17 am (UTC -4)
Enjoy. Here’s hoping you see a win.
kingman 26
5/1/2012-12:23pm at 12:23 pm (UTC -4)
Wow, that’s really lame of me and I sincerely apologize NJ; I fixed it. Don’t know how that happened. I keep score and really focus when I do postgames, but I had played racquetball earlier, and was thirsty as hell and it could be the excessive beverages.
I try to do most of it in the 7th and 8th innings so I can post it right away, and I just don’t know how I got that wrong. Unacceptable.
Thanks for pointing that out, and next Monday I will REALLY proofread.
NJstuckinTX
5/1/2012-12:46pm at 12:46 pm (UTC -4)
No worries, holmes. I was second guessing myself thinking old age was settling in on my. Like the Ghetto Boys, my mind was playing tricks on me.
Solid write up, as always.
Prismo
5/1/2012-10:02am at 10:02 am (UTC -4)
Great write-up Kingman – I like the partitioning of analyses.
kingman 26
5/1/2012-12:25pm at 12:25 pm (UTC -4)
Thank you Prismo! I use a sort of template now and am going to keep doing it this way. Since I just don’t have time to do many posts these days, I am going to throw some comments and analysis in each Monday night too.
Stick
5/1/2012-10:37am at 10:37 am (UTC -4)
I’m starting to be over the whole Murphy thing. Now that havens is back, I am really hoping he stays on the field, looks great, and the team can find a way to trade Murphy for pitching.
trs86
5/1/2012-10:49am at 10:49 am (UTC -4)
I know what you mean but Murphy is such a polished hitter and taking his bat out of the lineup is not something I look forward to.
srt
5/1/2012-11:00am at 11:00 am (UTC -4)
I’m leaning towards agreement here with Stick. Said almost the same thing on the following thread.
While I’d miss Murphy’s bat in the line-up, if Havens more than makes up for it maybe we won’t miss it all that much.
Prismo
5/1/2012-10:55am at 10:55 am (UTC -4)
I’m with you Stick. If he doesn’t drastically improve his defense, we need to pray Havens can stay healthy.
And FYI Murphy’s OPS is only .711 right now, which is at least 100 points below what it needs to be to even begin justifying his defense.
trs86
5/1/2012-10:57am at 10:57 am (UTC -4)
True he has just been a singles hitter but in the two spot (where he should be)
.298 .350 is not easy to replace.
Prismo
5/1/2012-11:05am at 11:05 am (UTC -4)
I wonder what Valdespin could pull off, though he probably won’t be given the chance.
trs86
5/1/2012-11:58am at 11:58 am (UTC -4)
Some where around a -.180 OBP from what I have read and seen.
gategem
5/1/2012-8:17pm at 8:17 pm (UTC -4)
But without the concomitant speed and base running ability it limits his effectiveness.
darknova306
5/1/2012-1:56pm at 1:56 pm (UTC -4)
The Mets playing a sloppy game? What a shock!
I didn’t get a chance to see the game, and this writeup gave me a pretty good idea of what I missed. Thanks, Kong. Same offense as last year: can’t get the big hit to put a game away. Now that they have no speed, they look like a weaker hitting AL lineup. If the offense doesn’t heat up before the starters cool off (which I’m expecting in a few weeks), things could get ugly fast.
TRS86
5/1/2012-3:03pm at 3:03 pm (UTC -4)
Well aren’t you especially Dark?