Chris Young took his 86 mph fastball to Washington tonight….and he fared pretty well. He drew Jordan Zimmerman as his opponent.
Young and Zimmerman matched zero’s for the first two innings. The Nats didn’t get on the board until the bottom of the third, but it was a single run that Young was able to hold them to. The wheels came off the Met defense in the bottom of the fifth inning when the Mets became a little league team and threw the baseball all around the infield..with two outs. The Nats would score two on that debacle and chase Young from the game.
But the game had just begun.
Jordany Valdespine line drive home run in the top of the sixth, David Wright would go yard himself and the Mets climbed back into the game using the long ball.
The game was turned over to the bullpens.
Miguel Batista came in and held the Nats scoreless for the bottom of the frame.
Sean Burnett came in for the bottom of the eighth and after getting one out for the Nats, gave up a double to Valdespin, he was quickly lifted when Pinch Hitter Scott Hairston walked to the plate. Craig Stammen walked Hairston and with runners on first and second, Andres Torres hit the ball in the gap for a two RBI double and the lead.(Torres would go to third on an errant throw) David Wright would get a free pass and new call up Josh Satin would strike out and Murphy would ground out to end the Met threat.
Tim Byrdak came in for the bottom of the eighth and gave up a lead off hit to Zimmerman. Murphy booted a double play ball but manged to get a out but left a man in scoring position, a runner that would come back to haunt the Mets. Terry Collins wanted this game badly and brought Frank Francisco in to get a five out save with a man on second and one out.
It would be a gamble that wouldn’t fair well, Francisco gave up a base hit that knotted the game at four apiece.
Ike Davis drew a walk off in the top of the ninth and Vinny Rottino, with one out and Davis on third via a sacrifice, flew out to center. Valdespin flied out to Harper ending the Met threat in the ninth. Francisco was able to get the Mets through the ninth.
Hairston hit a lead off single in the top of the tenth and then stole second base with Andres Torres up. Torres advanced Hairston to third on a fielders choice. David Wright (2-3) came to the plate but before he could swing a bat, a wild pitch would score Hairston for the Met lead.
Bobby Parnell would come in the bottom of the tenth and his defense let him down. Valdespine booted a ball to start the Nats off to put Zimmerman on first. Ike Davis booted double play ball and put a Zimmerman on second with only one out. Thole was unable to handle a pitch by Parnell that put Zimmerman on third. Parnell would walk the next batter putting runners on the corners. Ian Desmond came up with two ducks on the pond. Desmond hit a hot shot to Valdespine who committed his SECOND ERROR of the inning booting a taylor made double play ball that tied the game. The bases were loaded for Rick Ankiel with two outs and Parnell, who really should have been showered up and on the bus to the hotel room, struck him out after being down 3-0.
The Mets mounted a threat again in the top of the 11th when, after two outs, Thole hit a base hit and Rottino drew a walk. Jordany Valdespin came up with the thought of redepemtion…..and struck out swinging.
Elvin Ramirez came in to pitch the bottom of the frame and walked Nady, struck out Harper and Zimmerman and LaRouch.
Scott Hairston went yard 12th inning giving the Mets the lead again! Elvin Ramirez gave up back to back doubles that tied the game in the bottom of the 12th. After a wild pitch put a runner on third and an wild walk, the winning Nat run came on bases single.
31 comments
oleosmirf
6/5/2012-11:34pm at 11:34 pm (UTC -4)
The problem right now is the roster. Nothing they can possibly do to fix the pen unless they make trades.
gategem
6/5/2012-11:37pm at 11:37 pm (UTC -4)
It’s amazing you got the recap up this fast but I can see the anguish over this game in your writing. Unfortunately, defense and relief pitching has lost these last two games. Even the overachieving of some players coupled with the fantastic start Wright has had could not overcome the weakness at defense and relief pitching of these last two games. Over the years that I’ve followed baseball teams, for the most part, have not been able to overcome poor defense and relief pitching. To my amazement this team has been, up until now, able to overcome this and is still well above .500. So even in this loss you have to tip your hat to the Mets. But can’t somebody around here catch the damn ball?
oleosmirf
6/5/2012-11:45pm at 11:45 pm (UTC -4)
the problem is the decision to keep Davis once Bay returns is finally going to due them in.
No way they can compete with Ike and Bay both in the lineup virtually everyday with two of Torres, Kirk and Hairston on the bench…
NJStuckinTX
6/6/2012-7:29am at 7:29 am (UTC -4)
Agreed. Ike needs to go down. Put Duda at first and roll with a 4 man OF rotation of Hairston, Bay, Kirk and Torres. And I’d still like to see Torres gone and an OF guy picked up. Not that I see something wonderful, but maybe Quentin from SD or some lesser consistent OF player for a couple of the guys on the 40 man? The 40 man is a mess at the moment.
oleosmirf
6/6/2012-9:16am at 9:16 am (UTC -4)
Torres has been doing very well lately and there is absolutely no reason to get rid of him.
He’s part of the solution, not the problem…
NJstuckinTX
6/6/2012-9:22am at 9:22 am (UTC -4)
It’s a short term solution at best, then.
Mr North Jersey
6/5/2012-11:38pm at 11:38 pm (UTC -4)
What a comedy of errors tonight.
Quintanilla, Murph,Spin,Ike I mean cmon are you serious tonight?
Francisco yes I know 5 out save attempt but gotta get it done when the manager wants the win so bad he calls you in for the last 5outs.
Speaking of managers Collins I mean like what was going on tonight? Not going to Parnell in the 8th? Wasting Nickeas as a pinch hitter after we took the lead?
The Nats kept giving us the lead and we was like no that’s OK you take it.
Just an ugly loss.
The positive for me is that this game is mercifully over.
I am done for the night. Nothing to do now but to come back and try to even up the series 2morrow.
LGM!
gategem
6/5/2012-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
Before Desmond’s game tying single in the bottom of the eighth Keith pointed out that Desmond is a high ball hitter. On the pitch before the base hit Triple-F made Desmond look bad on a high and tight pitch. I was surprised he went back up their again and this time got the ball a little further out over the plate and Desmond got the base hit. Isn’t there a scouting report on these guys?
oleosmirf
6/5/2012-11:40pm at 11:40 pm (UTC -4)
The biggest goat goes to Terry/Sandy for going into this series 2 men short in the bullpen.
I put zero blame on Elvin b/c he should never have been asked to throw that many pitches…
oklahoma met
6/5/2012-11:47pm at 11:47 pm (UTC -4)
This game made me feel as if I downed a nice cold mug of lead based paint.
Mr North Jersey
6/5/2012-11:53pm at 11:53 pm (UTC -4)
ouch!
darknova306
6/5/2012-11:47pm at 11:47 pm (UTC -4)
Well that was… fun? Booting three GIDP grounders? Really? And Elvin was all over the place. It was hilarious to listen to Keith during Detwiler’s at-bat, though, just after he foul tipped ball three. It was easily the best part of the game.
gategem
6/5/2012-11:52pm at 11:52 pm (UTC -4)
It appears that Elvin has the talent to pitch in the majors but not the maturity. Welcome to the big leagues kid.
NJStuckinTX
6/6/2012-7:33am at 7:33 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, he throws heat and makes it look easy. I give him a lot of credit for doing what was asked of him in such a high pressure situation.
Stick
6/6/2012-8:57am at 8:57 am (UTC -4)
baptism by fire. it was only his 2nd game, and first real pressure situation. and pushing it a bit going with the 2nd inning. sure he was a bit all over the place, but he came back and made huge pitches when he had to, and was within inches of getting Harper a 2nd time to keep the game going.
hopefully he can take some positives from it, and relax a bit for his next outing, because he does have potential.
with even 1/2 way Ml level defense, the pen locks this one down.
gategem
6/6/2012-12:00pm at 12:00 pm (UTC -4)
He wasn’t a bit all over the place. He totally lost his composure and was saved by Thole from losing the game on a wild pitch a few times. The worst was on the intentional pass when Thole had to pretend he was a participant in the NBA’s dunking content. I honestly didn’t know Thole could jump that high. The Nats tried to help Elvin by swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. With the Mets short in the BP Elvin will have to grow up fast.
srt
6/5/2012-11:57pm at 11:57 pm (UTC -4)
Defense Sloppy? Putting it mildly.
Young looked pretty good for a first start.
Playing with 2 arms down in the BP was a bad idea going in with a Young start. Not like he was going deep in the game and it didn’t matter. Not sure what they were thinking.
There is no excuse for that defense, other than we’re down 3 SSs and Valdespin should never, ever play there again. Take his SS mitt away. In hindsight, should not have PH for Q.
Hairston is a beast when used right. I’d like to see a platoon with him to get his bat out there more.
Elvin….high leverage spot there for the young man but out of BP options. It was all Thole could do in his second inning to keep the ball in front of him. Hell, he almost threw it away on a IBB.
Maybe the defense will show up tomorrow and Hefner will get the job done.
oleosmirf
6/6/2012-12:06am at 12:06 am (UTC -4)
unfortunately Bay coming back and Ike staying up is going to kill everything the Mets current OF have done.
Torres, Kirk and Hairston are killing it and now two of them will be on the bench every day.
srt
6/6/2012-12:09am at 12:09 am (UTC -4)
I don’t care if Bay is coming back. They really have to rethink a decision to have Bay playing everyday if he can’t hit. We’re already living with Ike as a black hole in that lineup.
gategem
6/6/2012-12:18am at 12:18 am (UTC -4)
If what you say comes to pass and Bay remains the everyday LF then I would have to believe that the FO doesn’t really believe in this team and is strictly on a shedding salary and building for the future script. You can’t move Bay and even part of his salary if he doesn’t play everyday.
srt
6/6/2012-12:27am at 12:27 am (UTC -4)
You’ve got a point with that last sentence.
If Bay hit decently, even if we have to eat all but like 5 MIL of his salary and we can dump him in July, we’ll be ahead of the game. 5 MIL would buy us an effective arm or two for the BP – at least I hope.
Stick
6/6/2012-9:00am at 9:00 am (UTC -4)
I honestly think the only way they move him is as aplatoon guy. So play him vs. LHP only and let him get his #s up that way.
there is about a 1% chance that he is going to reestablish himself as a force aginst RHP, so why kill the team?
gategem
6/6/2012-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
Other GMs are not stupid. If the Mets, themselves in a pennant race, want to get rid of a platoon guy just so they can insert another platoon guy, why in the world would another team give you anything for that player.
gategem
6/6/2012-12:08am at 12:08 am (UTC -4)
Wasn’t there mention that Tajada came out of a rehab game tonight with a tight quad?
srt
6/6/2012-12:10am at 12:10 am (UTC -4)
Yes. Terry said he’s going back on the DL. We’re not going to see him anytime soon.
gategem
6/6/2012-12:13am at 12:13 am (UTC -4)
It’s both incredible and ironic that the normally often injured Reyes is still playing and the Mets replacement and replacement to the replacement are all out injured.
srt
6/6/2012-12:24am at 12:24 am (UTC -4)
It is.
But pretty sure no one was really worried about Reyes being injured much in the first half of a contract. It was the back half of 6 years this FO apparently didn’t want to take a chance on. Not at 100 MIL plus.
gategem
6/6/2012-12:34am at 12:34 am (UTC -4)
You can’t blame anyone and that ship has sailed. It’s just the irony and unpredictability of the situation. Back in the old days a joke had a Schlemiel and a Schlimazel. A schlemiel is the traveler who spills his coffee on a fellow passenger. A schlimazel is the fellow he spills it on. Why do the Mets always have to be the schlimazel?
SaltyGary
6/6/2012-8:53am at 8:53 am (UTC -4)
What a ugly game. Very thankful that MLB.tv had issues with the service for a while. It really looked like a softball bar league after a while. Bullpen is just garbage, the team needs to be ahead by at least 3 runs when they come in, and Ike has just quit.
His swing is poor, his attitude is poor and I don’t see any attempt in making an adjustment. Too bad he doesn’t think sending him down won’t help, because keeping him up isn’t working either. The guy was a flash in the pan, he does not garner this extended attempt to fix his issues.
Bay comes up, Duda goes to first. Hairston can be the DH during interleague.
Stick
6/6/2012-9:04am at 9:04 am (UTC -4)
I agree about Ike. I am rapidly approaching the realization that he is probably just another flashy power guy with too many holes in his swing to last.
and this stubborn streak and attitude? He seems to think he has accomplished way more in his short career than he really has.
and man, his ‘tude about going to the minors? It can’t do anything for him? In that case, he should retire!
this team is right on the edge of dropping off the cliff with bay coming back, so send Ike down and hope he can straighten out down there. If not (he still can’t hit and becomes a compelte PITA bad attitude) then they know that 1B has to go on the off seaosn shopping list.
Stick
6/6/2012-8:53am at 8:53 am (UTC -4)
this game hurt more than any other this year. And I thought after a couple of the earlier ones, that was impossible!
sole possession of first place was right there, in their hands, and the team spit it out.
plenty of defensive lapses to go around, but parnell came in and was really excellent in the 10th, and if Spin could just field a routine grounder the game is over, and 1st place secured.
craptastic.