Bullpen Keeps Mets on July Slide

Added by Eddie Utley on July 18, 2012.

Washington scored on a wild pitch in the 10th inning to keep the Mets reeling.

The first game against the Nationals went like the previous three against Atlanta for the New York Mets and ended with a loss.

The Mets did not roll over and die, but it did get ugly late as New York blew two leads.

There was a pitching duel for the first seven innings and the Mets were down just 1-0. When the Nationals extended the lead to 2-0, you got the sense that the game was over.  Mets manager Terry Collins made an odd lineup move with Josh Thole and Daniel Murphy, but it worked, and the Mets were able to get runners on base.

As everyone knows, Tyler Clippard is like Mets kryptonite, but the Mets secret weapon took him deep. Jordany Valdespin, who was in danger of being sent down because they just had to activate Jason Bay, came up to the plate. He was pinch hitting for Bay. Valdespin was badly fooled on the first pitch (which looked like a change up). Clippard tried to go there again, and Valdespin blasted it out to center field for a 3-run homer, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.

It looked like game over for the Mets, but the bullpen did it again. Bobby Parnell had it going, but then came a weird sequence of pitches which had him throw eight straight curveballs and then try to sneak a low fastball in to a low fastball hitter. I don’t know if I can blame Parnell, since the pitch selection was not his, but isn’t there a scouting report? Parnell has been put in some tough spots and it’s not going to get easier.

In the 10^th inning, the Mets scored again, but, this time, Tim Byrdak let Washington tie the game. Beato came in and, unfortunately, got into a bases loaded jam and then uncorked a wild pitch. The wild pitch was the game ender.

The Mets had chances like David Wright hitting a double and moving to 3^rd with no outs and the Mets went down 1-2-3. I expected Bay to go down anyway. Who doesn’t? Bay came back and did nothing, as usual. He watched two good fastballs go for strikes and then swung at an outside pitch. He didn’t do much of anything in rehab and they called him up. In his last rehab game before coming back, he had no hits, mistake in the outfield and looked bad doing it. Mike Baxter is in rehab, but he’s going to stay down for a full assignment. Why couldn’t they do this with Bay? He is not the right handed bat they need and Alderson needs to stop giving up this crap.

Sandy Alderson had an interview yesterday and said the same crap. We’re buyers, blah blah blah, but we’re looking for a reliever, not a starter. And how they don’t need to look for a bat. Look at the lineups that Collins runs out when a lefty is on the mound. This is a huge problem. He needs to let Ike, Murphy and Duda play or get him a real bat. The relievers lately are running into bad luck more than anything except for last night, that 10^th inning was bad.

A starter would be good, too, and there are rumors of looking at Francisco Liriano. Do it. Stop letting this team sink. Liriano and Willingham for whomever. Willingham is definitely the bat, he’s doing what Bay should be doing and Liriano could be nasty, though he has had his issues in recent years. Maybe being with Santana again will be a good thing for him.

It’s really getting ugly and the Nats are the one team they can’t keep losing to.