The Game

The Mets lost a tough one to the Washington Nationals last night by a score of 10-4. Nelson Figueroa took the loss for the Mets, downgrading his season record to 2-3. The win was picked up Odalis Perez, who went 6 1/3 innings en route to his first victory of the 2008 season.

Simply put, Figueroa never had a good grip on his control last night. He did last five innings, but he also walked five, and allowed five hits to go along with six earned runs. He allowed his first run in the top of the 2nd inning when utility man Rob Mackowiak hit a sacrifice fly to plate Nick Johnson. His lack of control became evident in the 3rd inning, when he gave a free pass to Nick Johnson with the bases loaded. Figueroa was able to get out of his jams allowing minimum damage until the 5th inning. Nick Johnson singled to start out the frame, which Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns followed with flyouts. However, Figueroa then walked Mackowiak and allowed a double to former Mets farmhand Jesus Flores, scoring two. Figueroa had a chance to get out of the inning when pitcher Odalis Perez came to the plate with two outs, but Perez lined a single into right field, scoring Johnson for the third run of the inning. Figueroa labored, but would eventually retire Christian Guzman to end the Nats threat, and allow the Mets to hit.

Unfortunately, the Mets didn’t do much hitting at all last night, allowing Odalis Perez to get into the 7th inning, surrendering just four earned runs. The had no trouble making contact (they had 12 hits on the night) but stranded 16 baserunners in total. Their runs came in the bottom of the first (when Carlos Beltran singled home David Wright), the bottom of the 2nd (when Damion Easley hit a solo home run to dead center field), the bottom of the third (when Easley drove in another run with a single), and the 7th (when David wright went yard against Odalis Perez). This game falling apart wasn’t the fault of the offense, they really needed Nelson Figueroa to have just a couple of quick, non-laborious innings.

One part of this game that really boggled my mind was Willie Randolph’s use of the bullpen. Did anyone bother reminding him that the Mets are only one game into a four game series? Randolph put long man Jorge Sosa into the game in the top of the 6th, with the Mets down 6-3. As can be expected, Sosa allowed four earned runs, busting the game wide open. With the Mets hitting in the bottom of the 6th, Randolph pinch hit for Sosa. The pinch-hitter, Angel Pagan, popped out, and Duaner Sanchez, Joe Smith and Billy Wagner finished this game. Not to be a downer, but when your team is losing 10-3, the odds are that you won’t be winning the game. Why not just throw Sosa back out there for the rest of the game to save the bullpen for the remainder of this four game series, and the three game series against the Yankees? It was nice to see Sanchez, Smith and Wagner all throw up scoreless innings (and see Wagner strike out the loud-mouthed Elijah Dukes), but I didn’t feel that their appearances in this game were neccesary.

Today the Mets will send John Maine to the mound to face off against John Lannon and the Washington Nationals.

The Haiku

Mets waste early runs
Figueroa: a pumpkin?
Sosa: a pitcher?

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal