The Game

From the very first at-bat in Citi Field, it was apparent that while the Mets are now playing in a brand new stadium, they’re the same old Mets of years past. Last night, in the first ever regular season at Citi Field, the Mets lost to the San Diego Padres by a score of 6-5, dropping their season record to 3-4. Meanwhile, the red hot Padres have now won five consecutive games, improving their record to 6-2.

Mike Pelfrey got the nod in last night’s historic game and didn’t seem to look up to the task. The game’s first batter, former Cleveland Indian Jody Gerut, hit a home run into the right field stands to give San Diego an early edge. Unfortunately for Mets fans, Big Pelf didn’t improve much from here on out. In the following inning, opposing pitcher Walter Silva (who?) sparked a two out rally by hitting a single to right field. Appropriately enough, earlier on in that at-bat Pelfrey fell flat on his face in mid-windup when pitching to Silva. After the single, Pelfrey would give up doubles to Jody Gerut and David Eckstein (ugh), and an RBI single to Brian Giles. Mike would coast until the 5th inning, when slugging Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez would clobber a mediocre fastball deep into the New York night for a solo home run. On the evening, Pelf went five innings, and gave up eight hits and five runs. Pelfrey’s ERA on the season is 8.10. Not good.

A relative unknown named Walter Silva got the start for San Diego in this one. Silva didn’t pitch badly until the 5th inning, and even then only one pitch would wind up being his downfall. Featuring a cutter to complement the rest of his off-speed pitches, Silva pitched without trouble (besides an RBI double from Luis Castillo, and I don’t think anyone saw that coming) through four innings. In the 5th, Dan Murphy singled in Gary Sheffield (who had reached base on a fielder’s choice) to plate the Mets’ second run of the game and inch them within three runs of San Diego’s lead. The next batter, David Wright, worked the count full before launching a clutch three run home run into the left field stands to tie up the game. This would be the Mets first ever home run at Citi Field, and it brought an end to the evening of Walter Silva. Silva would last 4 2/3 innings, giving up three walks, five hits, and five runs (all of which earned).

From here on out, it was a battle of the bullpens. In the 6th Jerry Manuel brought on Brian Stokes, who would give up a long fly ball that to Luis Rodriguez Ryan Church would drop, enabling Rodriguez to wind up at third base. After two ground outs, Mets fans started to think that the Amazins were close to getting out of the inning. Unfortunately, new pitcher Pedro Feliciano would be called for a balk. Rodriguez scored to make it 6-5, and that’s the very score by which this game would end. Neither bullpen would give up a run for the remainder of the game. Edward Mujica, Edwin Moreno (distant relative of Orber?), Duaner Sanchez, and Heath Bell (who was throwing darts) would combine to pitch 4.1 innings of flawless relief. Heath Bell, who hadn’t made his desire of earning the first ever save at Citi Field a secret, did just that last night by notching his 4th save of the 2009 season.

The primary concern here lies with Mike Pelfrey. Not only did Pelfrey fail to keep the Mets in the game, but his velocity appeared to be considerably down from his previous start. Big Pelf doesn’t have an abundance of breathing room in the 2009 season. The Mets have no choice but to rely on him heavily, between Oliver Perez’s mysterious loss of velocity and John Maine’s risk of injury. When Mike Pelfrey is on his game, his fastball has a natural heavy sinking action to it. Last night Pelfrey’s ground ball to fly ball ratio was 5-7, nowhere near where it should be. Let’s hope Pelfrey gets it together for his next start against the Milwaukee Brewers.

This loss simply left a bad taste in my mouth. This game didn’t have any significance in terms of where the Mets are in the NL East, but it seemed to be a game that the Mets should have won. They weren’t playing a great team, and their comeback rally in the 5th inning seemed to be a precursor of events to come. Unfortunately, the Mets bats turned dormant after the 5th and all hope for a victory was long gone by the time the 9th inning rolled around. The Mets will once again be a target in the media following this lackluster effort in Citi Field’s first ever game, and Mets fans will once again have to put up with an enigmatic start-and-stop team in 2009. Such is life.

The Mets will have an off night tonight, but take the field on the 15th seeking revenge against the seemingly unstoppable Padres. Oliver Perez will take the hill against former San Francisco Giant Kevin Correia.

The Haiku

Citi Field starts Wright
But premiere win is denied
By bobble and balk

The Boxscore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E San Diego 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 6 9 0 NY Mets 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 7 1

San Diego AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Gerut, CF .278 4 2 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 5 1 Eckstein, 2B .286 4 1 3 2 0 0 2 1 0 2 2 Giles, RF .161 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Gonzalez, A, 1B .276 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 7 1 Headley, LF .194 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 Kouzmanoff, 3B .214 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Hundley, C .313 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 1 Rodriguez, L, SS .231 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 Silva, W, P .333 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Mujica, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   a-Gonzalez, E, PH .125 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Moreno, E, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   b-Cabrera, PH .167 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Sanchez, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Bell, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .238 37 6 9 3 0 2 5 5 5 27 9 a-Grounded out for Mujica in the 6th. b-Bunted out for Moreno, E in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Gerut (3, Pelfrey), Eckstein 2 (4, Pelfrey, Feliciano, P). HR: Gerut (1, 1st inning off Pelfrey, 0 on, 0 out), Gonzalez, A (2, 5th inning off Pelfrey, 0 on, 0 out). RBI: Gerut (2), Eckstein 2 (4), Giles (4), Gonzalez, A (7). Team RISP: 2-for-10. Team LOB: 9. FIELDING Outfield assists: Gerut (Reyes, J at 2nd base).

NY Mets AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Reyes, J, SS .241 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 4 Murphy, LF .290 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 Wright, 3B .333 4 1 2 1 0 1 3 0 1 0 3 Delgado, 1B .333 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 13 1 Beltran, CF .345 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Church, RF .423 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Schneider, C .167 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 Castillo, 2B .368 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Pelfrey, P .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   a-Sheffield, PH .000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Stokes, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Feliciano, P, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   b-Reed, PH .500 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Green, S, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   Putz, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1   Rodriguez, F, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   c-Tatis, PH .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .278 33 5 7 2 0 1 5 4 4 27 11 a-Grounded into a forceout for Pelfrey in the 5th. b-Singled for Feliciano, P in the 6th. c-Flied out for Rodriguez, F in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Wright (2, Silva, W), Castillo (2, Silva, W). HR: Wright (1, 5th inning off Silva, W, 2 on, 2 out). RBI: Castillo (2), Murphy (3), Wright 3 (4). Team RISP: 3-for-6. Team LOB: 5. FIELDING E: Church (1).

San Diego ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Silva, W 6.52 4.2 5 5 5 3 2 1 21 Mujica (W, 1-1) 7.36 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Moreno, E 0.00 2.0 2 0 0 1 2 0 9 Sanchez 0.00 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Bell (S, 4) 0.00 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Totals 2.88 9.0 7 5 5 4 4 1 37

NY Mets ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Pelfrey 8.10 5.0 8 5 5 2 3 2 25 Stokes (L, 0-1) 0.00 0.1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 Feliciano, P 9.00 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 Green, S 2.45 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 Putz 2.25 1.0 0 0 0 2 0 0 5 Rodriguez, F 0.00 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 Totals 4.15 9.0 9 6 5 5 5 2 42

Team ER: off San Diego 5, off NY Mets 5. BB: off Silva, W 3 (Church, Schneider, Reyes, J), Moreno, E 1 (Castillo), off Pelfrey 2 (Headley, Gerut), Green, S 1 (Headley), Putz 2 (Rodriguez, L, Eckstein). SO: by Silva, W 2 (Wright, Delgado), Moreno, E 2 (Murphy, Delgado), by Pelfrey 3 (Hundley, Hundley, Headley), Green, S 1 (Hundley), Rodriguez, F 1 (Gonzalez, A). WP: Putz. Balk: Feliciano, P. Pitches-strikes: Silva, W 91-53, Mujica 1-1, Moreno, E 34-22, Sanchez 11-7, Bell 15-10, Pelfrey 88-56, Stokes 9-5, Feliciano, P 11-7, Green, S 18-10, Putz 21-12, Rodriguez, F 14-9. Umpires: HP: Bruce Dreckman. 1B: Paul Emmel. 2B: Gary Darling. 3B: Bill Hohn. Official Scorer: Bill Shannon. Weather: 54 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 13 mph, Out to CF. T: 3:11. Att: 41,007.

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal