The Haiku

Mets follow long-held
Tradition shared by many:
No fun in Pittsburgh

The Game

The Mets suffered a downright embarrassing loss yesterday; an 11-6 mess that capped a three game sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’ll take a second to repeat that. A THREE GAME SWEEP AT THE HANDS OF THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES.

Getting the start for the Mets was Mike Pelfrey. Pelf didn’t give the Mets much of a chance on this afternoon, letting in four runs in the very first inning. After the horrendous first, the Mets pitching wouldn’t improve much throughout the course of the game. Ken Takahashi, Sean Green (who actually pitched quite effectively yesterday), J.J. Putz, and Pedro Feliciano combined to let up seven additional runs from the 4th inning onwards. The Mets, to their defense, scored five earned runs against ineffective starter Ross Ohlendorf but there was simply no coming back in this failed effort.

Carlos Beltran had some intriguing remarks following the game: “The reality is, coming here to Pittsburgh and getting swept, for me, I feel embarrassed… We need to find a way to play better and to focus more on what we need to accomplish… I mean, we have to take this personally. It can’t happen… I know the Pirates are a big-league team, but we’re better than them. We’re better than them, and we know we’re better than them.” While it’s always refreshing to hear a professional athlete show passion for the cause of winning, it almost feels too easy to think that these comments will translate to anything on the field. Right now the Mets are 28-24, four full games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. We’re barely in June, and already looking forward to seeing how the Wild Card division shakes out. With injuries taking out Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and J.J. Putz, one wonders if it would even be worth it to trade for a potent pat like Jermaine Dye, Carlos Lee, or Matt Holliday.

While the Mets should be chastised for their pitiful effort in Pittsburgh this weekend, I think this past week’s off-field events deserve just as much attention as those on-field. Jose Reyes is now said to have suffered a tear in his right hamstring. Infuriatingly, this injury was sustained in an extended Spring Training assignment. What the hell is wrong with the Mets medical staff? True, the sight of Ramon Martinez at shortstop has made all Mets fans aware of all that Reyes brings to the team. However, this is no excuse for rushing Reyes back from an injury of this severity. Reyes is already a star on a big market team, but many forget that he’s still just 25 years old. At such a young age, he can still be considered the future of the franchise. Jeopardizing the health of such a vital part of the Mets organization just to have him back slightly sooner from a hamstring injury is beyond insane.

Tonight the Mets will hit the road to Washington DC to take on the hapless Nationals. You hate to see your team in any sort of situation requiring a sweep, but after this abysmal series in Pittsburgh the Mets need to rebound in a big way. Mets fans will hope Tim Redding will be up to the task when he squares off against Shairon Martis at 7:10 PM.

The Boxscore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E NY Mets 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 6 10 1 Pittsburgh 4 1 0 4 0 0 2 0 x 11 13 0

NY Mets AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Cora, SS .321 5 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 Castillo, 2B .284 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Beltran, CF .356 4 1 2 1 0 1 1 1 1 4 0 Sheffield, RF .269 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Wright, 3B .326 3 2 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 Murphy, 1B .248 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 10 1 Martinez, F, LF .222 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Santos, O, C .261 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 Pelfrey, P .059 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2   Takahashi, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   a-Brown, E, PH .000 1 0 0 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 0 0   b-Reed, PH .322 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Feliciano, P, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals .279 37 6 10 4 0 1 6 5 2 24 9 a-Grounded out for Takahashi in the 5th. b-Grounded out for Putz in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Beltran (16, Ohlendorf), Cora (5, Ohlendorf), Martinez, F (3, Ohlendorf), Wright (13, Chavez, J). HR: Beltran (7, 4th inning off Ohlendorf, 0 on, 2 out). RBI: Murphy (18), Cora (5), Castillo (13), Beltran (32), Martinez, F (4), Wright (31). Team RISP: 4-for-14. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Wright (13). FIELDING E: Murphy (5). DP: (Pelfrey-Santos, O-Murphy).

Pittsburgh AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A McCutchen, A, CF .500 4 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Morgan, LF .280 4 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 Sanchez, F, 2B .321 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 LaRoche, Ad, 1B .245 3 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 12 3 LaRoche, An, 3B .298 3 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2   Jackson, S, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0   a-Monroe, PH .229 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   Chavez, J, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moss, RF .264 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 Jaramillo, J, C .282 4 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 3 0 Vazquez, R, SS .270 4 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 4 Ohlendorf, P .048 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1   Gorzelanny, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2   Burnett, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Hinske, 3B .267 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .266 36 11 13 1 1 0 11 4 6 27 14 a-Struck out for Jackson, S in the 8th. BATTING 2B: LaRoche, Ad (18, Pelfrey). 3B: Morgan (5, Putz). RBI: LaRoche, An 2 (27), Jaramillo, J 4 (12), LaRoche, Ad (24), Moss (13), Vazquez, R (8), McCutchen, A (1), Morgan (18). S: Morgan (off Pelfrey). GIDP: Ohlendorf. Team RISP: 9-for-17. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING SB: McCutchen, A (1), Vazquez, R (1).

NY Mets ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Pelfrey (L, 4-2) 4.85 3.2 9 9 8 4 3 0 25 Takahashi 2.77 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 Green, S 5.96 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 Putz 5.22 1.0 3 2 2 0 0 0 6 Feliciano, P 2.42 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 Totals 4.00 8.0 13 11 10 4 6 0 42

Pittsburgh ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Ohlendorf 4.85 4.1 9 5 5 3 1 1 25 Gorzelanny 6.75 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Burnett 3.04 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 Jackson, S (W, 1-0) 0.00 2.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7 Chavez, J 3.13 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 0 5 Totals 4.22 9.0 10 6 6 5 2 1 42

Team ER: off NY Mets 10, off Pittsburgh 6. BB: off Pelfrey 4 (LaRoche, Ad, McCutchen, A, LaRoche, Ad, Moss), off Ohlendorf 3 (Wright, Beltran, Wright), Jackson, S 1 (Murphy), Chavez, J 1 (Castillo). IBB: off Pelfrey 1 (LaRoche, Ad). SO: by Pelfrey 3 (Sanchez, F, Moss, Ohlendorf), Takahashi 1 (Ohlendorf), Green, S 1 (LaRoche, An), Feliciano, P 1 (Monroe), by Ohlendorf 1 (Sheffield), Burnett 1 (Beltran). WP: Chavez, J. HB: LaRoche, An (by Pelfrey). Pitches-strikes: Pelfrey 83-49, Takahashi 10-6, Green, S 16-10, Putz 23-15, Feliciano, P 7-5, Ohlendorf 84-47, Gorzelanny 6-5, Burnett 17-10, Jackson, S 30-17, Chavez, J 17-8. Umpires: HP: Tim McClelland. 1B: Adrian Johnson. 2B: Scott Barry. 3B: Ted Barrett. Official Scorer: Bob Hertzel. Weather: 64 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 8 mph, L to R. T: 2:49. Att: 20,683.

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal