The Haiku

Pop-up gift yields hope
Visions of victory! Then-
Dashed by a grand slam

The Game

Last night the Mets had their backs up against the wall. With another loss came the possibility of falling a game below .500, below the Florida Marlins in the NL East, and losing 13 of their last 19 games. Understanding of this information, Jerry Manuel decided to hit Argenis Reyes lead-off. And play Reyes at shortstop. Then the team lost to Braden Looper. Words fail me.

The Mets weren’t given much of a shot by starting pitcher Fernando Nieve. Nieve, who was bound to come back down to earth, allowed a startling 11 hits over just 3 1/3 innings. Elmer Dessens did a good job in relief, throwing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Then Jerry Manuel opted to go with Brian Stokes to get through the 6th. In a frame that will likely cost Stokes any meaningful upcoming innings, Brian heavily labored before eventually giving up a grand slam to Casey McGehee. Pat Misch and Bobby Parnell didn’t help out much either (why the hell is Misch on a major league team?), giving up a combined three earned runs through two innings.

Last night the Mets displayed a complete inability to hit average major league pitching. If one looks up an average, middle of the rotation starting pitcher in the dictionary Braden Looper’s awkward unbecoming grin would stare you right in the face. Yet somehow, the Mets managed just seven hits and one earned run (two unearned runs scored on a Casey McGehee fielding error) off 6 1/3 innings. The Mets offense managed some late inning runs, hitting up Carlos Villanueva for three earned runs (including a two run Gary Sheffield home run) but the effort was ultimately futile. The Mets lost, and now find themselves at this season’s rock bottom.

What’s there to say about this Mets team? Ever since 2007 it’s just been the same exact results with slightly different players. Here’s a question that occurred to me last night: why did Omar Minaya acquire nobody when Jose Reyes came down with an injury (not including Wilson Valdez, because he’s Wilson Valdez)? Why did he count upon minor league depth players and major league back-ups to fill the void of among the team’s most valuable players? If there is ever a time to make a trade to fill in a necessary spot in the lineup, wouldn’t that be it? Instead, Mets fans have to endure the likes of Alex Cora and Argenis Reyes at shortstop because our general manager has no idea what he’s doing. Perhaps this September when the Mets take their annual nose-dive out of contention more fans will realize that this was Omar Minaya’s doing.

Tonight the Mets will send Johan Santana to the mound to face-off against Mike Burns. Watch the Mets manage to lose.

The Boxscore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E NY Mets 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 6 13 0 Milwaukee 0 1 1 1 0 4 1 2 x 10 19 1

NY Mets AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Reyes, A, SS .083 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Murphy, Dn, 1B .246 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 7 1 Wright, D, 3B .339 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 Sheffield, LF .290 5 1 3 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 Church, RF .281 5 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1 Martinez, F, CF .183 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Schneider, C .238 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 4 0 Castillo, L, 2B .276 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Dessens, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   a-Evans, N, PH .364 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Stokes, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Misch, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   b-Santos, O, PH .271 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Parnell, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nieve, P .200 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Tatis, 2B .255 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 Totals .273 40 6 13 3 1 1 6 2 4 24 9 a-Grounded out for Dessens in the 6th. b-Grounded into a forceout for Misch in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Schneider (6, Looper), Murphy, Dn (8, Villanueva), Wright, D (23, Villanueva). 3B: Tatis (2, Looper). HR: Sheffield (10, 9th inning off Villanueva, 1 on, 1 out). RBI: Schneider 2 (17), Sheffield 3 (30), Wright, D (40). GIDP: Schneider. Team RISP: 4-for-13. Team LOB: 10. FIELDING Outfield assists: Church (Looper at home). DP: 3 (Reyes, A-Murphy, Dn, Church-Schneider, Murphy, Dn-Reyes, A-Murphy, Dn).

Milwaukee AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Counsell, 2B .299 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Hardy, SS .232 4 2 4 2 0 1 1 1 0 5 3 Braun, LF .321 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Fielder, 1B .304 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 McGehee, C, 3B .336 3 1 1 0 0 1 4 1 0 2 1   Stetter, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   b-Gamel, PH .236 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   Villanueva, P .333 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Hoffman, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cameron, M, CF .243 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Catalanotto, RF .241 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0   a-Hart, C, PH-RF .248 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Kendall, C .233 4 1 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 0 Looper, P .120 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0   Coffey, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Hall, 3B .208 2 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Totals .254 40 10 19 6 0 2 10 5 3 27 8 a-Flied out for Catalanotto in the 7th. b-Struck out for Stetter in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Hardy 2 (9, Nieve, Stokes), Catalanotto (1, Nieve), Hall (10, Misch), Fielder (19, Parnell), Hart, C (15, Parnell). HR: Hardy (8, 3rd inning off Nieve, 0 on, 0 out), McGehee, C (5, 6th inning off Stokes, 3 on, 2 out). RBI: Kendall (21), Hardy (32), Looper (4), McGehee, C 4 (21), Hall 2 (18), Hart, C (34). GIDP: Fielder, Cameron, M. Team RISP: 8-for-21. Team LOB: 12. FIELDING E: McGehee, C (3). Outfield assists: Hart, C (Schneider at 2nd base). DP: (Hardy-Fielder).

NY Mets ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Nieve (L, 3-1) 2.25 3.1 11 3 3 1 1 1 20 Dessens 4.50 1.2 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 Stokes 4.15 1.0 3 4 4 1 0 1 7 Misch 5.87 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 0 6 Parnell 5.22 1.0 3 2 2 1 1 0 7 Totals 4.25 8.0 19 10 10 5 3 2 46

Milwaukee ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Looper (W, 6-4) 4.90 6.1 7 3 1 2 2 0 29 Coffey 2.63 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 Stetter 2.39 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 Villanueva 5.09 0.1 5 3 3 0 0 1 6 Hoffman (S, 18) 1.93 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 4.49 9.0 13 6 4 2 4 1 43

Team ER: off NY Mets 10, off Milwaukee 4. BB: off Nieve 1 (McGehee, C), Dessens 1 (Cameron, M), Stokes 1 (Fielder), Misch 1 (Hardy), Parnell 1 (Kendall), off Looper 2 (Schneider, Murphy, Dn). IBB: off Stokes 1 (Fielder). SO: by Nieve 1 (Looper), Misch 1 (Braun), Parnell 1 (Gamel), by Looper 2 (Schneider, Wright, D), Coffey 1 (Wright, D), Stetter 1 (Church). HB: Catalanotto (by Dessens), Schneider (by Stetter). Pitches-strikes: Nieve 68-44, Dessens 26-13, Stokes 30-16, Misch 21-12, Parnell 16-9, Looper 100-61, Coffey 11-6, Stetter 24-14, Villanueva 21-15, Hoffman 1-1. Umpires: HP: Gary Cederstrom. 1B: Jim Wolf. 2B: Brian O’Nora. 3B: Fieldin Culbreth. Official Scorer: Wayne Franke. Weather: 77 degrees, roof closed. Wind: 0 mph, None. T: 3:11. Att: 39,872.

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal