The Mets lost to the Nationals 5-4 yesterday. It was their fifth loss in a row. (They are zero for the second half.) The loss drops the Mets to two games over .500 and seven games behind the first place Nationals and 4.5 behind the second place Braves. I’ve seen a lot of painful Mets losses over the last forty years. Heck I’ve seen a lot of painful losses this year, but this one stings as much as any of them.
The Mets are a young, inexperienced team, they are bound to be streaky it comes with the territory, but this bad streak they are on now comes at an interesting time. We are just days (well a couple of weeks) from the trading deadline and the next few series will decide if the Mets are sellers or buyers. These next games could decide if David Wright stays a Met. If Wright is to stay a Met the Mets need a lift and soon. The thing that makes this lost so painful is it looked like they had this lift – twice. With the Mets down 2-0 in the top of the ninth, pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin hit a huge, clutch three run homer. Sadly though Mets closer Bobby Parnell could not save the game. It’s enough to say that Parnell may very well throw the most hittable 100 mph fastball in baseball.
Then in the tenth, the Mets once again took a one run lead. Daniel Murphy had a leadoff infield single. Murphy would score on an opposite field double by Josh Thole. Yet once again the Mets bullpen was more like a leaky pen. Tim Burdak couldn’t get anybody out. A single to center, a sacrifice then a Brice Harper triple to tie the game. The Mets intentionally loaded the bases in hopes of getting a double play to end the inning. Adam LaRoche hit a ground ball to first, the Mets got the out at the plate but couldn’t turn the double play. Pedro Beato came into the game to throw a two strike wild pitch that Thole couldn’t stop. The Mets lose by twice grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory. Ouch that hurts.
