The Mets blew their second consecutive lead last night, losing to the Phillies again in extra innings. This time it was avid steroid denier (cue skeptical staring) Raul Ibanez who did the damage with a three run home run in the top of the 10th inning off Ken Takahashi. I’m not sure why Manuel chose to go with Takahashi. Left handed hitters have been owning him so far this year, but he was truly limited in his options.
Tim Redding pitched well enough to get a win last night, and it’s unfortunate that his line up was unable to pick him up. Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran teamed up to get the Mets three runs offensively, and David Wright continued his hot streak at the plate, but the rest of the Mets bats were put to sleep by Jamie Moyer.
The last two losses were “classic” Mets losses. They scored early to take a lead, slowly had it chipped away, were unable to add on any runs late, and eventually gave up the lead late for the loss. It’s a formula that the Mets have seemed to follow a lot recently. Sure the team is all banged up, and are not supposed to win these games with the team they have on the field, but that doesn’t change the fact that they could have taken two of three, if not the entire series. They were in a position to do so, but they don’t have the killer instinct to finish teams off.
To make a bad situation worse, John Maine was added to the 15-day DL last night after the game with what’s being called “arm fatigue”. Maine said in an interview that he really didn’t take any time off over the winter while trying to rehab from his shoulder surgery and he’s paying for it now. The way this season is going, I wouldn’t be surprised if Maine goes under the knife before June is over. Fernando Nieve or Nelson Figueroa are the probable options to replace Maine in his scheduled start Saturday against the Yankees. When will the injuries stop?
Speaking of the Yankees…
The Mets play a three game series in Derek Jeter International Airport starting today. I can’t think of a worst time to face the Yankees, who in my opinion are the best team in baseball when they don’t play the Red Sox. I am truly nervous about what could happen this series. Hopefully Livan Hernandez and Johan Santana can give the Mets solid efforts in the first and third game of the set to give the Mets a shot. I’m officially throwing in the towel for the second game with a spot starter trying to make it through the scary Yankee line up. The small bit of good news is that the Phillies have to play the Red Sox so they won’t have an easy weekend either.
My Disgruntled Level is getting higher the farther the Mets fall away from first.
