Mets Look Bad Early, Good Late
It was starting to look like one of those games. Over the first five innings of Monday night’s game against the Dodgers, the Mets offense could manage nothing against some guy named Rubby De La Rosa. Literally nothing — he was no-hitting the Mets, as Los Angeles built a 2-0 lead. But then the Mets exploded in the sixth.
Doubles by Angel Pagan (who Vin Scully kept maddeningly called “Ahn-hell”) , Carlos Beltran (below) and Daniel Murphy led to three runs as the Mets took the lead. They scored two more in the eighth to make it a 5-2 lead, which would be the final score.
Chris Capuano (“Cap-ooo-ano” to Scully — I know he is beloved here, but I can’t stand listening to him) pitched his usual six innings, but this time he was able to get through his final inning without imploding, thanks to two warning track catches by Beltran and Jason Bay, with Bay running into the wall to make his play. For Bay, it was a bad deja vu moment — after all, it was in Dodger Stadium where he slammed head-first into the wall last year, suffering a concussion that ended his season.
Bobby Parnell followed with two hitless innings before giving way to Francisco Rodriguez for his 21st save.
This is the type of game the Mets have been losing all season — falling behind early, then unable or unwilling to mount a comeback. Maybe Sunday’s thrilling win against the Yankees proved to this team that no lead is insurmountable. A good lesson to finally learn.
i noticed your poll on the right side of the page. i can’t say i agree with it completely. why can’t the mets instead try including someone like pelf in a trade for a middle of the rotation guy? i’m watching them play against the dodgers right now, and why can’t they build a package like this for a guy like ted lilly? pelfrey has shown promise but also has shown inconsistency on the mound. it scares me watching him pitch sometimes. all i’m saying is that the mets should try to make a push for the wild card. if they’re still in it by the deadline.