Blogging Mets

The Astros are among the worst teams in all of baseball — except for a couple of players they have a no-name team and are in full rebuilding mode. Yet they were able to easily sweep the Mets in a three-game series down in Houston.

Where have we heard this before — the Mets starter gave up early two-run and three-run home runs to dig a 5-0 hole? Jonathon Niese did it Tuesday night, and then Chris Schwinden did it Wednesday afternoon. Schwinden gave up his homers to the same guy, Chris Johnson (left). He lasted four innings, one more inning than Niese.

Schwinden has an 11.25 ERA in two nearly identical unsuccessful starts replacing Mike Pelfrey. He will probably get a third try, but if he doesn’t improve he’s got to be sent back down to the minors, with Jeremy Hefner likely in line for the next audition.

Manny Acosta continued his brutal stretch, allowing three more runs in two innings in relief. When this road trip began his ERA was 2.89 — it is now a robust 9.69.

Ruben Tejada was the highlight of the Mets offense — he had three hits, including two doubles to give him 10 on the season, tying him for the National League lead.

Andres Torres had the Mets lone RBI; he’s now driven in a run in each of his three games back.

The Mets missed a golden opportunity to move up in the NL East. The division-leading Nationals are in the midst of a five-game losing streak and the Braves have lost their last two.

Mets lose 8-1 and are now just a game over .500. After a day off the Mets host the Diamondbacks this weekend. Time to get back to those winning ways!

This is no way for the Mets to prove to the naysayers that the first month of the season was for real — they dropped their second straight to the lowly Astros.

It was a night to forget for Jonathon Niese. He allowed a two-run home run in the first inning and a three-run shot (left) in the second to fall behind 5-0. Niese threw just 60 pitches before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the fourth, allowing the five runs on six hits.

In that fourth Justin Turner led off with a double and stole third on a Scott Hairston walk. With two outs Andres Torres singled Turner home and Josh Thole followed with a single to score Hairston. With runners on first and third Terry Collins chose to end Niese’s night, sending Lucas Duda up to pinch hit. He struck out.

It was a smart decision to pinch hit for Niese — clearly he didn’t have it and the Mets had a chance to tie the game. And Collins had no choice but to use the left handed Duda,  who was only on the bench because he is still suffering from flu-like symptoms, against lefty J.A. Happ. Mike Nickeas was out because of similar symptoms, and Mike Baxter, the only right handed hitter on the bench, was the backup catcher for the evening. Collins couldn’t risk using him and leaving the team with no catchers in case something happened to Josh Thole, so there was no righty to call upon.

The Mets continued to peck away in the fifth, once again with two outs — Turner walked, David Wright singled and then Hairston singled to plate Turner to make it 5-3.

Miguel Batista pitched reasonably well in relief of Niese, going 2.2 innings, leaving in the sixth with runners on first and second. But Ramon Ramirez promptly walked his first two batters to extend the Astros lead to 6-3.

And that’s the way it would end. The Mets try salvage the final game of the series in a Wednesday matinee.

For just the second time this season, the Mets dropped a one-run game, falling to the lowly Astros 4-3 Monday night.

R.A. Dickey was cruising along, holding the Astros hitless through five innings, but in the sixth two hits and a fielder’s choice scored the first run of the game. Then Matt Downs slammed a two-run home run to give the Astros a 3-0 lead.

The Mets answered right back in the top of the seventh. Andres Torres, in his first game back since going down on Opening Day, got an infield single to score David Wright for the Mets first run. Later in the inning Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a bases loaded single to drive in two and even the score at three.

Despite his earlier statements to the contrary, Terry Collins left Nieuwenhuis in the leadoff position and batted Torres seventh. Collins said it was because Torres had only around 20 at-bats during his minor league rehab stint. Plus, Nieuwenhuis has thrived leading off, so why mess with success?

Manny Acosta, fresh off his disaster in Colorado Friday, came on for Dickey. He pitched a flawless seventh, but in the eighth he allowed an infield single to Jordan Schafer, who stole second and later scored on a single up the middle to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.

And that’s how it would end. Mets lose.

This Mets team is showing some fight. After that awful, potentially demoralizing loss to the Rockies Friday night, the Mets bounced back to win on Saturday. Then on Sunday the bullpen blew a couple of leads, but the Mets were still able to pull out the game.

The Mets made Jamie Moyer look every one of his 49 years early on. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ruben Tejada led off the game with singles, and after Daniel Murphy struck out, David Wright lashed a double down the left field line to give the Mets a 2-0 lead (left). He would score on a Scott Hairston single. The damage could have been far worse but the Mets left the bases loaded, with Josh Thole striking out and Johan Santana lining out to right.

Thole redeemed himself in the fifth when his first home run of the year made it 4-0. Moyer lasted five innings, allowing eleven hits but also striking out seven Mets.

Santana on the other hand was brilliant. He pitched six shutout innings, allowing just two hits. For the first time in his five starts, the Mets scored runs while he was still in the game. But he remains winless thanks to the Mets bullpen.

Jon Rauch had his first poor outing of the season. In his previous 11 games Rauch did not allow a run and walked just one batter; he walked two and allowed a hit in the eighth, leaving with two outs and the bases loaded. Tim Byrdak came on and promptly allowed a grand slam to Todd Helton to tie the game at four.

If any situation cried out for the closer, this was it. The game needed saving and Frank Francisco was sitting in the bullpen. This is not a knock on Terry Collins, rather the way the usage of closers has evolved — ninth inning only, no ifs, ands or buts.

In any case, it was off to extra innings — in the 10th Mike Baxter had a pinch-hit single and then it was Nieuwenhuis coming through again with a double to score Baxter to give the Mets the 5-4 lead.

But it was short-lived — Francisco was called on to nail down the save, but he just couldn’t do it; Carlos Gonzalez hit a laser to right to tie the game at five. It was Francisco’s first blown save of the year, surprising considering his 7.56 ERA coming into the game (it is now 7.71).

The Mets took another crack at it in the 11th — Wright and Lucas Duda led off with singles, with going to third on the hit. Hairston grounded out, but Ike Davis came through with a single to score Wright for the 6-5 lead. Davis had three hits and looked much better at the plate.

So it was Ramon Ramirez’s turn to try to save the game and he was able to do it, retiring the Rockies in order in the 11th to preserve the 6-5 win.

Elsewhere, Tejada had three more hits on the day, making him 10-for-14 for the series. He came into the series batting .239 — now his average stands at .310.

And Nieuwenhuis made yet another sensational catch in the fifth, laying full-out to snag what would have been a run-scoring extra-base hit.

So the Mets win the series, they have won five of their last six games and are now 13-9 on the season.  Now it’s on to Houston to face the pitiful Astros.

It’s just what the Mets needed after Friday’s debacle — a nice quiet win over the Rockies.

Both teams picked up where they left off the night before — the Rockies scored a run in the first inning with help from an error by the Mets, this one when Josh Thole threw a ball into center field trying to throw out a base stealer.

Lucas Duda made up for it in the top of the second when he smoked one to right field for a two-run homer and the 2-1 lead. Duda’s four homers leads the team.

The Mets made it 3-1 on a double by David Wright in the third inning.

But Dillon Gee (left) gave it all back in the fourth — the Rockies scored three runs, one on a Todd Helton double and one on the first major league hit by Rockies pitcher Guillermo Moscoso, as the Rockies took a 4-3 lead. Overall, Gee pitched relatively well, lasting seven innings and giving up four runs, three earned.

Wright struck again in the fifth, singling to right to tie the game at four. Wright was three-for-four in the game and is now hitting .385 on the season. Duda followed that with a two-run single to make it 6-4. Duda had four RBIs and leads the team with 13.

Fortunately the Mets picked up an insurance run in the ninth on a wild pitch because once again Frank Francisco was a bit shaky in relief. With two outs he allowed a solo home run and a triple before getting Jason Giambi to fly out to center to his fifth save.

Elsewhere, Daniel Murphy and Ruben Tejada each had three hits; Tejada also had four hits on Friday. And struggling Ike Davis was dropped to seventh in the lineup. He looked better, managing a hit and driving one ball to left-center that was tracked down on a pretty good catch.

The Mets win 7-5 as Gee evens his record at 2-2.

It was a crazy night at Coors Field on Friday. Scott Hairston hit for the cycle, but the Mets were done in by one of the worst innings you’ll ever see. Oh, and they committed six, count ‘em, six errors.

The Mets set the tone for the night by scoring on an odd play in the first inning. With Kirk Nieuwenhuis on third and David Wright on first with two outs, Wright got picked off. But the Rockies botched the rundown, and Nieuwenhuis sprinted home without even a throw.

But Chris Schwinden (left), making the start in place of Mike Pelfrey, gave it right back in the bottom of the first. Marco Scutaro led off with a triple and would score on a ground out. Then Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo home run to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead.

Hairston answered back in the fourth with a solo shot of his own to tie the score at two.

The Mets attempted to break the game open in the fifth. Hairston tripled to score Ruben Tejada to break the tie. Lucas Duda, Zach Lutz, Mike Nickeas and Schwinden each followed with singles as the Mets plated four runs to extend the lead to 6-2.

But then came the bottom of the fifth — the worst inning for the Mets in some time, maybe ever.

Eric Young, Jr. led off the inning with a tapper back to Schwinden. Instead of assuming an easy out, Young busted down the line. It paid off because Schwinden threw the ball high to first base. Lutz may or may not have tagged him, but Young was ruled safe. Young then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on Nickeas.

Schwinden walked the next batter, and the next one singled to make it 6-3. Carlos Gonzalez followed with an absolute bomb to center to tie the score at six.

That ended Schwinden’s night, but not the Rockies rally. Manny Acosta promptly allowed two hits and a walk, and then a fielder’s choice made it 7-6. But hey, at least the Rockies made an out. However that tiny victory was short-lived — Dexter Fowler smashed a three-run homer to right to make it 10-6.

But incredibly there was more to come. Acosta allowed a walk, a single, and then hit a batter to load the bases. Up stepped Gonzalez again, who singled to right to clear the bases, making it 13-6. The last run scored on a throwing error by Lutz.

Acosta was finally mercifully pulled and Miguel Batista came on to stop the carnage. In all the Rockies scored 11 runs and the Mets committed four errors in the hellish inning.

The Mets tried to come back. In the top of the sixth, Hairston completed his cycle with a two-run double to cut the lead to 13-8. Hairston came around to score on a Duda single to make it 13-9.

But in the seventh the Rockies added five runs, including a grand slam by Ramon Hernandez to make it 18-9.

That would be the final score — as horrendous a loss as you could imagine.

For only the second time in their history and the first time since 1971, the Mets fielded an all-homegrown team in their matinee with the Marlins on Thursday, and the youngsters were able to come from behind in the ninth to win yet another pitcher’s duel, 3-2.

The Mets jumped out to a good start — Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off the bottom of the first with a triple off the glove of Giancarlo Stanton in right field (left). Ruben Tejada then drove him in with a sacrifice fly for the early lead.

But in the third the Marlins tied it up on a solo shot to left by Gaby Sanchez. With Chipper Jones retiring, Sanchez is likely to pick up the mantle as the top Mets killer.

Sanchez even contributed to the second run — he grounded into a double play in the fifth to score Omar Infante, who also does quite well against the Mets.

Heath Bell was called on in the ninth to protect a 2-1 lead, and he was unable to do so. He was also unable to throw strikes — the disgruntled former Met walked four batters to tie the game at two; the last one was Justin Turner, who had a remarkable 13-pitch at bat, fouling off pitch after pitch with a 3-2 count until he worked out his game-tying walk. Then with two outs Nieuwenhuis crushed a ball over Stanton’s head in right field for the dramatic comeback victory.

The starting pitching was stellar for the third straight game. Jonathon Niese had another solid outing — seven innings, four hits, six strikeouts and no walks. On the other side, Ricky Nolasco stymied the Mets, who also went seven innings, allowing five hits and striking out five. But once again, the bullpen proved to be the Marlins’ undoing.

So the Mets sweep the series, and now it’s off to Denver, where pitching duels are a rarity.

The old baseball adage is “good pitching beats good hitting.” The adage for the Mets these days could be “good pitching makes up for struggling hitting” and for the second straight night, the Mets beat the Marlins.

Following Monday’s Johan Santana-Josh Johnson pitching duel, Tuesday night we had one between R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. Dickey (left) had the knuckleball dancing, striking out seven Marlins and allowing just three hits in seven innings. The only run he allowed was on a mammoth homer by Omar Infante off the facing of the second deck in left field in the fifth inning.

Buehrle was just as good in his seven innings, but David Wright took him deep in the sixth with a man on to give the Mets the 2-1 lead. The two RBIs made Wright the all-time RBI leader for the Mets, topping Darryl Strawberry’s 733.

The offense was scuffling along until the Mets broke the game open in the eighth with three runs, including a pinch-hit two-run double by Mike Baxter, leading the Mets to a 5-1 win.

After scoring just four runs in their previous three games, let’s hope this five-run performance is a sign of things to come. The Mets bats need to heat up if they have any hope to keep pace with the rest of the NL East.

They Mets go for the sweep of the Marlins in a Thursday matinee, then it is off to the rarefied air of Denver for a three-game set against the Rockies. That’s always a good cure for slumping bats.

I don’t know about you, but I just love when a manager foolishly takes out a starting pitcher who has dominated the Mets all game long and brings in inferior relievers to blow the game. That’s just what happened in Tuesday’s game against the Marlins.

Jose Reyes led off the game to a less-than-enthusiastic mixture of boos and cheers in his first visit back to Citi Field with that ridiculous new Marlins logo. He almost started with a bang — he hit a long drive to center that Kirk Nieuwenhuis was able to track down with a circus catch. Reyes would go 0-for-4.

Johan Santana was brilliant, going 6.2 innings, striking out 11 and allowing just two hits. He allowed one run in his final inning, and even that run shouldn’t have happened. With Giancarlo Stanton on first with two outs, Mets killer Gaby Sanchez hit a long drive off the wall in left. Mike Baxter slightly bobbled the ball, but it was enough for Stanton to be sent home. Baxter threw a less-than-perfect cutoff to Ruben Tejada, who had to spin around before firing home. Still though, the ball easily beat Stanton to the plate, but the throw short-hopped Josh Thole, and he could not handle it. Santana then left the game down 1-0.

Josh Johnson was just as dominant as Santana, limiting the Mets to just three hits and striking out nine. After getting the first two outs in the seventh, Johnson walked Lucas Duda. Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen came to get Johnson, which proved to be a very bad idea. That’s because Randy Choate walked Justin Turner (who was shockingly pinch hitting for the struggling Ike Davis). Guillen then brought in Steve Cishek, who walked pinch hitter Scott Hairston. Guillen then tried his luck with Mike Dunn, who promptly walked Josh Thole to tie the game at one. Bet Johnson would have fared better than the bullpen.

Then in the eighth, Guillen tried Edward Mujica. Nieuwenhuis singled to first and advanced to second on a ground out. Daniel Murphy singled to make it first and third. Nieuwenhuis would score the winning run on an infield single by Lucas Duda.

Frank Francisco, struggling of late, nailed down the save for a very nice 2-1 win.

The Mets didn’t play much better in the nightcap of their doubleheader against the Giants on Monday — they lost 7-2 after dropping the opener 6-1.

Dillon Gee got hit hard, early and often — he allowed three runs in the first inning, including a mammoth home run by Pablo Sandoval into the upper deck in right field. The Giants added two more when Jason Bay just missed making a sensational catch on a Gregor Blanco double (left). Gee somehow lasted 6.2 innings in which he allowed seven runs on 12 hits.

The offense was virtually non-existent against starter Madison Bumgarner, managing just one run and three hits off of him over seven innings.

They fared a bit better against the bullpen. After scoring one run in the eighth, they loaded the bases with one out when Jordany Valdespin, who was called up earlier in the day to replace Ronny Cedeno (on the DL with the infamous left intercostal strain)  made his major league debut by popping up on the first pitch he saw. Pinch hitter Ike Davis then struck out on a couple of questionable strike calls. Davis also left the bases loaded twice in the first game.

The Mets are now 8-8, and risk falling under .500 for the first time this season when they take on the Marlins and Jose Reyes Tuesday at Citi Field.