Odds & Ends from Lost Mets Doubleheader

A few leftovers from Tuesday’s Mets doubleheader flop in Denver:

— Aaron Laffey was removed from the game for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fourth after throwing just 77 pitches. At the time, the bases were loaded, so it was unclear if Laffey was injured, met a pitch count, or Terry Collins just wanted to score more runs. Turns out it was a pitch count, as well as something else.

With the doubleheader, the Mets will need an extra pitcher on Saturday. Laffey will now be able to make that start on short rest instead of calling up another pitcher.

“We wanted to keep him at 75 pitches anyway,” Collins said. “We were hoping he could get through five. But he was at that point.”

I don’t know how good an idea it is to allow the mediocre Laffey to make extra starts, but whatever.

— When Yorvit Torrealba hit a ball in the fifth that was terribly misjudged by the left fielder, it appeared Lucas Duda was once again clomping around out there with no clue. The Rockies announcers invoked Duda’s name (as did Gary Cohen, apparently. I only got the Rockies feed). Turns out Duda was quietly removed from the game in favor of Mike Baxter.

The Mets were up 8-2 at the time, so it was assumed the move was made for defensive purposes (ah, the irony). Turns out Duda had some stiffness in his lower back.

“It stiffened up on him,” Collins said. “He started to try to move around to get it loose and he couldn’t. So I just took him out.”

— A key error in the tenth inning originally charged to David Wright had been changed to a hit. It was a tough play, one that Wright probably could have made, but should not have been an error. The play put the eventual winning runner on third.

— All seven Mets relievers pitched in game two. A quick look at their ERAs in the boxscore shows Mets relievers have been either really, really good or really, really bad this season. No in between:

Edgin has been particularly disappointing. So much is expected from him. Nothing is expected from Burke or Hawkins. Burke will be gone soon; it will take some time before Hawkins is jettisoned because he is making a million bucks. The Mets would hate to eat that. On the other hand, four guys have ERAs lower than two — let’s focus on that.

Let’s also hope that the Mets can get Wednesday’s game in (more snow is forecast) to avoid another doubleheader on Thursday.