Game 1 Marlins 5 Mets 4. The Mets wasted a great pitching effort by John Maine. Maine who hadn’t pitched since the end of August, was great in his return. In five innings he allowed two runs on two hits (both homers) walked one and stuck out five, retiring 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced. In all, the Mets stranded 14 base runners. It was a ninth inning pinch hit single by Jeremy Reed that tied the game at four; when Reed came to the plate, the Mets had gone 0-10 with runners in scoring position. In all, the Mets would strand 14 runners finishing the game 1-12 with runners in scoring position. Luis Castillo was a nightmare, at the end of the game, he was hitting .100 and had stranded six runners. While we can say all we want about it being early in the season; this is a problem of not hitting with runners in scoring postion (both for Castillo and the rest of the Mets) dates back to last season. The bullpen didn’t actually hold up their end of the bargain either. Sean Green, Bobby Parnell each allowed a run, and Darren O’Day allowed an inherited run to score (a guy Pedro Felicano left on base).
Game 2 Mets 8 Marlins 4. This game was closer than it needed to be. Livan Hernandez made his Mets debut, he looked good. Hernandez pitched six and two thirds innings allowing two runs on six hits, he walked three and struck out four. Darren O’Day worked a scoreless eight inning but ran into some trouble when David Wright made a throwing error in the bottom of the ninth, O’Day faced one more hitter before Frankie Rodriguez came in to finish out the game. I don’t know what is up with David Wright; we’ve seen him do some nice work with the glove but for whatever reason he can’t seem to throw to first. As far as offense goes, Jose Reyes was 2-5 with an RBI double and a two run homer. What is even more amazing, Luis Castillo was 4-4 with one RBI and three runs scored, he started the night hitting .100 at the end of the game his average went up to .375 (gotta love what the early season can do for the batting average). Jerry Manual told Castillo that he needs to be more aggressive at the plate and for at least one night that worked. Oh-David Wright did have an RBI in the game, but it was off the brick that Dan Uggla uses as a glove, and it came when the game was 6-2.
Game 3 Mets 1 Marlins 2. Not much to tell here. Johan pitched his ass off; but Josh Johnson pitched better. Johnson owns the Mets and now has a 5-0 record against the Mets. The hitters couldn’t get much going; they finally scored a run in the top of the ninth inning but fell short when Ryan Church flied out to end the game. The bigger part of all of this is that Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball with two out in the second; one run to scored and then Ronnie Paulino hit a single to drive in the second unearned run. The New York press is making a big deal because Johan commented after the game that the differences in the game was the error. There has been a lot of back and forth about what Johan said, personally I read the quotes in the paper and watch the post game interview and my opinion is…his comments weren’t a big deal.
The Padres come to town for three games and the opening of Citi Field. The Mets will have Pelfrey, Perez and Maine pitching against the Padres.
