The New York Mets lost 2-1 to the San Diego Padres last night after Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis, walked three batters (one intentional) and then hit a batter to walk in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Clearly it wasn’t a very good night for Schoeneweis, and one could argue, not a great night for Randolph who probably should have taken him out before it got to that point.
Mets sent starter Mike Pelfrey to the mound. Pelfrey was not outstanding by any stretch of the imagination pitching six innings, giving up eight hits, three walks, but only one earned run. For Pelfrey that was a great sign, all too often when he has that many base runners in a game they all seem to score; however last night he made good pitches when he needed to and he got great defense behind him to keep him in the game.
Jose Reyes who has ten errors so far this season played a flawless game last night. He made five dazzling defensive plays that kept the Padres from scoring. Reyes also had a great night at the plate, going 2-3 with a walk, two stolen bases and he scored the only run on an RBI single by David Wright. Reyes has his average up to .292 and has started to become the spark that the Mets had been missing earlier in the season.
The Mets have been playing much better baseball, and last night was just their third loss in 10 games, they have won three series in a row; taking 2-3 from the Marlins, 3-4 form the Dodgers, and 2-3 from the Giants. They find themselves above .500 and still hovering in the middle of the division. However, last night’s game is a tough one to take. The Mets benefited earlier in the season that the Phillies and the Braves were not winning games either, however, all three teams have gotten hot at the same time and the Mets can not afford to let games like this one get away if they want to keep pace with the teams that are ahead of them in the division. That being said, I like the way the Mets are hanging in there, their body language has gotten better, they are playing with confidence and doing (most) everything right.
Johan Santana will take the mound for the Mets. Santana is 7-3 with a 3.20 era. Randy Wolf will pitch for the Padres (hey, did the wolf pack move out there too?). Wolf is 3-4 with a 4.33 era. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 p.m.
