Game 2- The Unhappy Recap

Mets lost last night's game 7-6 in 10 innings.

Overall impression: The Mets had no business even being a position to win this game. They got helped out by a bunch of gift walks from the Marlins bullpen, as well as a phantom balk call to tie the game. Yet it still hurts nonetheless, because they had a few chances late in the game, as described below, to steal a victory.

The Good:

• The Mets battled back from being down 6-1, and even had some nice long at bats (M Jacobs in the 9th inning, even though he popped out). 
• Jason Bay and David Wright got on base 6 times combined (4 walks). I can't wait until Jerry constructs a line up that teams can't pitch around both of these guys...

The Bad:

• John Maine was not good. Period, end of story. People can talk about how he was throwing his change-up and slider better, but that still doesn't hide the fact that he was inconsistent with his fastball, and when he threw his fastball, it got pounded. Some of the radar readings for his fastballs were 88 mph, which is not going to get major league hitters out consistently without great control/command, which John Maine does not have.
• Mike Jacobs hit a few long FOUL balls. It does nothing for the team and eventually he will strike out (two more in this game). To be fair, he did have that long at-bat in the 9th that was a huge improvement, as well as a line drive base hit in the 8th.
• J Mejia continued to "develop", as he was put into a game the Mets were down 4-1 in the 6th inning, and promptly was greeted by a couple base hits. He completed his one inning of work, allowing one run, three hits, and one strike out.
• Was that 6th inning so important that he was desperately needed on the big league team? I know this is nit-picking, but to use our star prospect in such a low-leverage situation when he should be developing to be a starter in AA, is unfathomable to me.

Bonehead play of the day: Fernando Tatis, who is such a great clubhouse guy etc, inexplicably tries to score from 3rd base on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, and 2 outs, D Wright at the plate, and the Mets down 6-3 in the bottom of the 7th.

And this is Tatis after the game. "I can't be over-aggressive there," Tatis said. "And I was over-aggressive. You're a veteran but you still learn. ... Unbelievable. With David at the plate, I should have made sure [the ball] got far away. That situation then ... might have changed the whole game. My mistake. Bad play."

Wright stood transfixed for a moment, as Mike Piazza did at the end of the Mets' 162nd game in 1999 when a wild pitch denied him a chance at heroism.

Mets have to try to win the series tonight, game time 7:10PM. Jon Niese (LHP), vs Nate Robertson (LHP, recently acquired from the Tigers). Should be a different Mets line-up tonight, as they are facing the 1st lefty of the year (Tatis at 1st, R Tejada at SS, Pagan in CF)?

LET'S GO METS!