The Mets Don’t Just Lose, They Lose Badly

After a week of hell, I think I am slowly and surely turning against my beloved Mets. I really can’t take it anymore. They can’t lose any more games in any more ways. I think. After Friday night’s meltdown, I melted down. After explaining to the Jerks on the Batphone that the Mets lose in the worst ways possible, I was asked to give some examples. Not only that, I was to post it on Monday morning. Consider it done.

Before we look at the Mets worst losses of this season, let me give a minor history lesson. I was going to do this over the course of three seasons. Then when I got to nine, NINE, beyond comprehension losses in 2009 I scrapped that idea because of space and sanity reasons. Let’s put it this way, I watched a Game 7 of the NLCS in which we had the greatest defensive play in postseason history, not caught by Kirby Puckett, in the Endy Chavez play. Then the Mets let left runners on base for 2 innings. Then gave up the Yadier Molina homer and then Carlos Beltran watched strike three go by him without moving the bat with men in scoring position. I then watched the same team go up 7 games with 17 to play in 2007 and lose that lead and not only lose the division but not make the playoffs. Those games in their own right are post worthy. In 2008 they went up 4 games with 2 weeks left and then the worst bullpen in history did it’s thing. The worst part of both those seasons was on the Saturday before the last game, the Mets got two of the most clutch non-playoff pitching performances in it’s history with John Maine’s almost no-hitter in 2007 and Johan’s complete game gem in 2008. In 2007, a 300 game winner and Future Hall of Famer came out and let up 7 runs in the first to systematically end the season. In 2008, the Bullpen did it’s worst after Carlos Beltran hit a 2 run homer to give the Mets the lead in the 7th.  Let us just say Mets fans have been reeling and we are getting punch drunk. We thought we had tough skin but this year they are really testing our faith.

Here are the rules I put in place for my nine, NINE, brutal losses. A regular loss doesn’t count. If the team was down and came back but fell short, or was ahead early but the other team chipped away I left it out. That is baseball. For this I looked at in-game actions or the overall scenario. Yesterday’s 15-0 loss to the Yankees is a tempting turd to throw in there, especially with Johan getting slaughtered, but that game is baseball so I left it out. So here you go, your list of 2009’s worst losses.

4/12/09 Marlins 2 Mets 1: This game was the Easter Sunday special. Josh Johnson vs Johan Santana. Johnson was the tits, he let up one run in a complete game. Johan let up no runs and got the loss. Yes, no runs allowed and got the loss. Why? Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball in left field that allowed a run to score and put another guy at third.  This loss stunk because they maintained a theme of blowing Johan’s starts. This time they did it with Johan in the game as opposed to the bullpen doing it. The Mets left 8 men on base.

4/21/09 Cardinals 6 Mets 4: This game was going along OK until the top of the 8th. The game tied at 4, Beltran made his way to 3rd with two outs by tagging up at second, as the Third Baseman went to apply the tag the ball bounced away to no man’s land between the pitcher’s mound and third and Beltran took off for home. The Third Baseman chased down the ball and threw it home. Beltran doesn’t slide and steps on Yadier Molina’s foot and doesn’t touch home. Molina tags him out. If Beltran slides, he slides over the plate and is in no position to be tagged since the throw was high. The inning is over.

In the bottom of the 8th, Brandon Ryan hits a line drive to Daniel Murphy in Left field. Murphy slips and falls and the ball rolls all the way to the wall. Ryan winds up at third with no outs. Rick Ankiel, batting .200 at the time, hits a double to drive in Ryan.

5/2/09 Phillies 6 Mets 5 10 innings: This game was all sorts of good, bad and downright terrible. First the bad, Ollie Perez let up 4 runs in 2 1/3 innings. He was worse than that. He has been missing since then. The Mets then came back going up 5-4. In the 6th, lefty specialist Pedro Feliciano got Ryan Howard out and then gave up a ball to lefty Raul Ibanez that has not landed yet. Tie game. In the 8th, the Mets had a man on 1st and 2nd. Beltran rips a single to right and for some reason known only to God, Razor Shines sends Omir Santos home and Jayson Werth throws a laser beam to nail him by a good 5 feet.

The game remained tied in the 10th inning when Sean Green called out his inner Aaron Heilman and let up a single, hit a batter, dished an intentional walk to load the bases with 0 outs and then walked Shane Victorino to bring home the winning run. The Mets left 10 men on base in this game.

5/13/09 Braves 8 Mets 7 12 innings: This one was a very good baseball game if you like hitting. The Braves took an early lead and then the Mets exploded which culminated in a Fernando Tatis Grand Slam to dead center. The Mets were up 6-4. The Braves chipped back and went up 7-6. In the 8th, Gary Sheffield tied the game. Then the game went on and on with the Mets using all of their pitchers. In the Top of the 12th, Martin Prado hit a homer off of Ken Takahashi that would be the game winner. Jose Reyes hit a double off of Mike Gonzalez in the Bottom of the 12th, that he thought was going to be a homer but then had to hustle to get to second. Earlier in the game, he hit a ball to left that was a definite double but he tried to stretch it to a triple and got thrown out by ten feet at third. After the lead off double the Mets left him standing at second. The Mets left 15 men on base.

5/18/09 Dodgers 3 Mets 2 11 innings: This game is as bad as it gets. In the top of the 11th, Ryan Church, who had been ice cold, got a 2 out single. Then Angel Pagan, who was 4-6, hit a long drive into the gap in left center. Ryan Church scored from first. There was one little problem. He missed third base. He FUCKING MISSED THIRD. The Dodgers appealed and he was called out.

In the bottom of the inning more horseshit, with a man on first Xavier Paul hit a pop up to right center. Beltran and Pagan went for the ball. It was Beltran’s ball but Pagan kept charging and then pulled up as Beltran pulled up and the ball dropped in. After that the Mets loaded the bases and Brian Stokes got a big out. With one out, a ground ball was hit to Jeremy Reed, who was playing first base for the 8th time in his life. He fielded it cleanly, but rushed the throw home and threw it over the catcher’s head. The Dodgers win it. Overall, the Mets had five, FIVE, errors in the game. 15 men were left on base.

6/1/09 Pirates 8 Mets 5: After a successful homestand, the Mets went to Pittsburgh to continue a stretch of games against under .500 teams. They went up 5-0 early behind Livan Hernandez including Wilson Valdez’s (who?) 3RBI including a double. Then it went to shit. Livan gave up 3 in the fifth. The Met offense stopped. In the 8th, J.J. Putz came in after Pedro Feliciano gave up a single. He melted down and the game quickly tied. With the chance to get out of the inning down by one, Wilson Valdez booted a double play grounder and allowed another run. A sac fly accounted for the last run. Putz would be on the DL by the end of the week and have elbow surgery the following Tuesday. The Mets left 15 men on base.

6/10/2009 Phillies 5 Mets 4 11 innings: The Mets went up 4-1 on Cole Hamels with Mike Pelfrey hitting a double and a RBI single. Then they stopped scoring. The Phillies made a 7th inning comeback that included Carlos Beltran dropping a fly ball at the wall in center to put two on base. Then, with the bases loaded, David Wright charged a slow roller that went under his glove and into left and allowed two men to score. The Mets had the bases loaded with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th and didn’t score. They had men at 2nd in the 8th and 9th innings. Frankie Rodriguez threw 2 innings of scoreless relief.

In the bottom of the 10th, Fernando Martinez got a 2 out single. On the next at bat, David Wright drills a line drive to right center that would have scored Martinez to end the game. The problem was Jayson Werth laid out and made an unbelievable catch to end the inning. Bobby Parnell came in to the game in the 11. He had not let up a home run all season. Until Chase Utley hit one to right. The Mets left 15 men on base.

6/11/09 Phillies 6 Mets 3 10 innings: The Mets were up 3-1 in the 7th inning and the Phillies came back to tie it for the second night in a row. In the 10th inning, the Phillies had a man on with one out. Jerry Manuel brought in his second lefty, Ken Takahashi to face Utley, Howard and Ibanez. He walked Utley. He struck out Ryan Howard for the second out.  Raul Ibanez crushes one 440 ft to the deepest part of the ball park to take the lead. This game would have been fine as a stand alone but the overall atmosphere of the week puts this one in the hurt pile. The Mets left 13 on base.

6/12/09 Yankees 9 Mets 8: This was a see-saw battle. With the Mets up 6-5, the Mets newest 2nd lefty, Jon Switzer, came in to face the colder then cold Hideki Matusi who promptly but one in the second deck in right field at Yankee Stadium. The Mets came back to tie it. In the 8th, The Yankees brought Mariano Rivera into a tie game. He walked Carlos Beltran and then gave up a rope double to David Wright to score the go ahead run. In the Bottom of the Ninth, Frankie Rodriguez was doing his typical high wire act. He had saved 16 games in 16 chances so far. He let up a one out single to Jeter. Jeter stole second on Johnny Damon’s strikeout. With 2 outs K-Rod pitched around Teixeira and walked him. He then got Alex Rodriguez to pop up to shallow right field. Luis Castillo got under the ball and dropped it. He dropped the fucking ball. He then threw the ball to Alex Cora at second when he should have thrown home. Teixeira, hustling the whole way, scored from first beating the throw and the Yankees won it. The Mets left 17 men on base

As you can see, these are enough to drive any fan mad. Especially with the last two years of collapsing. This team has a weird ability to bounce back and then crush you even more the next time. It is sick if you think about it. Friday night, I was done but then they comeback and soundly beat the Yankees and I was on board again. Then today they get destroyed. I don’t know what to do. I am sure they will start some sort of streak and I will believe again and then they will crush me again. I am positive of it.

One last thought, a common theme is bad defense and piss poor situational hitting. If they just sucked that is one thing. They are second in the league in batting with a .279 average. They hit .283 with runners in scoring position. BUT they hit .246 with men on third base. In 84 opportunities the got 25 runs. With the bases loaded, they are hitting .229. In 82 opportunities, they have gotten 50 runs in. That is with BASES LOADED. That 50 runs out of 246 men on base . That doesn’t include the 82 batters. The have a 57+ OPS plus in those spots. With 2 outs and the bases loaded they are batting .111. For a reference point, the Phillies are batting .328 with the bases loaded. In 75 plate appearances, they have gotten in 70.

The Mets are sixth in the league in runs. They have 40 home runs. They have 284 total runs. In the opportuities with men on base, 721 PA they have 242 total runs. The Phillies have 90 homers. In the opportunities with men on base, 679 PA they have 247 runs. They are first with 337 runs scored. Essentially, when I bitch about the Mets never getting anyone in I am not blowing smoke. They have had more opportunites than the Phillies and have 53 less runs. Ugh.