The Game

After struggling in his first start of the year at Atlanta, John Maine came into Tuesday night’s game having allowed two earned runs or fewer in every start since. After Maine’s first pitch of the game plunked leadoff hitter Felipe Lopez on the right leg, he retired the next three Nationals in order. Was it a purpose pitch in retaliation for the Nats cheerleading Monday night? Probably. And, in the humble opinion of this blogger, that’s a good thing. This team needs to show some fight (see the Mets of the late 80’s). OK… enough of that tangent, back to the recap.

Both teams hung zeros on the board until the Mets got something going in the bottom of the second. They loaded the bases with nobody out for Brian Schneider. Schneider worked a full count and you could sense the Mets had the young John Lannan on the ropes. But, in true 2008 Mets fashion, the potential rally was diffused three pitches later with the Mets only scoring one run. I’ll repeat, three PITCHES later Lannan was back in the dugout only one run in arrears. How did this happen you ask? Schneider hit into a fielder’s choice which scored a run and left runners on the corners with one out. John Maine bunted the next pitch to sacrifice Schneider to second for out number two. And Jose Reyes followed with a ground out to shortstop on the following pitch to put an end to the threat. Meanwhile, John Maine was cruising into the third when, with one out, Cristian Guzman bounced a grounder to second baseman Damion Easley who threw wildly to first and pulled Carlos Delgado off the bag for an error. Struggling third baseman Ryan Zimmerman followed with a two run bomb off of Maine (only his third homer allowed this year and his first homer surrendered in over 90 at bats) to give the Nats a 2-1 lead. This would be the second and final hit Maine allowed on the evening.

The Ryan Church show, which has been running on a loop all season long, continued on Tuesday night as he tied the game up at two with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the third inning off the left handed Lannan. As the innings progressed, the score remained tied while the Mets (namely Jose Reyes) kept missing out on chances to take the lead. John Maine was removed after the sixth as his pitch count rose partially in thanks to Easley’s second error of the evening. So, after surrendering only two hits and one earned run, Maine’s only chance for a win would depend on the Mets scoring in the bottom half of the sixth. With one out, Brian Schneider and pinch hitter Fernando Tatis pieced together back to back singles to bring up Jose Reyes… who struck out and looked badly in the process. So up stepped Ryan Church and he ripped a 2-2 fastball over the head of Austin Kearns which scored two and gave New York a 4-2 lead. Now, I’m not saying Kearns should have definitely caught the ball, but I am saying that little leaguers everywhere should watch the video of that play as a perfect example of what not to do as a right fielder. Tom Emanski would not approve.

With the score 4-2 in the top of the seventh, reliever Matt Wise returned from a month long stint on the DL for what was described as a sore arm (i.e. “Emotional Baggage That Goes Along With Giving Up A Walk-Off Homer To Robert Andino“). Wise promptly gave up a lead off double, the first hit of the year for psychopath Elijah Dukes. Dukes advanced to third on a Wil Nieves ground out and he would come around to score on a Rob Mackowiak ground out to cut the lead to 4-3.

After a shaky top of the eighth in which Duaner Sanchez worked around two walks, the Mets actually tacked on to their one run lead thanks to a Jose Reyes RBI single and a Ryan Church sac fly. Billy Wagner came on to collect his eighth save of the year while pitching a scoreless ninth and the Mets had themselves a much needed 6-3 victory. The four game series continues on Wednesday night as Claudio Vargas will make his Mets’ debut. Vargas will be opposed by Tim Redding.

The Haiku

Church, Schneider back Maine
Milledge deal mortgaged future
But what a present!

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Chuck Buono
Haiku by Howard Megdal