The Game

The Mets apparently donned their 2007 throwback jerseys on Tuesday night in Philadelphia and coughed up a seven run lead in the process, falling to the now first place Phillies 8-7 in 13 innings.

For fans of the New York Mets, their year long episode of Groundhog’s Day continued. They watched their team get out to an early lead off Jamie Moyer, scoring in the first inning yet again thanks to RBI singles from Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis. Easley stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second by blasting his sixth homer of the year. Their string of prosperity continued in the third when Tatis smacked his 11th homer of the season, a three run shot, followed by David Wright’s RBI groundout in the fourth. So, here we sat. A seven run lead in the fourth inning with Pedro Martinez’s pitch count rising and the scary combination of the New York bullpen and a tiny park looming. Here’s the craziest part: As a Mets fan, at NO point did I feel like this game was over… and that shouldn’t be the case when your team is up by a touchdown.

Sure enough, the Phils started chipping away at the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a Pedro Feliz sac fly. The fifth inning brought a pair of two run homers from Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard and, all of a sudden, the seven run lead was now a two run lead and it was only the bottom of the fifth.

Brian Stokes came on in relief of Pedro and pitched two scoreless frames. Of course, the ineffective combination of Duaner Sanchez and Pedro Feliciano pitched two thirds of the eighth and gave up a run on a Jimmy Rollins single. Joe Smith came on to bail them out by retiring Pat Burrell on a deep fly ball. The Met offense shockingly failed to do anything in the top of the ninth off closer Brad Lidge, so Jerry Manuel turned to Luis Ayala to slam the door on the Phils. After retiring Ryan Howard and pain in the ass Shane Victorino to start the inning, Jayson Werth hit a broken bat single to center. Eric Bruntlett followed with a shot to the gap in right center. Ryan Church got to the ball in a hurry and hit cutoff man Damion Easley with a strike. As Werth rounded third, a good throw by Easley would have had Werth dead to rights to end the game. Instead, Easley bounced the throw passed Brian Schneider and the game was tied.

As we headed to extras, did anybody on this planet actually think the Mets had a prayer to win this game? I didn’t think so. Aaron Heilman actually pitched three scoreless frames to give New York a shot, but all hope came crashing down in the thirteenth when Victorino lead off with a triple against reliever Scott Schoeneweis. After intentionally walking the bases loaded and retiring pinch hitter Brett Myers on a strikeout, the immortal Chris Coste came through with a walkoff single over the head of the drawn in Met outfield. The 8-7 loss was as demoralizing as any loss this team has suffered over the last 13 months. ONCE AGAIN, the New York offense completely went to sleep after the first four innings… managing just four, that’s right, four hits and zero runs over the last nine frames. In blowing a 7-0 lead for just the fourth time in the 47 year history of the franchise, the Mets also handed first place back to their rivals. The quick series wraps up on Wednesday night in Philly as Met ace Johan Santana will take the ball hoping to put Tuesday night’s debacle out of Met Nation’s minds. Kyle Kendrick will counter for the Phils.

The Haiku

Unwelcome refrain
Mets blow a seven-run lead
Is Johan stopper?

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Chuck Buono
Haiku by Howard Megdal