Game #98: Cardinals 6, Mets 2

Some fans let Carlos Beltran know they appreciated him during his seasons in New York. (NYTimes.com)

The Mets won two game against the Cardinals in the evening. Today, on the other hand, the just couldn't beat the heat.

Jake Westbrook stifled New York for 8 innings and Jon Niese cooled off under the hot sun, dealing the Mets a 6-2 loss and denying them the sweep of St. Louis.

The Bad Stuff:

• Jon Niese, so good in his last few starts, picked up the loss after 6 innings of 5-hit, 5-run ball (3 earned), walking 1 and striking out 7. He got behind early, falling victim to an Albert Pujols 2-run homer in the top of the 1st.
• On the other side of the hill, Jake Westbrook could do no wrong, tossing 8 innings of 4-hit, 2-run ball.
• Usually if the Mets struggle with runners left on base, it's an abnormally large number. Today it was just the opposite: the Amazin's left only 2 on base the whole game...because they weren't getting anyone on in the first place.

The Good Stuff:

• After a rare 0-5 night, Jose Reyes turned the electricity back on with a triple in the 4th, his 16th of the season (even missing two and a half weeks, no one even made a dent into his league lead). He scored almost immediately on Justin Turner's RBI groundout.
• The Mets almost got back into it in the 8th when Jason Pridie singled home Lucas Duda for their second run.
• For his final at-bat in the 9th, the Citi Field crowd of 37,416 gave Carlos Beltran a standing ovation in what could be his final game at home as a Met. After he flew out to left, some of the crowd continued to applaud. While he wasn't able to deliver fans a championship, Beltran will leave the Mets with some fine memories.

Final Analysis:
So we didn't get the sweep. Too bad, but no biggie. Consider this: the last time the Mets were involved in a series sweep of any kind was April 22-24 when they swept the D-Backs. Since then, they haven't swept anybody (2-games against the Nats don't constitute a series), but have not been swept by anybody either. So while New York is not dominating anyone, they are not being dominated by anyone either. In the grand scheme of things, that's not bad at all.

And good news is right around the corner: David Wright will return for tomorrow's game in Florida against the Marlins. Now we'll see what this team is really capable of.

MM