Game #109: Marlins 7, Mets 3 (10)

Jason Isringhausen can only watch as the Marlins load the bases and Mike Stanton belts a 10th-inning grand slam to counter Lucas Duda's game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. (NYDailyNews.com)

The script was just the same as yesterday, only ten times worse.

Mike Stanton's 10th inning grand slam wiped out Lucas Duda's late heroics of an inning earlier, dealing the Mets a shattering 7-3 loss to the Marlins.

The Bad Stuff:

• For the second day in a row, New York tied the game on a last-moment home run, only to lose it in the next half inning. Lucas Duda sent it into extras, putting the ball in Jason Isringhausen's usually capable hands. But after getting the first Fish out, back-to-back-to-back singles loaded the bases. The Mets appeared to get a break when Dewayne Wise overran first base, thinking he was going to move up on the throw home. Just like Daniel Murphy yesterday. And just when you think there's no possible way to screw this one up, Murph put on his "Challenge Accepted" face and did just that. Instead of tossing the ball right to Justin Turner at first, Daniel made sure the man on third wouldn't try to break for home, allowing Wise to scamper back under the tag. That kept the bases loaded and, more importantly, force Izzy to pitch to Mike Stanton. Stanton made him pay on a 3-2 cutter, making spacious Citi Field seem like a Little League park and giving Florida an insurmountable lead.
• Daniel Murphy's bat is phenomenal, he is 3rd in the NL in batting this year, but his fielding skills are quite sub-par. Keith and Ron on SNY were talking during the game about his apparent lack of baseball instincts. Tonight's latest flub all but proves the point. The old saying is "if you can hit, we'll find a spot for you." So where to put him? How about left field, where he can do the least amount of damage? You could move Jason Bay over to right field (his glove has been a big upside), and put Lucas Duda back at first base. Makes sense, and might prevent another repeat of tonight's fiasco. Why not?
• The offense continues to sputter, once again getting all of the team's runs on longballs. What has defined this team is its hitting ability without putting balls in the seats, this is far from a good development.

The Good Stuff:

• On the bright side, we had some power in this game. Jason Bay launched his 7th home run of the year just over the fence in right center to put NY on the board, then of course, Lucas Duda's 2-run homer with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th that sent it into extras. It was Duda's 3rd of the campaign and second off Florida closer Leo Nunez.
• Just before Duda's heroics, Angel Pagan took a huge risk that ended up paying off in a big way. Pagan lashed a single into right, saw Mike Stanton lay back for an instant, then broke for second, just getting into second for a double. Seeing hustle like that is exhilarating...definitely too exhilarating. Even Gary & company at SNY were talking about how risky a move that was...
• On the very next pitch, it paid off. Bay hit a hard groundball to third base that would have been a double play, had Pagan not stretched it into a double.
• Mike Pelfrey pitched a decent game, going 6 innings and allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits, walking 3 (kinda high for Pelf) and striking out 3. Ryota Igarashi and Manny Acosta combined for 3 scoreless innings after Pelfrey's exit to get New York to extras.

Final Analysis:
Dad saw enough hard-luck Met games growing up to come up with this phrase: teams keep finding ways to give away the game, and the Mets keep saying, "Eh, no thanks." Tonight, for your consideration, another instance of just that. Ouch.

MM

Wheeler Watch
Zack Wheeler's first start with the Port St. Lucie Mets didn't go as planned...New York's end of the Carlos Beltran deal pitched 4 innings and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits, walking none and striking out 4.