Game #125: Brewers 11, Mets 9

(NYDailyNews.com)

In the span of about 10 minutes, Met fans went from experiencing the highest high to the lowest low. In the end, all that was left was disappointment and exhaustion.

After completing a 6-run comeback and going up 9-7, Jason Isringhausen did his best (worst?) K-Rod impression, allowing 4 runs in the 9th and handing the Mets perhaps their most disheartening loss of the season, 11-9 to the Brewers.

The Bad Stuff:

• It doesn't get much worse than this: Jason Isringhausen was given a 2-run lead and looking to put the stamp on an improbable Mets victory. By the time he left four batters later, the bases were loaded, none out, and a run in, thanks to Izzy's 3 walks and a base hit. Manny Acosta was called upon to do the near-impossible: retire Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder without surrendering a run. He came close, but Fielder's single tied the game and Casey McGehee's gave Milwakuee the 11-9 lead, a lead which Brewers closer John Axford would protect in the 9th. The worst part of it all? Francisco Rodriguez, who spotted New York their lead in the 8th, walks away from Citi Field with the win.
• Chris Capuano was even more sub-par than usual in this one, putting the Mets in that 7-run hole in the first place (5 were earned by him). I'll bet this hasn't happened often: at one point Milwaukee's scoreline read 7 runs and 3 hits; the three hits were home runs (Braun, Fielder, Yuniesky Betancourt), all of the multi-run variety because of walks or errors.

The Good Stuff:

• New York scored a run in the 1st on a Jason Bay RBI single, but were quiet for the next couple hours. Then in the 7th, a fire broke out somewhere in Citi Field. A blaze that seemed to give the Mets' bats new life. Because in that 7th inning, the Amazin's would score 5 runs and cut the deficit to 7-6. Ronny Paulino and Nick Evans singled to lead off, and Ruben Tejada brought one home on an RBI double. Willie Harris's sac fly brought home Evans to make it 7-3. Angel Pagan singled and Justin Turner walked. David Wright grounded into a fielder's choice that brought another home, then a pinch-hitting Lucas Duda hammered a double to left field to score two. 7-6.
• Then in the 8th, the moment many Met fans had been waiting for: the return of Francisco Rodriguez/, now Milwaukee's set-up man. It was a chance at redemption against New York's inconsistent former closer. This is where that highest of highs comes in, because the Mets' bats gave them that chance at redemption. After K-Rod got the first two men out, Tejada walked. Josh Thole came on to pinch hit and laced a double off Jerry Hairston's glove in center, scoring Ruben and tying the game. Up came Angel Pagan, looking for a big hit. He got it: a monstrous 2-run homer to the Pepsi Porch that sent Citi Field (and Twitter) into a frenzy. The Mets had done it. They'd come back from 6 runs down, and K-Rod was the one who served up the final blow. Now only three outs from an amazing victory...or so we thought.

Final Analysis:
A lot of people are going to be sick tonight. Sick from how the Mets fell behind big, somehow climbed back, and still let it get away in spectacularly awful fashion. Sick from how the ghost of K-Rod still haunts the bullpen (again, he gets the freakin' W). Possibly sick from the smoke of the Citi fire. And most definitely sick from how the 2011 season has gone down in a spectacular crash in the last two weeks. The only question that remains is when and if this nightmare of a stretch will end.

MM