Game #154: Cardinals 11, Mets 6

For most of the game, the Mets were hot. Then after one bad inning, it was all for naught. (Yes, that was a purposeful rhyme...I'm just as annoyed by it as you.)

After taking the lead in the 7th, the Mets led the Cardinals explode for 6 runs the very same inning, resulting in an 11-6 loss in the series opener in St. Louis.

The Bad Stuff:

• After a typical less-than-stellar start from Mike Pelfrey (5 runs in 6 innings), Josh Stinson came in to try to keep the Cardinal bats down. All he did was give them more life: Stinson allowed the first 3 runs of the inning, picking up the loss. Tim Byrdak followed with 2 more of his own, and DJ Carrasco made it an even 6 before the 7th was done with. Once up 6-5, New York was now down 11-6, and there was no coming back from that deficit.
• The team may have scored 6 runs in the game, but they probably should have done a lot more: the Mets hit 3-13 with RISP and stranded a whopping 13 men on base. David Wright takes the cake for worst day at the plate, going 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and 6 LOB, including leaving the bags full in the top of the 7th.
• Jose Reyes went 1-4 with a couple walks and 2 runs. His average sits at .331, just one point behind Ryan Braun for the NL lead.

The Good Stuff:

• Angel Pagan had a stellar day from the 2-hole, going 3-4 with a run and an RBI.
• RBIs were also picked up by Wright, Lucas Duda (#50 for him), Willie Harris, Josh Thole, and Mike Pelfrey.

Final Analysis:
Rough loss. Even rougher: officially, the Mets cannot finish with a winning record this year. At 73-81 with just 8 to play, all they can do is finish .500. But if they win 6 of these last 8, they can still finish 79-83, just like last year. It's a stretch to root for, but you gotta root for something, right? The finish line is on the horizon.

MM