Game #98: Nationals 5, Mets 2

(NYDailyNews.com)

Today it was starting pitching's turn to show up for the Mets. What sunk the team this time was lack of bullpen, lack of offense, and an excess of starting pitching by the other guys.

Stephen Strasburg stymied the New York bats for 7 innings and the bullpen and errors in the field put it out of reach for the Mets, who were swept by the Nationals by last night's score of 5-2.

The Bad Stuff:

• Today it was Tim Byrdak who came on to toss Washington some extra batting practice in the 7th, allowing 2 runs over 2/3 of an inning to give the Nats a grand total of 5 for the day.
• On the other side of the hill, Stephen Strasburg delivered a worth encore to Gio Gonzalez's performance last night, tossing 7 innings of 1-run, 4-hit ball, walking none and striking out 11.
• New York was charged with 2 fielding errors, including a missed-catch error by Josh Thole in the 4th that led to a Washington run.
• The Mets hit just 0-4 in their limited chances with RISP. The team's best chance was in the 8th inning when they loaded the bases with none out but could only bring home one run on a Jordany Valdespin RBI groundout.

The Good Stuff:

• Jeremy Hefner took on the herculean task of having to first face Strasburg and second replace Johan Santana in the rotation. Aside from back-to-back home runs to Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa to lead off the 2nd, Hef did a pretty good job. His final line reads a respectable 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits in 6 innings with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. His ERA still stands at 5.40 but it's a small sample size. He won't get all the attention Matt Harvey does when he takes the mound tomorrow night in Arizona, but the best Hefner can do is quietly do his job and not make any negative noise.
• Ike Davis gave the Mets their lone run of Strasburg, blasting fastball to start the 2nd into the right field corner for his 16th home run, the same kind of laser shot he had on Monday night.

Final Analysis:
Sixth straight loss, 12th L in 13, second straight home sweep completing an 0-6 homestand. Analysis determines...well, that sucked. Is this the bottom? We'll find out tomorrow when a future cornerstone of the rotation takes his first turn on the mound in the desert (although it can't be much hotter there than it is all around the country). Good luck, Matt.

MM