Game #122: Rockies 3, Mets 1

(NYDailyNews.com)

Turns out those friendship bracelets weren't to R.A. Dickey as flowing hair was to Samson. The offense, on the other hand, may want their own children to make their own bracelets.

Dickey was fantastic but got no run support and the Rockies scored twice in the final two innings to beat the Mets 3-1.

The Bad Stuff:

• Their starter was out by the 5th inning but aside from a quick run in the 1st, the Mets were hapless at the plate, hitting just 1-5 with RISP and leaving 10 men on base.
• After R.A. Dickey made his exit, Josh Edgin entered in the 8th and promptly let the go-ahead run come in after a double, sac bunt, and passed ball allowed by Kelly Shoppach. Jon Rauch relieved Edgin to finish the 8th but gave up a rare run in the 9th to give Colorado a huge cushion.
• New York put the tying runs on base with 2 outs in the 9th, but Mike Baxter flew out to center field to end the game.

The Good Stuff:

• R.A. Dickey turned in a performance worthy of the Cy Young consideration he's gotten, going the Solid Seven and allowing just a solo home run and 2 other hits to go with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. He certainly pitched well enough for his 16th win of the season, which would have doubled his W total from last season. Unfortunately for him, the bats decided to have a throwback to last year and give him as little as possible in the way of run support.
• David Wright went 1-3 with a double and the game's only run; even in his other two hitless at-bats he swung the bat very well.
• Daniel Murphy drove in Wright in the 1st with a 2-out RBI single.

Final Analysis:
So it was a loss with a silver lining in the shape of Dickey's quality start, but this was definitely not the way the Mets wanted to start their 13-game swing down Easy Street. The offense completely failed tonight against last-place pitching. Now you never want to expect a sweep, but this has to be the only loss of the series to make it a successful one. And if New York ever wants to sniff .500 again this year, they must look less like a last-place team than the ones they're going up against.

MM