Game #160: Marlins 3, Mets 2

New York opened up its final series in 2012 against a team it had owned all year. Apparently the statute of limitations ran out when the calendar hit October.

The Mets bullpen let runs trickle in in the 6th, 7th, and 8th, letting the Marlins off the hook and resulting in a 3-2 loss.

The Bad Stuff:

• Jeurys Familia may have allowed only one hit on the night, but it came opposite 6 walks. It took him 75 pitches just to get through 4 scoreless innings, and Terry Collins wasn't going to risk sending him out there in the 5th.
• Manny Acosta, Jon Rauch, and Ramon Ramirez let single runs score in the 6th-8th frames, turning a once-sterling 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit the team could not make up in the 9th.
• Despite 11 hits, including going 5-15 with RISP, the Mets stranded 12 men on base and could only muster the two runs.

The Good Stuff:

• David Wright went 2-4 with his 92nd RBI of the year, all but assuring he will hit .300. He also picked up stolen base #15.
• Mike Baxter had a pinch-hit RBI double in the 6th.
• Daniel Murphy and Jason Bay each had 2 hits.

Final Analysis:
In a way, this game was a microcosm of the Mets' entire 2012 season: staring off well, getting hopes up, then slowly and painfully letting it trickle away into disappointment. What more is there to say that hasn't been said in the previous 159 games? I would wish for something more to write about in recaps 161 and 162, but then again, isn't there that old Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times?" Let's just get through Wednesday with some uninteresting (yet winning) baseball and we'll all be good.

MM