Game #24: Marlins 4, Mets 3 (15)

A long night was made much too long, and in the end it was New York that ended up on the long side.

The Mets blew leads in the 9th and 15th innings, falling to the Marlins in a sparsely-attended series opener, 4-3.

The Bad Stuff:

• Up 2-1 in the 9th, Bobby Parnell gave up a long leadoff double to Justin Ruggiano. Collin Cowgill misplayed a Rob Brantly single to send Ruggiano to third, and then he came home on a Nick Green sac fly, resulting in Parnell's second blown save in four opportunities.
• A long stalemate was broken in the 15th by a Ruben Tejada base hit, the Mets' first and only hit with runners in scoring position. The team went 1-18 in that particular category, stranding 14 men on base.
• Entering into his unusual second inning of relief work, Shaun Marcum got a quick first out of Placido Polanco. It was the last out he would get on the night. Greg Dobbs singled, Ruggiano walked, and the tying and winning runs came home on a Brantly single and a Green sac fly. Game, set, match.

The Good Stuff:

(NYDailyNews.com)

• While he ran his pitch count up early on, Matt Harvey was in line for his fifth W, allowing a run on seven hits in 5.1 innings, walking two and striking out seven on a career-high 121 pitches.
• John Buck blasted his ninth home run of the season into Miami's kitschy home run sculpture in the 4th inning. The RBIs were Buck's 24th and 25th of April.
• Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada each had three hits on the night.

Final Analysis:
The moral of the story: you can't win a game on productive outs. The Mets had far too many productive outs last night. It didn't work.

MM