Game #58: Marlins 8, Mets 4 (10)

After yesterday's endless misery, New Yorkers were treated to a bargain: today's soul-crusher only took half the time.

The Marlins pounded out 17 hits and scored four runs in the top of the 10th to once again sweep the Mets, 8-4.

The Bad Stuff:

• Again, I will be brief: how's giving up 17 hits to a Miami team without Giancarlo Stanton sound?
• Or how about the three-run lead our pitchers couldn't hold against that Miami team?
• Or how about Bobby Parnell giving some weight to this recent analysis of mine by surrendering the go-ahead runs in the top of the 10th inning?
• Or maybe you can just look at the aftermath of the bloodbath at the hands of baseball's (supposedly) worst team: the demotions and replacements of Ike Davis, Robert Carson, and Mike Baxter to Triple-A Las Vegas. Josh Satin, Josh Edgin, and Collin Cowgill will rejoin the team on Tuesday.

The Good Stuff:

• Jonathon Niese deserved far better than a no-decision, as he turned in the Mets' third quality start in two days with 6.2 innings of three-run (two earned), eight-hit ball, walking one and striking out four in his return to the mound.
• David Wright and Daniel Murphy deserved better too: Murphy's solo shot in the 2nd got New York on the board, and Wright's two-run double in the 3rd put the team on top. The fourth run came in right after Wright's double, as a cleanup-hitting Murphy produced an RBI groundout.

Final Analysis:
June 9 is the day I often site as the day Ike Davis turned it around last season. Now, just one year later, he won't get that same chance. The difference of course is that last year the Mets were (somehow) in contention despite Ike's mighty struggles. This year, the team continues to bottom out with no sign of actually reaching that bottom yet. Terry Collins had no choice. He has to do something to get this team out of reverse. Are Satin, Edgin, Cowgill, and even Zack Wheeler the answer? No. The best the Mets can do at this point is get it into neutral, because the drive gear fell out in the Western snow of April. But for the sake of his job and the jobs of everyone who isn't a starting pitcher, David Wright, or Daniel Murphy, he has to try something. Anything. Because while they've been bad in the past few years, they've finally become nearly unwatchable. And you're reading the optimist's blog.

MM