Game #74: Mets 3, White Sox 0

Either way you slice it, Shaun Marcum was going to have a "1" after his next decision. Fortunately for him, it came on the proper side for once.

(NYDailyNews.com)

Marcum tossed eight shutout innings for his first W of the season as the Mets salvaged a split with the White Sox, blanking the Southsiders 3-0.

The Good Stuff:

• Half of Shaun Marcum's 0-9 record came from bad outings, half of it came from bad luck. He got good on both counts tonight, tossing eight innings of scoreless, four-hit ball, walking two (both to Adam Dunn) and striking out two on 96 pitches.
• Bobby Parnell came on to induce three left-side groundballs for the final three outs, notching his 13th save and lowering his ERA to 2.45.
• New York's three runs came in the 5th inning off Chicago starter John Denks:
• Josh Satin led off with a single and Andrew Brown followed with one of his own two batters later. Juan Lagares then hit a groundball that got past the glove of shortstop Alexi Ramirez, allowing both runners to score. Two batters later, Eric Young beat out a groundball for a run-scoring infield single.
• Omar Quintanilla had about as good a fielding inning as possible in the bottom of the 5th. With no out and a runner on first, he started a 6-4-3 double play with a backhand shovel to a barehanded Daniel Murphy, whose wild throw was managed by Josh Satin, who cleanly tagged out Gordon Beckham. Six pitches later, Mr. Q flashed the skills of Mr. November with a long jumping throw to peg Tyler Flowers.
• At least a couple times in the game, WFAN's Josh Lewin made references to Jim Croce songs. "The south side of Chicago is the baddest part of town," and something about "Bad, bad Andrew Brown." It may not have been a huge hit with Howie, but it was to this Midwesterner. Way to go Josh.

The Bad Stuff:

• New York's big boppers (David Wright, Marlon Byrd, John Buck) combined to go 0-11, and Buck earned himself a Golden Sombrero with four strikeouts.

Final Analysis:
Shaun Marcum was bound to get off the schneid eventually; he's not a 9-0 starter but he's certainly not 0-9 guy either. 1-9 isn't ideal but at least he has a winning percentage.

Eric Young had three more hits tonight. In seven games with the Mets he's gone 12-29 with 6 RBIs. How did we not get this guy sooner? He probably won't be able to sustain it for very long, but the Amazin's have a winning record in games he's played, and that is an encouraging sign.

Stop the presses...the Mets are on a hot streak? Indeed they are: with tonight's win they've been on the right side of the scoreboard in seven of their last 11 games. Starting pitching, relief work, and the bats are all coming together at once for a change, and a grand time is being had by all. The team now heads out to Denver to make up a game that was frozen out in April. Fortunately this time the weather is supposed to be hot. It perfectly suits these day trippers.

MM

Game #73: White Sox 5, Mets 4

Gordon Beckham offered his guests the game. The guests turned around and said, "No thanks, you keep it."

David Wright tied the game in the top of the 9th when Beckham dropped a confusing Daniel Murphy pinch-hit infield popup that would have ended the game, but LaTroy Hawkins's error in the bottom of the frame opened the door for an Alexei Ramirez walk-off single. The result: blunders cancel out, Mets fall to White Sox 5-4.

The Bad Stuff:

• After the unexpected tie on a flyball that three Pale Hose got under and couldn't corral (Luis Castillo revisited, anyone?), Chicago rallied to successfully pick up the pieces.
• Jeff Keppinger singled on LaTroy Hawkins's second pitch to start the bottom of the 9th, then Hawkins mishandled Beckham's sac bunt, putting the winning run on second base with no out. Tyler Flowers grounded into a force out, then Alejandro De Aza popped out for what should have been the inning-ender. But the error loomed large as Ramirez singled to win the ballgame.
• Zack Wheeler had to have his offense bail him out of his second start, as he proved to be human with a four-run, four-hit, three-walk performance in 5.1 innings, striking out just one on 109 pitches (66 strikes).
• Getting what may be one of his final chances with Daniel Murphy's day off,  Jordany Valdepin went 0-3 with two strikeouts against White Sox starter Chris Sale (who struck out 13 New Yorkers in eight innings). Don't be surprised if we never see him start in a Mets uniform again.

The Good Stuff:

• The Mets took an early 2-0 lead when Eric Young led off the game with a double and came home on Marlon Byrd's sac fly three batters later. Byrd later scored on an RBI single by Josh Satin.
• Andrew Brown hit his third home run of the season in the top of the 5th to give the Mets a temporary 3-2 lead.
• Carlos Torres and Josh Edgin kept New York in the game with 2.2 combined scoreless innings.

Final Analysis:
Zack Wheeler will experience growing pains. That's a given. He'll get better as the season goes on. As for Jordany Valdespin, it's been all pains and no growing this year. We could all put up with his antics if he was hitting better than .202. But he's not.

All in all, the team that deserved to win tonight's game won tonight's game. As a Mets fan I wish it had gone our way, but it certainly would not have felt like a victory. Justice was done.

Baseball is a game of justice: it has rules, and they are followed to the best of their ability. This is more than I can say about democracy in some parts of America. An egregious breach of law was carried out tonight on the floor of the Texas State Senate. I will let you, dear reader, look more into the issue should you choose. But if what seems to have happened tonight is confirmed, it is a sad, sad day for American democracy, indeed.

MM

*UPDATE* - It did not, in fact, pass. Constitutional crisis averted.

Weekly Recap, May 6-12

It's been a rough week for both my team and myself. Fortunately for me, after dealing with the cable company, a wireless router, and some nasty adware, I'm back up to full-speed. I wish the fix was as easy for the New York Mets. Here's what you missed this week on Midwestern Met.

Team Record: 2-4 (14-20 overall)
May 7-8, White Sox Series: T, 1-1
May 9-12, Pirates Series: L, 1-3

The Bad Stuff:

• Aside from Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee, the New York starting staff was, to put it nicely, sub-par. Jeremy Hefner, Shaun Marcum, and Jonathon Niese were shelled at the hands of the Chicago and Pittsburgh bats.
• The New York offense didn't fare much better, scoring fewer than three runs in every game on the homestand.
• Jordany Valdespin had some trouble in the Pittsburgh series, getting plunked on Saturday for admiring his home run in a blowout the night before. While his teammates supported them all they could within the baseball code, JV1 didn't quite understand why New York wouldn't retaliate for what he saw as a "baseless" beaning.

The Good Stuff:

• Matt Harvey, period. He came about as perfect as a pitcher can come without actually doing it, allowing a little dribbler of an infield hit on Tuesday that was the only blemish on a nine-inning, no-walk, 12 strikeout performance. While he wasn't nearly as good on Sunday, his numbers (two runs in seven innings) should have been good enough for the win. Instead of 6-0, though, he's stuck on 4-0. At least none of those was an L.
• Dillon Gee pitched well in his Thursday start, allowing a single run in five innings of work.
• The Whitestone Kid, Mike Baxter, made a name for himself during the week with two walk-off hits, a single in the 10th that broke the Tuesday tie with the Sox, and a 9th-inning base knock that offed the Pirates in the series opener. He was the recipient of two, count 'em, TWO, whipped cream pies in the face courtesy of Justin Turner (Buck would have broken his face for sure on the second).
• Juan Legares flashed his glove on multiple occasions, saving a home run on Thursday and coming up with a nifty shoestring-then-dive to help Harvey out on Sunday.

Final Analysis:
That Saturday's 11-2 blowout was on Banner Day was appropriate, as this was a Banner Week for all that is wrong with the Mets so far. The most disappointing slumps belong to Ike Davis (so painful to watch a repeat of 2012), Jonathon Niese (Opening Day starter and anchor of the staff coming into the season), and Daniel Murphy (should have been an All-Star starter with his start).

Still, as my boss over at Rising Apple points out, didn't we expect this from the beginning? Didn't w know this year was a wash on the road to contention? We know 2014 is when things will start to get better, so should we really be concerned that the team is under-preforming in 2013? In a way, no we shouldn't; the heart of the matter is that the Mets just don't have enough good ballplayers. They're temporary fixes, never meant to be part of the big picture. Rick Ankiel may not be the most desirable pickup, but he's only meant to be a stopgap on the way to better things.

The only thing I can see that would be of concern is the sheer quantity of holes in the lineup. We knew the bullpen and outfield would be trouble, but now that the starting rotation and infield have started faltering, that may be something to raise an eyebrow at. Their slumps will probably slide, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Either way, all Mets fans can do now is take it one day at a time, root for the guys, and remember that in the grand scheme of things baseball should be a source of happiness. It's up to us to find it.

MM