Game #162: Mets 3, Brewers 2

A wild season deserves a wild finish. Not nearly as wild as what Miami did, but reasonably wild.

(NYDailyNews.com)

New York plated two runs on shoddy Milwaukee defense in the bottom of the 8th, and Frank Francisco finally returned to the closer's role as the Mets capped Mike Piazza Day and the 2013 season with a 3-2 victory over the Brewers.

The Good Stuff:

• Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, Juan Lagares got a rally going with a groundball that shortstop Jeff Bianchi couldn't handle, scoring immediately after on Juan Centeno's bunt single that was kicked around the infield. Wilfredo Tovar followed with a sac bunt that wasn't a sac, as pinch-runner Matt den Dekker beat the throw to third. Two batters later, Eric Young got the final run of the year home on an RBI groundout.
• In a moment 161 games (and quite a bit of frustration) in the making, Frank Francisco closed out a 1-2-3 9th inning for his first and only save of the year, sending the nearly 42,000 Met fans who packed the house for Mike Piazza's Hall of Fame induction home happy and satisfied for the offseason.
• Jonathon Niese finished out the season strong, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings, walking two and striking out two on 80 pitches.
• Eric Young stole two bases, giving him 46 for the season (38 with the Mets) and the National League stolen bases crown. He also scored the game's opening run on David Wright's sac fly in the 1st.

The Bad Stuff:

• How about the 161 games before today that Frank Francisco was doing everything to not be a major league closer? Good riddance.

Final Analysis:
And that was all she wrote. 162 games in the books, the same record as last year at 74-88. Time flies when you're having fun (admit it - baseball is still fun, even if your team is losing). Check back in the next few days for MM's season in review.

MM

Game #161: Brewers 4, Mets 2

Call it deja-deja-vu. (Or would it be daja-vu-vu?) Whatever it was, once again it wasn't pretty.

Eric Young tied the game in the bottom of the 9th but the Brewers scored two in the 10th to put away the Mets 4-2 for the third straight game.

The Bad Stuff:

• Scott Atchison gave up both runs in the top of the 10th inning, assuring himself his third L of the year and New York's 88th of 2013, matching last year's loss column.
• David Wright grounded into a bases-loaded double play in the bottom of the 9th, ending the rally that extended the game into the 10th.
• The Mets hit 1-10 with RISP, stranded 10 men on base, and had no XBHs (and just five hits) the entire night.

The Good Stuff:

• Aaron Harang took a no-decision after six innings of one-run, five-hit ball, walking two and striking out seven on 107 pitches.
• New York managed to tie the game when, after Zach Lutz and Andrew Brown walked, Eric Young slapped a single to left to plate pinch-runner Matt den Dekker.
• Daniel Murphy went 2-3 and picked up his 78th RBI of the year.

Final Analysis:
It would be great to win tomorrow, otherwise the offseason will be even more depressing than anticipated.

After tomorrow, I won't get to say, "There's always another game." I don't care what anyone thinks of the Mets in 2013 - I'm going to miss them when it's all over. So let's enjoy it tomorrow while we still can!

MM

Game #160: Brewers 4, Mets 2

Call it deja-vu all over again. (Although nicer than yesterday - no one got beaned this time.)

Carlos Torres allowed three early runs and the Mets couldn't get any offense going, falling to the Brewers 4-2 once again.

The Bad Stuff:

• Carlos Torres allowed a home run to Norichika Aoki on the fourth pitch of the game, then later in the 1st set up Khris Davis for a two-run shot. Milwaukee's immediate 3-0 lead would go unchallenged all night.
• New York only had three at-bats with RISP and stranded five.

The Good Stuff:

• Torres kept the damage to the 1st, lasting six innings and allowing no more runs and two more hits, walking one and striking out seven on 100 pitches.
• Justin Turner had a nice night at the plate, going 2-4 with a run and an RBI in the cleanup slot.

Final Analysis:
Do we really have to wait another day for that Piazza Party?

MM

Game #159: Brewers 4, Mets 2

The last series of the year opened up with a bang...in the worst possible way.

David Wright was hit in the head by a pitch, and Dillon Gee struggled in his final start of the year as the Mets dropped the game to the Brewers 4-2.

The Bad Stuff:

• With two outs and a run home in the bottom of the 3rd, David Wright took a Johnny Hellweg change up right to the head and left the game immediately. Fortunately, he passed his concussion tests and says he feels fine.
• Dillon Gee couldn't finish the year strong, allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings, walking two and striking out two on 89 pitches. He finishes the season one inning short of 200.
• New York was hitless in 14 at-bats with RISP and stranded 11 men on base.

The Good Stuff:

• Josh Satin hit his third home run of the season in the bottom of the 9th.
• Eric Young stole two more bases, giving him 44 on the season (36 with the Mets) to tie him with Milwaukee's Jean Segura for the National League lead.
• Justin Turner went 2-3 with a double filling in for Wright.

Final Analysis:
Wright passed his concussion test. Let's just try to move on.

It's a shame Dillon Gee didn't get to the "badge of honor" of 200 innings, but to come back from a career-threatening blood clot just a year before to pitch the complete season is pretty impressive. 199 will be a number he can be proud of for the rest of his career.

MM

Game #85: Mets 2, Brewers 1

It took the final game of the series for New York to fail to "slug it out with the best of the National League." Jeremy Hefner made it so they didn't have to.

(NYDailyNews.com)

Josh Satin's big return backed up a superb Hefner as the Mets took the game and the series from the Brewers 2-1.

The Good Stuff:

• Jeremy Hefner strengthened his case as the Mets' number two starter in 2013, allowing a solo home run to Jonathan Lucroy and just one other hit over seven spectacular innings, walking one and striking out eight on 105 pitches.
• After sitting out Ike Davis's first two games back, Josh Satin showed Terry Collins how much he missed that bat, smashing two doubles and one other hit, scoring a run on an error in the 4th, and driving in Marlon Byrd with a wall shot in the 6th. Satin now has 17 hits in his last 10 games and with nine doubles in 19 games would hit over 70 at that pace in a full season.
• Eric Young, David Wright, and Marlon Byrd each had two of New York's 11 hits on the afternoon.
• After Hefner made his exit, Josh Edgin got the first two outs if the 8th, and Bobby Parnell followed him up with the four-out save.

The Bad Stuff:

• Managing just two runs on 11 hits is quite a feat of ineptitude, but the Mets managed it by grounding into two double plays and leaving nine men on base.

Final Analysis:
What in the world is going on with Jeremy Hefner? In the span of nine starts he has gone from on the verge of bullpen assignment to approaching sure-thing status. His ERA over that span stands at a Harvey-esque 2.09, and he has allowed a single run in all but one of his outings since the start of June (the other was a two-run performance, not exactly panic-worthy). Home runs are still a problem for him, as he has allowed six since his greatness began on May 24, but he has all but eliminated the damage in every other aspect of his game, and half the time solo home runs are the only time he'll let the other team score. Whatever Hefner figured out just before Memorial Day has him as one of the hottest pitchers in the league, and the 27-year-old may be playing himself into the future of a rotation that is bound to include Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jonathon Niese, and Montero/Syndergaard. The irony would be that in that rotation even great Hefner would likely be a fifth starter.

Oh Josh Satin, how we missed you! Simply put, Terry's going to have to find more playing time for the kid. He's earned it.

The Mets embark on the second leg of their pre-Break odyssey and start a series with the slipping San Francisco Giants tomorrow night in a matchup of the NL's former ace (Tim Lincecum) and the NL's reigning ace (Harvey).

MM

Game #84: Brewers 7, Mets 6

In a game Shaun Marcum stayed in way too long, he delivered what turned out to be New York's death knell in his old home of Milwaukee.

Marcum made a crucial error on a sac bunt in the 6th that gave the Brewers a gift run that became the decider in the Mets' 7-6 loss.

The Bad Stuff:

• Shaun Marcum continues to be the black sheep in an otherwise set Mets rotation. Today he allowed six runs (five earned, but the unearned was also on him) on a whopping 11 hits in five-plus innings, walking one and striking out three on a surprisingly low 83 pitches. His exit came in the 6th inning when, after a Logan Schafer single, Marcum threw Yovani Gallardo's sac bunt wide, and Daniel Murphy's missed catch allowed Schafer to score. That made it 6-4, and without that run perhaps the Mets would have gone to extra innings once again.
• New York missed a golden opportunity in the top of the 7th when they loaded the bases with one out. Marlon Byrd plated one run on a sac fly, but Kirk Nieuwenhuis's line drive went right to Schafer in left to end the threat.
• In the 8th, the Mets got two runners on with two out for Daniel Murphy, whose hit also died in the glove of Schafer.

The Good Stuff:

Marlon Stretches/Waves (Photo by Me)

• John Buck broke the ice with a solo home run in the 5th inning and pounded a two-run single in the 6th to bring the team within one, finishing the day 2-3 with 3 RBIs.
• After going 0-6 last night, Daniel Murphy rebounded in the form of 3-5 with his 20th double and 34th RBI.
• After seeing another long fly snuffed out just before the fence, Marlon Byrd finally got his homer off ex-Met Francisco Rodriguez in the 9th, making a 7-5 game 7-6 and breaking up K-Rod's three strikeouts in the inning (hey, all we wanted was for him to pitch like he did in NY, and we got our wish).
• Ike Davis didn't get a hit but walked three times, in the process becoming the most-respected .170 hitter in the history of baseball.
• Davis and Omar Quintanilla picked up their first stolen bases of the season; Eric Young's 12th gave the Mets three on the night.
• Before the game, David Wright was announced as the NL's starting third baseman in the All-Star Game, and Matt Harvey was named to the team as well; Bruce Bochy should name the starter next week.

Final Analysis:
After falling behind 5-0, it was nice to see the Mets never giving up and almost closing the gap on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for them, every time they had the Brewers in their clutch, the Milwaukeeans slipped away their very next chance.

Shaun Marcum earned the loss that gives him 10 for the season, and Terry Collins left him out much longer than he should have. While it might have been understandable to have him bat in the 5th inning (successful sac bunt), sending him up with two out and a runner on in the 6th was not a wise move at all.

Last word of the night: before coming to tonight's game, I killed time by taking in a Broadway show: I saw Wicked at Milwaukee's Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. After that spectacular three hours, baseball had a lot to live up to. It didn't live up to it today.

MM

Game #83: Mets 12, Brewers 5

I kid you not, the description of the New York Mets in today's Miller Park program began by saying, "The Mets will stand toe-to-toe with any offense that wants to slug it out in the National League." Milwaukee's sports information director must have known something we didn't, because somehow the Mets lived up to the program.

The Man of the Night (Photo by Me)

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had the game of his life, leading the New York charge with five RBIs, as the Mets hammered the Brewers 12-5 in tonight's opener.

The Good Stuff:

• Kirk Nieuwenhuis came into the game batting .179 and got off the Interstate in a hurry. His impressive final line reads like this: 4-4, 2B, 3B, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 RBI. Toss in a stolen base and throwing out Jean Segura at home at you've got a guy who just had the game of his life. Needless to say, Kirk's not hitting .179 anymore (now it's .233).
• Nieuwenhuis's only blemish was in the 8th inning on Logan Schafer's double. Kirk dove for it, came up short, got turned around as he got up, and looked rather silly for a couple seconds trying to find a ball that was right in front of him. So instead of an absolutely perfect game he gets the Amish quilt version: beautiful with a small flaw. How very humble of him.
• Ike Davis returned to the major league roster this morning, supplanting red-hot Josh Satin from first base. If he keeps having games like tonight's, we might forget Satin sooner than we thought: Davis went 3-5 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs, including an infield hit with the bases loaded in the 2nd. He struck out once but got really good contact on his line out to right.
• Juan Lagares went 3-5 with three RBIs and Eric Young scored three runs.
• While Daniel Murphy committed one error, New York was the beneficiary of some fine throwing in the field. First was Nieuwenhuis's putout of Segura at home in the 1st. Next was Zack Wheeler not falling for the double steal and nailing Norichika Aoki at the plate in the 3rd. Then came a Lagares-to-Murphy-to-David Wright line in the 7th to send Carlos Gomez packing.
• Speaking of Zack Wheeler, he got his second career win thanks to the strong offense. His numbers, while not great, were certainly better than those of his last start, as he allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits in five innings, walking three and striking out three on 98 pitches.

The Bad Stuff:

• Marlon Byrd had a sure home run taken away in the 6th on a leaping grab by one-time Met Carlos Gomez.
• The game took around three and a half hours, meaning the Mets have played about 20 hours of baseball in the last five days. They must be tired!

Final Analysis:
Now this was a heck of a game to be at. Kirk's career day, Ike's return to his career, and lots of Met fans amidst the Wisconsinites. It isn't often the Mets put up those kinds of offensive numbers, but when they do, and especially when David Wright only had one of the team's 14 hits, the numbers speak for themselves. Way to go, boys.

MM