IGT Sunday June 30 Nats at Mets 'Latex game'

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

And having accomplished all i wanted to, that was how my career ended
By Brandon Lyon

[Zvon]

Why is Rice even out there?

[Zvon]

Hey, both of you guys sneak down to right behind the plate.

[Zvon]

UGH. Nothing drops.

[Zvon]

Recker looks surprisingly good on the mound. Now how will he do with the pitching part....?

88mph

[Chad ochoseis]

seawolf17 wrote: Who's our emergency pitcher? Brown?

Well, now that that's answered, who's our emergency catcher?

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Quick, somebody get Edgy.

[Zvon]

Well, he looks good. His pitching looks less so. Desmond almost hits one out of the stadium.
13-0

[Centerfield]

More proof that we don't win latex games, condom games, or gay dames.

[Zvon]

Either I saw movement on that last pitch to Suzuki or the earth moved.

[Zvon]

Good nuff Recker. So now we really don't even want to try and catch up, right?

[Zvon]

Satin can reach that gap. And it karooms away in center, but why go for three? Why even run hard?

[Chad ochoseis]

BUCKABOOM!

[Zvon]

Don't even have my image pages up.

BUCKYBOOM!

[Zvon]

Ruined the shutout. Nice.

Bad game. Booo. Disappointing home debut for Zack. I figure he needs more time to make adjustments to this level of play. Hope so anyway. We really need him to be at least a decent pitcher.

Mets lose pretty horribly.
13-2

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah it really sucked but way better than Friday. I am absolute poison at the ballyard going on 2 years now, I can't see a win for my life.

But we had fun anyway.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Excellent! Well, he whittled the ERA down to 18.00 by the time he was done.

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah it really sucked but way better than Friday. I am absolute poison at the ballyard going on 2 years now, I can't see a win for my life.

The Mets have won seven home games since May 11. I have been to nine Mets home games since May 11. There has been zero intersection between those two subsets.

[Frayed Knot]

Today obviously sucked (I should have napped for 7 innings and watched 2 instead of the other way around) but, unlike Friday, it's easy to get over games like this. The adage I often use is that if your starter is going to suck and the pen is going to suck and the bats are going to suck then they might as well all suck at the same time. The close ones hurt more and our prior five losses involved three walk-offs plus Friday which was essentially the home field equivalent of a walk-off. Today was the first of our last eight losses that was by more than 2 runs - and even that one was a 6-3 loss to Chicago where they got three in the 8th inning. It was really the only blowout since StL nearly three weeks ago. As long as you're keeping those to a minimum then things aren't too bad.


That Wheeler got smacked around is disappointing (although remember that they usually don't come out of the box like Harvey) as is the increasing realization that the back half of the lineup of Buck, Lagares/Nieuwenhuis, Qunitanilla, Pitcher, is black hole of major proportions. I think the only strategic move Davey had to make all weekend was early in Friday's game when, following the Byrd base-running blunder and a bad AB by Buck*, he IW'd Lagares to load the bases but force Q (against a lefty) then Harvey to drive in the runs (they didn't).

* and, btw, nice clutch HR in today's 9th there JB



First guy gone from the pen should be Lyon. His decent start to the season, .200 BAA and 4.5/1 K/BB in April, has crashed to .313 & 2.67/1 in May, and .356 & .83/1 in June (and those June numbers don't even include today's results)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Really what a game like today's does is illustrate what a mess they made of everything on Friday, it was the difference in the series of course.

I was expecting Lyon to have been released already.

Here are a few more photos:

Looked great in the first inning.








Buck's HR off the bat:


Fullest house I've seen in a long time:

[ashie62]

I went to the beach today...

I believe Wheeler will be optioned by the all star break.. Too much too soon

[metirish]

Heyman et al taking delight on Twitter telling us how Wheeler isn't Harvey etc, not ready yyybbb...this after demanding he come up ...perhaps I too am guilty in that demand. Didn't get to see any of the game, what was his main problem?, some reports suggest his fastball went from 97 to 92ish by the time he was pulled.

[Fman99]

Woke up from my Sunday post lunch nap to see they were already down 5-0. No WPIX at my house so I went outside and listened to maybe 1-2 innings on my phone/XM. Then I turned it off. Thanks anyway.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah it really sucked but way better than Friday. I am absolute poison at the ballyard going on 2 years now, I can't see a win for my life. The Mets have won seven home games since May 11. I have been to nine Mets home games since May 11. There has been zero intersection between those two subsets.

I've been 3-2 (think that's 2 in April though)

I'm 1-0 when I pay though, fwiw. I have tickets for tonight (Free ones) but I might have to cancel.

[Edgy MD]

No more plays on the word "rubber." I'm not inclined toward superstition, but it's cursed, it's bad luck, bad juju, bad kharma, a bad omen, a harbinger of doom. It's bedevlied, snake-bit, and star-crossed. It's ill-fated, foredoomed, and blighted. It leaves the game ill-augered and poorly portented.

I CAN'T SAY THIS ENOUGH.

Though I'm not inclined toward superstition.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy MD wrote: No more plays on the word "rubber." I'm not inclined toward superstition, but it's cursed, it's bad luck, bad juju, bad kharma, a bad omen, a harbinger of doom. It's bedevlied, snake-bit, and star-crossed. It's ill-fated, foredoomed, and blighted. It leaves the game ill-augered and poorly portented. I CAN'T SAY THIS ENOUGH. Though I'm not inclined toward superstition.

Bounce "rubber". Got it. Will find something more elastic.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I noticed the decreased velocity too. Was 97 in the first inning, 93-94 in the 2nd inning.

Truthfully I thought he was let down by his mates not getting a lead when they had the chance to and the full support of the crowd in the first. I'm looking at you, Byrd. Then the first pitch of the 2nd inning (I think) was just crushed, then a 4-pitch walk.

I'd have a made a visit then if I were Warthen and not once 4 runs had scored.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yes, Wheeler is no Harvey, in terms of his first few starts.

You know who else is no Harvey, in that way? Virtually every pitcher in major league history, including the overwhelming majority of Hall of Fame pitchers.

Oh, and I love the "back off, people" reaction pieces from writers who have spent the last two years singing The Ballad Of Ol' Young Zack.

[metirish]

I like what you say about Harvey....LaRoche said yesterday Harvey might be the best pitcher he has ever faced....