The Mets sorely missed Jose Reyes this afternoon, and lost to the Pirates 5-2.  Reyes was given the day off today, one day after David Wright was given the day off.   

Initially, the Mets seemed to be doing fine without Jose, with Argenis Reyes starting the game in fine fashion.  He singled to center, and Nick Evans followed him with a double.  However, the Mets were only able to score one run in that inning off a sac-fly from Carlos Beltran.  The Mets scored again in the fourth off of a Carlos Delgado groundout to make the game 2-0. 

Jerry Manuel was ejected arguing in the fifth, after Argenis Reyes was tagged out after running through first base and apparently making a turn into fair play.  Reyes unintentionally made this turn and did not know, so he was casually tagged out.  While he did appear to make the turn, Manuel disagreed and was given the boot by cowboy Joe West. 

John Maine did not have his fastball or his control this afternoon, but managed to throw five scoreless innings.  Maine walked four and allowed two hits while throwing 96 pitches in those five innings. 

Brian Stokes relieved Maine to begin the sixth and promptly gave up a 2-run HR.  After that the bullpen moved things along to the eighth, where Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez combined to allow three runs while recording only one out.  Joe Smith worked out of the jam to prevent further damage.

After a solid 6-1 road trip, the Mets take on their classic rival the Atlanta Braves with Oliver Perez taking on Jo-Jo Reyes.