After doing the unthinkable and coming back from a 0-4 hole, the Mets bullpen blew a two run lead in the eight to lose to the Cards last night. Four Cardinal homeruns doomed the Mets, including two from Glaus, the second a walk off shot to end it all. Pedro struggled early, giving up four runs in the first, but seemed to settle down over the next four. Joe Smith looked respectable (aside from giving up a two out triple), but Feleciano blew the save in the eight on a two run shot by Duncan, and Muniz lost it. Muniz has already been sent back to the minors, no definite word yet on who his roster spot goes to.

On the plus side, the Mets were hitting. Reyes had his ninth triple of the season, Wright added one of his own. Both had three hits for the night. Easley and Beltran doubled, and Church went 2 for 5. Chavez was the only starter to fail to get a hit.

Between the late start and the rain delay, at least most people fell asleep before the end. So there’s that. The roster move with Muniz will hopefully involve a bench player, since we’re playing with a short one. Especially since realistically, Castillo is too hurt to keep score let alone play. Hopefully a second move is made today involving him going to hang out with Duq and Alou on the DL or the retirement village.

The Mets lost in ten innings this afternoon, despite a fabulous effort from their ace Johan Santana.

Well, after the game Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey convened and hired an “associate” to “take care of” Billy Wagner.  Just kidding, but who knows?

Wagner blew his third straight save this afternoon, 20 hours after he ruined Big Pelf’s career start.  Fittingly, Aaron Heilman gave up a run in the 10th to finish it off.  

Oh, and it was perfect right after Billy finished the top of the ninth, a commercial with Wagner came on with him saying, “You know what I do in my spare time?” And I just thought to myself, “Jeez, you seem like you you’re doing everything possible to help us lose, but don’t worry Billy, we’ll try and foil your masterplan of blowing saves again!.”

Pitching: 

The Mets were delivered another wonderful start this afternoon, this time from their ace Johan Santana.  Johan was in control thoughout, allowing no runs and only three hits and three walks while striking out 10 through seven innings of duty.  In the 8th, Joe Smith allowed two runs.  He has now allowed at least a run in two consecutive outings.  However, Scott Schoenweis was able to finish the 8th without more damage.  Billy Wagner made things extremely scary again in the ninth.  He began the inning by walking Miguel Montero and allowing an infield single to Stephen Drew, who hit a chopper up the middle that Reyes misplayed. And with Wagner,  you know the story, he blows the save, then Heilman, yada-yada-yada.

Hitting:

Again while they weren’t stunning, the offense did some this afternoon.  The scoring started with Ramon Castro knocking his 1st HR of the year, a solo shot into left field.  In the third, David Wright hit an RBI double, which after trotting because he thought it was going to be a HR, he tried to extend into a triple where he was nailed by Justin Upton - who has a cannon.  The final two runs were driven in by Fernando Tatis on a dink single, scoring Castro and Damion Easley. 

This is getting to be Groundhog Day, its like the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over.  Usually, I’m not a big fan of the ‘boo’, but the boos rained when they lost and it is well deserved. 

I am beyond frustrated, and I can’t imagine any fan that isn’t.  Anybody have some answers? I’m at a loss. 

The Mets lost to the Padres tonight by a score of 2-1. For a full box score, go to SNY.tv.

Scott Showenweis gets the loss, hitting Padres LF Paul McAnulty with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. Show came in to pitch in the top of the ninth and promptly walked the first two batters he faced. He retired the next batter on a comebacker off his leg before issuing an intentional walk to set up the double play. His first pitch to McAnulty came high and tight and hit him square in the back. As many of you may remember, he walked the first two batters he faced on Tuesday night in San Francisco, before surrendering a 3 run home run.

Pelfrey pitched effective, but not great. The Padres are clearly a bad ball club and they were just 1-for-9 with RISP. Pelfrey gave up 8 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings but seemed to always get himself out of the jam, which is good but probably wouldn’t happen against a better team.

Josh Banks seemed to really confuse the Mets at the plate. Jose Reyes was on base 3 times but the Mets could only plate him once, on a David Wright rbi single in the sixth to tie the game. Oddly, Padres Manager Bud Black took Banks out after 6 innings and just 71 pitches, but the Mets couldn’t take advantage of the Padres bullpen.

This 4 game series continues tomorrow night as The Mets will send ace Johan Santana to the mound against lefty Randy Wolf.

Well that was certainly disappointing. It looked like the Show might have been able to escape the ninth out of trouble with a young hitter up. If you’re going to lose, at least make them earn it. Lets go out and get the next few, just like in San Fran.

The Mets defeated the Giants tonight by a score of 9-6 to go a game above .500. For a full box score, visit SNY.tv.

For those of you who didn’t stay awake to see this one, it wasn’t as close as the score may indicate.

The big story of course, was the return of Pedro Martinez. Pedro pitched well, despite the cold weather, and earned the win tonight in his first start since April 1st. Pedro surrendered a run in the first and then settled down for the next few innings before giving up 2 more in the fifth. Then, to the amazement of everyone, came out and pitched the sixth inning as well with an 8 run lead. In the sixth, he pitched himself in and out of a first and third no out jam. He finished the night with 6 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 3BB and 3K on 109 pitches. He was also 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and an rbi. It was his first multi-hit game since 1997. Joe Smith and Feliciano each pitched perfect innings in relief. Show came in to pitch the ninth and gave up 3 runs on 2 walks and 2 hits before being rescued by Wags who came in and got 3 outs on 2 pitches for the save. Show has been pretty consistent this year and if he was due for a bad outing, I’m glad it happened when we had a 6 run lead.

Barry Zito was awful as usual and I’m sure Met fans were more than happy to see him wasting San Francisco’s money and not ours. The Mets struggled early, getting men on base but not capitalizing on those opportunities. Then came the fifth inning. In that inning the Mets finally got a hold of Zito, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring 8 runs. The inning was capped off by a Damion Easley double with the bases loaded. They were helped by the Giants defense which continues to look awful, committing 3 errors and a bone head play in the field by veteran Omar Vizquel on a routine ground ball to short. The 8 runs are the most in an inning by The Mets this season, and their largest total since putting up 11 against the Cubs in July of 2006.

Rubber game of this series is tomorrow afternoon as John Maine takes the mound versus Matt Cain.

Good to see the Mets finally break through offensively in this series. I’ll chalk Monday’s game up to the travel and you know what we have to do tomorrow. Pedro tonight was huge on so many levels. Tons of talk around town about his presence in the clubhouse as well as his performance on the field. He’s absolutely a huge factor in the success of this team and lets hope he continues to pitch well and stay healthy.

After a rough start, the Mets were winning, but then not so much. Or as was sung in the Mets musical, ‘The Circle of Mets.’

John Maine had a rough first, getting taken for three runs, then righted himself and gave up just one more over the rest of his time out there (another five). Everyones favorite whipping boy, Aaron Heilman takes the loss. He gave up four hits while recording no outs, threw a wild pitch, and gets credit for four Dodger runs, with some assistance via The Show. But at least Show retired three batters. For those who’s heads have not exploded yet, Chan Ho Park got the win.

When Chan Ho and Tatis face off, isn’t the result supposed to be unpredictable, wild, and mind boggling? It should be like an episode of Lost, but weirder. Not a groundout.

Luis Castillo homered, according to MLB guidelines, Kershaw must now be sent to the minor leagues. Reyes has now reached safely in 30 straight games. The Mets scored five runs, two via the Castillo homerun, all while just getting seven hits. Only two of which were for extra bases (Wright doubled). Seriously, Chan Ho Park. Three and one third inning pitched. Three walks, two hits, one earned run. Either the Mets offense is 100% dead, or Chan’s juicing. Someone check his locker for checks from Lo Duca.