Mets Squander Opportunities and See WC Lead Disappear

After a leadoff triple by Daniel Murphy in the bottom of the ninth, a turning point victory was only ninety feet away for the Mets.  That ninety feet may as well have been a million miles. Met fans have been conditioned not to take anything for granted, and tonight the Murphy triple ended up as one of many tantalizing reminders of what might have been. 

After a 9-6 Cub win the Mets find themselves tied with the suddenly hard-charging Brewers and Prince Fielder for the NL wild card with four to play.  So the Mets still control their own destiny.  However with a 10-4 Phillies loss to Atlanta, the Mets, if they had won, could have drawn to within half a game in the NL East (and even in the loss column).  

Pin this one on the offense, which blew golden opportunities in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings.  The one run they did score during this span was in the 8th, on a bases loaded walk from rookie Jeff Samardzija.  Perhaps the only reason Samardzija was in this big spot and allowed to finish the inning is because the Cubs have already clinched, and manager Lou Piniella was tinkering with his bullpen to see what will work in the playoffs. I make this point about Samardzija to say the Mets were given every possible opportunity. In that 8th inning, just as they did in the 7th, the Mets had runners on first and third with nobody out. A line drive double play to first base erased the 7th inning chance.  In the 8th, Ryan Church, who has looked disturbingly passive and timid at the plate of late, struck out, and then Ramon Castro had a poorly placed groundout to third which froze Carlos Delgado, the runner at third.  So Samadzija’s bases loaded walk to Ramon Martinez that allowed the Mets to tie the game at 6-6 in the 8th was more than the Mets really earned.

And then came the backbreaker in the 9th.  Murphy showed tremendous hustle on his triple, forcing the Cubs to make a play when the overly shallow Kosuke Fukudome had to chase his gapper all the way the wall.  A double clutch on the relay by Ryan Theriot allowed Murphy to arrive at third base safely.  But then  Piniella really shined with his strategy.  First he went after David Wright, who got struck out by Bob Howry.  Then Delgado and Carlos Beltran were walked intentionally.  This allowed Piniella (in the person of Howry) to go after Ryan Church, who grounded out weakly and timidly, allowing the Cubs to erase Murphy at home.  Then Ramon Castro struck out.  Inning over.

It was a well executed plan by Piniella, rolling the dice with Wright and then taking advantage of the recently inept Church, who went 0-for-5 on the night.  Something is clearly not right with Church, who’s timing has been off since he returned from his lengthy absence following two turnovers.  Credit Piniella for doing his scouting and taking advantage.  But also, the blame rests squarely on the man I not too long ago trumpeted for NL MVP, David Wright.  Can you please put up a freakin’ fly ball when your team needs a sac fly to win? 

I agree with SNY’s Keith Hernandez that when you blow chance after chance and leave runners on base, its almost inevitable that the other team will end up taking advantage.  So while Oliver Perez had a poor outing I don’t really blame him.  And the same is true with Luis Ayala.  He ran out of gas when called upon to pitch a second inning, but I really blame the Met offense for sending him back out there instead of winning the game when they had the chance.

So as I said, the Mets still control their own destiny in the wild card race, but in order to do so they are confronted with yet another instance where they need to pick themselves up off the mat and reverse their emotions onto the positive side of the ledger.  With Pedro on the mound and the Brew Crew going against the Pirates, a team they have pounded like veal cutlet all season long, sorry to say its advantage Milwaukee at this point.

Objectively speaking, its been a heck of a race down the stretch, with the pecking order changing night to night and moment to moment…one can only hope the Mets take the next turn to the positive on tomorrow’s episode of As the Stomach Churns.

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