I was at the game last night, and despite everything that happened, I still had a good time. (To clarify that, the Mets fan in me was Angry, Vulgar, and agitated, the Baseball fan in me was still taking in the sights of the stadium, which on trip #2 have not worn of yet). To quote someone in my group last night, as we walked up to the ballpark, “You smell that? New Ballpark smell!”
Anyway, back to the game. Going into the bottom of the fifth, the Mets were practically in cruise control (the wrong attitude to be in), and then Oliver, who had about 70 pitches to that point, who was effective to that point, completely broke down. He could not get anyone out. The bases were immediately loaded. Now I am not quick to blame Perez totally because the Nats got a lot of lucky breaks in this area. They seemed to hit the ball in the right spot of the infield that there was no player, those little spots. (This continued for the next three innings) Bad breaks like that, plus defense blunders adds a lot of pressure to pitchers.
That pressure, which pitchers should be able to handle does not help pitchers that load the bases with no outs (Perez), have struggled this year (Heilman), and cannot finish innings (Sosa).
On the other side of the plate, the Mets struggles at the plate really shined through last night. The inability to have a big inning is starting to kill this team. Wright slumping a bit in these two games (have two walks and no hits) really hurts this team, but its hard to blame Wright because recently, when things do go right, Wright is in the middle of it, he doesn't have to carry the team, there are 24 other guys out there that can and do step up. Remember how over a week ago, the Mets had a 6 run-inning against the Phills? Well that led to a three game win streak, and then later (after two dropped to the Brewers) to a five game streak.
It's to early to panic. The Mets are one big inning and a couple of good outings away from another win streak. I was talking to a friend after the game and explained my philosophy, which is probably very similar to many peoples, for how to look at the start of the season. At the start of the season, the standings mean nothing. Winning is what you aim for. That is different then aiming to be #1 because there are times that when the team thats in second place loses, theres a little less pressure to win. Well when you try to win and do win early, then the team just builds a cushion above .500 and then the standings take care of themselves. So forget the Phillies, forget the Braves, and just focus on each W.
