Post Game: Snake Bitten

The Mets lost to the D-Backs by the score of 4-3 in 14 Innings completing a three game sweep by the D-Backs.

Wrap-Up: This game defined the recent struggles of the New York Metropolitans. Jon Niese, despite not having his good stuff tonight, went 5 IP while giving up 3 earned runs, all on Solo HR's.

The Mets offense once again could get nothing going. Angel Pagan continued his good consistant play by Hitting his 8th HR of the year in the Top of the 1st. Carlos Beltran recorded his first RBI since coming back from the DL in the Top 3rd on an RBI single that scored Pagan who 2B. Then in the Top of the 6th, Rod Barajas finally snapped out of his Homerun drought by hitting a solo shot to tie the game in the sixth. That was all the offense the Mets were able to muster up. The scary thing is that they scored all 3 runs off of ARI ace right-hander Dan Haren. The Diamondbacks coming into the game had the worst bullpen ERA in the league and the Mets were unable to do anything against them. The ARI bullpen only gave up 1 Hit in 8 innings of work.

Former Met Aaron Heilman made his first appearance against the Mets since they traded him in 2008. He was fantastic going 2 IP, 0 Hits, 1 BB, and 3 K's.

Raul Valdes was absolutely brilliant for the Mets tonight. He came in the game and had complete control of the situation. He gave the Mets 3 great innings while only allowing 2 base-runners and striking out 4.

Tonight also marked the return of Oliver Perez from the DL. Jerry Manuel, with Fernando Nieve still available, called upon Perez in the 12th Inning. Perez was not impressive at all. His fastball was only topping out at 86 MPH, although most of his fastballs were only hitting 83-84 MPH. Perez immediately got into trouble. He allowed Augie Ojeda, a .161 hitter to leadoff with a single. He then proceeded to walk Justin Upton. Next, Miguel Montero hit a chopper right back through the box that should have easily been a 1-6-3 DP, however Perez bobbled the ball and was only able to get Montero at 1st base. Jerry Manuel then decidedto intentionally walk Mark Reynolds to load the bases for pinch hitter Stephen Drew. Perez fell behind Drew 2-0. Then he got a gift when Drew inexplicably swung at pitch on the inside half of the plate and popped out to David Wright at 3B. Perez then was able to retire Adam LaRoache on a deep fly ball to LF. Perez survived the 12th and was called upon to start the 13th. He struck out the first hitter he saw but then hit the next batter which was his last of the night.

Fernando Nieve then came on to finish the job in the 13th. In the 14th however, the D-Backs finally broke through and scored the winning run off Nieve on a RBI 1B by pinch hitter Chris Synder.

Jason Bay had another terrible nigh at the plate going 0-6 and struck out 4 times. I would not be surprised to see him get a few days off to clear his head.

The Mets have no lost 3 games in a row and are 1-6 on this current road trip that will conclude in LA. Thankfully they did not lose any ground to the division leading Braves or the Wildcard leading Reds and remain 6 1/2 and 3 games out respectively.

Tommorow night the Mets try to right the ship as they travel to LA to begin a 4 game series at Dodgers Stadium with a start time of 10:10 PM. The pitching match-up will be Hisanori Takahashi VS Hiroki Kuroda.