The Mets lost to the Rockies tonight by the score of 6-2. This game featured another great pitchers duel. Tonight it was Jon Niese and Jeff Francis providing the zero's. After Jon Niese retired the side in order, Jose Reyes got the night started for the Mets. On a 2-0 count, Reyes dropped down a bunt in front of the pitchers mound and beat catcher Chris Ianetta's throw to first for a lead-off 1B. Then, Angel Pagan on a 1-0 count, blasted a 2-run HR over the LF wall to put the Mets ahead 2-0 before the Rockies were even able to record an out. It seemed as if the Mets were going to hammer Francis all over the park, but he settled down, and retired the next 10 hitters in a row.
Jon Niese was fantastic once again tonight. He matched Francis pitch for pitch. After putting up zero's for the first 6 innings, Niese stumbled for the first time in the 7th. He allowed the first 2 hitters to reach on 1bs. Then he was able to retire Ryan Spilborghs on a soft ground ball to 3B, which advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Chris Ianetta then hit a deep Sac Fly to CF, scoring the Rockies first run. Niese was able to get out of the 7th, only giving up that 1 run.
With the score holding at 2-1, the Rockies finally broke the game open in the 8th. Newly anointed "8th inning guy" Hisanori Takahashi came on to start the inning. He quickly retired the first two hitters on a K and a groundball. Then Todd Helton stepped to the plate and lined a 1B into RF. After Helton, left-handed hitting Carlos Gonzalez drew a walk, ending Takahashi's night. With 2 on and 2 out, Manny Acosta was brought on to face right-handed hitting Troy Tulowitzki. Acosta threw his first pitch up and in and reached the back-stop advancing the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Jerry Manuel then decided to IBB Tulowitzki, loading the bases for Melvin Mora. Acosta quickly got ahead of Mora with two called strikes on consecutive fastballs. Mora however worked the count even to 2-2, and then took a hanging slider over the wall to LF for a Grand Slam, putting the Rockies ahead 5-2. The Rockies would add another run that inning, making the score 6-2. That is how the game ended as the Mets could not get anything going VS the Rockies bullpen.
Jon Niese was great once again for the Mets. He has now pitched back to back 7 IP, 1 Run games, and does not have a win to show for it. His fastball was on the black all night, while his curve was buckling the hitters knees. He only got into one jam all night and was able to limit the damage to 1 run. Niese deserved to win tonight. His final line was 7IP, 1ER, 5 Hits, 0BB, and 7K's.
After Hisanori Takahashi retired the side 1-2-3 last night, Manuel decided that he was the knew 8th inning guy. So he went to Takahashi again in the same spot. This time, Takahashi was not able to get the job done. I wonder who will be the 8th inning guy tomorrow if a similar situation occurs.
Manny Acosta, who has been great since being re-called from Triple-A, was the culprit tonight in the Mets bullpen. He came on to bail out Takahashi, but was unable to do so. Acosta faced 5 hitters and didn't retire a single one of them. The biggest pitch he made all night was not the one that he gave up the GS on. It was the first pitch he threw allowing runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd when it went to the back-stop. Instead of facing Tulowitzki with runners on 1st and 2nd, he was now facing Melvin Mora with the bases loaded. We all know what occured next. I do not understand why Manuel did not bring K-Rod in for a 4 out save. He retired all 3 hitters he faced last night with relative ease and had 2 days off in a row before that. This made no sense to me and showed another mishap in Manuel's in game tactical decision making.
The Mets offense was terrible once again. After the first two hitters of the game reached base, the Mets only had 2 more base runners all game, including a string of 7 consecutive K's between the 6th and 8th innings. The Mets last 15 hitters of the game were retired.
David Wright continued his struggles by striking out in all 4 of his AB's tonight.
The Mets gave up their 9th Grand Slam of the year tonight to lead the majors.
The Mets have now failed to win back to back games since June 22-23 VS DET, a span that stretches over 42 games.
The Mets conclude their 3 game series with the Colorado Rockies tomorrow at 12:10PM. The starting pitchers will be LHP Johan Santana VS RHP Jason Hamel.
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