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Day After Manager’s Speech, Mets Are Swept in Doubleheader
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Day After Manager’s Speech, Mets Are Swept in Doubleheader
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
Published: April 14, 2011
Terry Collins, the first-year Mets manager, put himself in a very difficult position Wednesday night when he said after a demoralizing loss that his team needed to win 9 of its next 11 games. It was a bold declaration to make so early in the season, but even if the actual numbers were not to be taken literally, the idea that the Mets needed to immediately embark on a winning streak was clear.
For Collins, it was a gamble that his players would respond to his call, because if they did not, it would appear his words had no effect. For an inning or two it seemed the players had heard, and were responding, but in the end it proved a brief mirage.
On Thursday, a day that could be seen as an early litmus test for Collins’s ability to conjure victories from this group of players, the Mets endured the worst possible outcome: they were swept in a doubleheader. The Mets have now lost five games in a row and eight of nine over all.
In the first game the Colorado Rockies withstood a dramatic late-inning comeback by the Mets to win, 6-5. Colorado then came from behind to win the second game, 9-4, before a sparse and ornery crowd.
The Mets led in each game of the series, only to lose all four, in large part because of their refusal to pitch around Troy Tulowitzki.
Tulowitzki homered in each game against the Mets, went 10 for 16 over all with 4 home runs and 8 runs batted in, and also made a game-saving play at shortstop in the opening game of the series Monday.
In Thursday’s first game the Mets did show some fight by staging a rally in the ninth inning that fell only a few feet short. After trailing by four runs in the eighth inning, the Mets scored three runs and had the bases loaded with David Wright at the plate and two outs. Wright lifted a long fly ball to right field, but Seth Smith caught the ball on the warning track in the cut-out portion of the outfield.
R. A. Dickey, who started the first game, allowed five earned runs on eight hits in six and a third innings, including a two-run home run by Carlos Gonzalez in the seventh inning that made the score 5-2. Dickey was then replaced by Bobby Parnell, who gave up a solo home run to Tulowitzki, of course.
It was Tulowitzki’s third home run of the series and second off Parnell. On Wednesday Collins elected to have Jon Niese pitch to Tulowitzki with two runners on base and first base empty, and Tulowitzki hit a three-run home run. Following that decisive moment the Mets went in meek submission, which caused Collins to rail against the deflated manner in which his players reacted to the adversity.
For most of the first game the Mets did not react well, until Jose Reyes hit a solo home run in the eighth and Hairston hit a two-run shot in the ninth. Then, with one out, Josh Thole reached on a single and Beltran came to the plate as a pinch hitter and ripped a single into right field.
That was all for closer Huston Street, who did not have his best stuff. Rockies Manager Jim Tracy called upon Matt Lindstrom who got a ground ball out from Reyes and walked Daniel Murphy to load the bases. But Wright’s fly ball fell a few feet short.
The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Angel Pagan hit a sacrifice fly and Hairston knocked in Ike Davis with a two-out bloop single. But both outfielders made bad plays on balls hit to them in the field, as outfielders on both teams had trouble judging balls all afternoon.
The Rockies also benefited from the Mets’ failure to turn a double play in the sixth inning. Reyes snared a bouncer up the middle by Ian Stewart, but his flip to Murphy was a little slow, leaving the first-year second baseman in an awkward position to make the relay.
Murphy’s throw was high and Stewart was safe, and Jose Morales followed with a two-run double to right field that might have been catchable. But Hairston stopped well before the wall and the ball went over his head. The Rockies took a 3-2 lead and the Mets, one again, were deflated and defeated.
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
Published: April 14, 2011
Terry Collins, the first-year Mets manager, put himself in a very difficult position Wednesday night when he said after a demoralizing loss that his team needed to win 9 of its next 11 games. It was a bold declaration to make so early in the season, but even if the actual numbers were not to be taken literally, the idea that the Mets needed to immediately embark on a winning streak was clear.
For Collins, it was a gamble that his players would respond to his call, because if they did not, it would appear his words had no effect. For an inning or two it seemed the players had heard, and were responding, but in the end it proved a brief mirage.
On Thursday, a day that could be seen as an early litmus test for Collins’s ability to conjure victories from this group of players, the Mets endured the worst possible outcome: they were swept in a doubleheader. The Mets have now lost five games in a row and eight of nine over all.
In the first game the Colorado Rockies withstood a dramatic late-inning comeback by the Mets to win, 6-5. Colorado then came from behind to win the second game, 9-4, before a sparse and ornery crowd.
The Mets led in each game of the series, only to lose all four, in large part because of their refusal to pitch around Troy Tulowitzki.
Tulowitzki homered in each game against the Mets, went 10 for 16 over all with 4 home runs and 8 runs batted in, and also made a game-saving play at shortstop in the opening game of the series Monday.
In Thursday’s first game the Mets did show some fight by staging a rally in the ninth inning that fell only a few feet short. After trailing by four runs in the eighth inning, the Mets scored three runs and had the bases loaded with David Wright at the plate and two outs. Wright lifted a long fly ball to right field, but Seth Smith caught the ball on the warning track in the cut-out portion of the outfield.
R. A. Dickey, who started the first game, allowed five earned runs on eight hits in six and a third innings, including a two-run home run by Carlos Gonzalez in the seventh inning that made the score 5-2. Dickey was then replaced by Bobby Parnell, who gave up a solo home run to Tulowitzki, of course.
It was Tulowitzki’s third home run of the series and second off Parnell. On Wednesday Collins elected to have Jon Niese pitch to Tulowitzki with two runners on base and first base empty, and Tulowitzki hit a three-run home run. Following that decisive moment the Mets went in meek submission, which caused Collins to rail against the deflated manner in which his players reacted to the adversity.
For most of the first game the Mets did not react well, until Jose Reyes hit a solo home run in the eighth and Hairston hit a two-run shot in the ninth. Then, with one out, Josh Thole reached on a single and Beltran came to the plate as a pinch hitter and ripped a single into right field.
That was all for closer Huston Street, who did not have his best stuff. Rockies Manager Jim Tracy called upon Matt Lindstrom who got a ground ball out from Reyes and walked Daniel Murphy to load the bases. But Wright’s fly ball fell a few feet short.
The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Angel Pagan hit a sacrifice fly and Hairston knocked in Ike Davis with a two-out bloop single. But both outfielders made bad plays on balls hit to them in the field, as outfielders on both teams had trouble judging balls all afternoon.
The Rockies also benefited from the Mets’ failure to turn a double play in the sixth inning. Reyes snared a bouncer up the middle by Ian Stewart, but his flip to Murphy was a little slow, leaving the first-year second baseman in an awkward position to make the relay.
Murphy’s throw was high and Stewart was safe, and Jose Morales followed with a two-run double to right field that might have been catchable. But Hairston stopped well before the wall and the ball went over his head. The Rockies took a 3-2 lead and the Mets, one again, were deflated and defeated.
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Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>for the 25th or so consecutive year. >>
The Mets won the NL pennant 11 years ago and won the NL East as recently as five years ago...
The players can only play up to their capabilities and god-given ability. If ownership is making poor decisions, both on the field and off, the team's performance is going to reflect that, and Fred Wilpon has done a truly awful job of running this franchise over the last couple of years. Must be worrying too much about Madoff and not enough about his Mets..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.