El DeBarge

Game 11 - Mets

Nationals 6, Mets 2
Record: 7-4

"We worked so hard, I mean so hard, to get these girls to come up to my apartment, and now all I want in the world is for them to leave."
--Bryan S., Richmond, VA

Hard not to feel like MLC fan Bryan yesterday, as I wrangled and juggled and carved out a little afternoon time to take in the Mets, then wished I hadn't bothered. They just didn't look the part of pennant contenders yesterday, stranding runners and giving up four-baggers with all too much comfortable consistency. Bit of an eyesore, it was, and here's hoping today either brings a revitalized approach or an April shower to prevent more of the same.

It wasn't a blowout -- the Nots don't do blowouts -- and actually, David Wright's fly ball off Jon "Who's Jonny?" Rauch in the 8th was a foot and a half from being out of reach and into the pen for a game-tightening three-run dinger. As it was, Ryan Church made a nice play look easy, Shawn Green followed that disappointment with a nifty 4-6-3 inning-ender, and there went any hopes of a rally.

Meanwhile, Orlando Hernandez served up lunchables to Dmitri Young, Church, and Chris Snelling (in chronological order as well as that of acceptability) to the tune of five runs. El Duque couldn't seem to get into the rhythm of the afternoon, missing the zone entirely and finding the meat of the plate intermittently. He got tossed for plunking Shawn Hill after the second gopher ball, which was a rookie mistake by a veteran umpire, but it didn't change the outcome.

This game toed the line between a winnable loss and one of Rob's 35 games that you aren't going to win. For every time the Mets began to put something together (like when Endy Chavez led off an inning with a triple and 3-4-5 coming up) the Mets seemed to undo themselves (like when 3-4-5 stranded Chavez in hideous fashion). El Duque failed to provide a quality start, but the offensive efficiency was nil. Any way you looked at it, and I looked at the whole thing, it frustrated more than entertained. Wipe it clean and move on the next one.