Closer, but still not good enough

Yes, they lost. Again. Somehow this one didn't 'feel' as bad as the others, except for the fact that I really needed the Mets to win it. I'm not sure it's as crucial as it feels in the sense that there's a long way to go, but as a fan I found this series excruciating.

Yet, I only have to think back to last season to how the Mets handled Philadelphia right up to the end of June and how none of that mattered come September. If the Mets can right the ship there'll be plenty of time to beat Atlanta later in the summer. Righting the ship is all that matters at this time and I 'feel' (that word again) that last night was closer to righting the ship than any of the other three games.

Too much is made of how a couple of wins can turn a season around, but I'd like to think that the Mets can come out this weekend and win 2 of 3 in Colorado and come home feeling a bit better.

When things are going badly, they're going badly. The defense cost the Mets and Santana last night's game. How many errors/misplays did the Mets have? There was Schneider's error that got the first run to score on base. There was the odd infield hit that scored that runner from second. There was Wright's blunder on the throw from Chavez when Kotsay was two steps from the bag.

On top of that, the Braves peppered Santana with a load of singles. He couldn't seem to strike anyone out. All of that added up to another loss to complete the sweep.

Small ball. I love small ball and the Mets just don't do it well enough. The perfect example was last night's 7th inning when the Mets got Beltran to 2nd with nobody out, but couldn't score him. The bottom of the 7th and the Braves got a runner on 2nd with nobody out and they managed to get the runner home thanks to a bunt and a bloop hit. And after that the flood gates opened and two more runs came across the plate.

*****

Mets are "busting it and they've been told to bust it" was how Wayne let us know that Reyes had run hard out of the box on a pop up early in the game. Later Howie remarked that Reyes jogged the first two steps on a ground out to 2nd, but then turned on the jets as if he'd just remembered he's supposed to run those out. As both Wayne & Howie both said, "Why does a major leaguer have to 'remember' to do that"?

"You never see Carlos leave his feet" - Howie on Delgado's defense after Chipper's ground ball base hit in the 3rd. Delgado is a real liabilty in the field, although I think he's not bad at receiving throws and he bails out Wright, in particular, fairly often.