Sometimes you're Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Sometimes you're Lucy pulling it away. Tonight the Mets donned a blue dress and black wig.
There's not much use for a detailed recap. The Mets got timely hits and the Rays did not. For first six innings things looked ok. The Mets had scored an unearned run in the first but Alex Cobb had pitched well despite allowing two earned with two outs in the fifth. The seventh inning is where things fell apart. The play summary doesn't do it justice.
| - J. Thole fouled out to left |
| - O. Quintanilla struck out swinging |
| - K. Nieuwenhuis walked |
| - J. Valdespin doubled to right, K. Nieuwenhuis scored |
| - D. Wright intentionally walked |
| - J.P. Howell relieved A. Cobb |
| - L. Duda singled, J. Valdespin to third, D. Wright to second |
| - D. Murphy singled to shallow center, J. Valdespin and D. Wright scored, L. Duda to third |
| - I. Davis homered to deep right, L. Duda and D. Murphy scored |
| - J. Bay grounded out to third |
Valdespin's double landed just fair down the right field line, rolling all the way to the alcove just passed the bullpen. Calling the single by Duda a dribbler would be kind. It gently moseyed it's way toward third, making about half way up the line before Rhymes had a chance to field it. Howell was able to jam Murphy but the lefty managed to bloop it into center for a base hit. The Davis home run was inexcusable, though. He is seeing fastballs less than nearly any other batter in baseball, yet Howell threw him one and it ended up in the seats in right. There's no saying the Rays would have won had they been able to hold them to just the single run since the offense had its issues tonight, but it would have been a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
Speaking of the offense, they scored two in the first but wasted opportunities the rest of the game, leaving ten men on base despite getting nine hits and a few walks. Matt Joyce got three singles, Upton added two and Rodriguez added a single and a Trop-aided double, which ended up as the team's only extra base hit. Birthday boy Hideki Matsui added a long single off the wall in right, which was likely the highlight of the night.
It was a rough night for Elliot Johnson. He failed to turn a double play in the first, then followed that up with an error that lead to an unearned run and was caught stealing later in the game though it appeared he was safe on replay. His defense isn't improving, that's for sure.
Be good tomorrow, David Price.