Game Recap: Reds 8 – Mets 6

You can’t win them all, but you don’t want your pitcher to hand the game over on a silver platter.

On The Mound

Oliver Perez started the game looking like he was deserving of his $36 million contract.  Then the other Perez showed up.  His final line is indicative of the latter half of his start.  In 4 1-3 innings, Perez let up five hits, walked five and struck out seven.  He let in and was charged with eight earned runs.  Perez set down the first seven he faced, including four strikeouts.

Absolutely not what Mets fans want to see out of Perez.  He’s inconsistent and wild.  As soon as he walked his first batter, it was downhill from there.  Not good.

Darren O’Day made his first appearance as a New York Met, and promptly hit the first batter he faced to load the bases.  He let up a two-out single, allowing two inherited runners to score.

Not the outing you want to have if you’re trying to hang on to your roster spot.

Brian Stokes started the sixth inning, and went two strong, allowing two hits and striking out three.  Bobby Parnell and Pedro Feliciano split the 8th inning, with Feliciano striking out both batters he faced.

Nice outing from these members of the “second tier” of the bullpen. Good to see.

At The Plate

With two outs in the third inning, David Wright drew a walk.  Carlos Delgado followed it up with a single, moving Wright to third.  Carlos Beltran singled to left field, plating Wright.  Ryan Church then knocked a double deep into the left field corner, driving in Delgado from second and Beltran all the way from first base.

Nice to see a two-out rally by the Mets.  They strung a walk and a few hits together to make something happen.

The Mets then scored in the next three innings, with Daniel Murphy and Wright singling to lead off the fifth inning.  Delgado grounded into a fielder’s choice, allowing Murphy to score.

Delgado is batting .429 with six RBIs so far in this very young season.

In the sixth, Church started the inning with a his second double of the game.  Ramon Castro moved Church over with a fly-ball, and Alex Cora drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Castro and Cora started the game in place of Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo and both went hitless.

For the score in the seventh inning, with Murphy standing on third after reaching on a fielder’s choice, Delgado hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score Murphy from third base.

And that was all the Mets could push across.  If you want to take something away from this game, it’s nice that they didn’t give up and tried to scratch out runs late.

In the ninth inning, Gary Sheffield made his first appearance as a Mets and struck out looking.  He never took the bat off his shoulder.  In fact, Francisco Cordero set the Mets down in order in the third inning, striking out three.

Game Ball

Ryan Church: 2-3, 2 RBI, run

On Deck

The Mets will travel to Florida to open a three game series against the Marlins, beginning Friday night at 7:10 p.m.