This was a frustrating loss tonight, but it was a step in the right direction.
The Mets offense tonight was in know way perfect (once again too many runners left in scoring position) however the offense felt more like the Mets offense that we are used to. Reyes, Wright, and Bay all had 2 hits tonight and (more important for Mets-like portion) it felt like Pagan, Reyes and Bay were causing trouble on the basepaths. It was just about stolen bases, these players all made good heads up plays on the paths throughout the night being aggressive to get the extra base. Pagan has been impressive this season in his ability to turn the corner going from first to third. He really hugs that corner and it saves him a lot of time.
The problem for the Mets again was starting pitching. First, my necessary gripe about umpiring. I hate using “ifs” however if that umpire gets that call correct when Reyes flips the ball over to Castillo, the inning could have gone in a completely different direction. Besides that though, Maine had a lot of problems tonight. They say when people expierence anything, you generally remember the first bit and the last bit* and sadly that how Maine will be remembered tonight. He was great in the middle of his outing, but he started off bad, and ended poorly and ultimately put the Mets in a hole they could not climb out of.
Hopefully though the Mets will look at the progress they made tonight, and there was some real progress, and build on it as they avoid the four game sweep tomorrow.
* I first heard this when I was a child. Both my parents are diabetic and when I was younger, my Mom was explaing to me a trick about cereal in the morning. If your first bite is sugar cereal, and your last bite is sugar cereal, thats what you'll remember for the rest of the day, you won't be able to recall the boring Brain middle.
