With Ace on the Mound, Mets Fall Flat

They have an old saying in baseball. Throw strikes. Let them hit the ball. That’s what the eight guys behind you are for. That advice certainly worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday night. The combination of Zach Duke, John Grabow, and Matt Capps failed to record a single strikeout. Yet, they found other ways to get 27 outs, giving up just one run in a big 3 – 1 victory over the visiting New York Mets.

The game began as a pitcher’s duel between two aces: Zach Duke of the Pirates and Johan Santana of the Mets, and remained scoreless until the fifth. In the top of the fifth, Ramon Martinez and Jeremy Reed singled. Johan Santana sacraficed, moving Martinez to third and Reed to second. Luis Castillo followed with a sacrafice fly, giving the Mets a 1 – 0 lead.

The Pirates responded with one out in the bottom of the fifth when Jason Jamarillo hit a solo home run to tie the game at one. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Freddy Sanchez singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. This was followed by conseutive RBI doubles from Nate McLouth and Adam LaRoche giving the Pirates a 3 – 1 lead.

Giving the lead, Zach Duke managed to go one more scoreless inning for the Pirates. He was followed by John Grabow, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and Matt Capps, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 12th save in 14 chances.

It was a continuation of woes for the Mets offense, who after scoring five runs in the first three innings of Monday’s game have scored just one run in their last fifteen innings at the plate. David Wright is one for his last sixteen. His average is now down to .328 down from a high of .362 on May 22. Fernando Martinez went 0 for 4 Tuesday after a couple of big games. Omir Santos also went 0 for 4.

Of course, it’s hard to get too mad at the Mets offense, seeing as they were without Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Alex Cora, and Jose Reyes on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Santana went six innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits and a walk. After a nearly perfect beginning to the season, Santana has “struggled” of late. He gave up four runs in seven innings to the Giants. He then had a beautiful start against Boston, but followed that with a subpar start against Washington when he gave up three runs in six innings. And now, in this game against the Pirates, he again gave up three runs in six innings of work, which was particularly surprising giving his record of domination of the Pirates. On the bright side, Sean Green, Ken Takahashi, and Brandon Stokes combined to pitch two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Meanwhile, the Phillies gained yet another game on the Mets Tuesday night. They dispatched of the Padres to move two and a half games ahead of the Mets in the NL East. Thankfully, for the Mets, the Brewers also lost, so the Mets remain just one and half games back in the NL Wild Card race.

The Mets will aim to end their two-game losing skid Wednesday night as they send Mike Pelfrey (4 – 1, 3.88 ERA) against Ross Ohlendorf (5 – 5, 4.45 ERA) of the Pirates.