Mets No Match For First Inning Reds

Official Assignment of Blame:


"I didn't feel good at all," Maine said. "I didn't prepare myself normally like I would every five starts, and it's just bad."

1. John Maine who was absolutely and uncharacteristically miserable against the first 4 batters he faced in the game, all of whom scored on a Brandon Phillips grand slam homer to give the Reds a 4-0 lead with none out to start the game.

2. Paul Lo Duca for the weak double play grounder with the bases loaded to end a potential rally in the 3rd. The Mets were only down 4-1 at that point. Lo Duca is looking down the barrel of an 0 for 17 slump.
HoJo anybody? Is there a HoJo in the house? Two games against the stinkin' Reds, 7 runs...

3. To a lesser degree, David Wright for striking out standing there, unswinging with men on first and second, none out just before Lo Duca killed the rally off for good. Anything but a strikeout looking might have broken the game back for the Mets. What do we expect from a Wright who has crept up to 10th in the league in strikeouts? Big problem of the first half, hitting with RISP. Where is that HoJo Magic and when is it going to start working? Personally, I don't think HoJo is going to make any difference. They say that because he has been with the team and seen the hittest himself all season it'll give him an advantage at looking at what the Mets are doing wrong at the plate but frankly, if he knew that, wouldn't he have said something long ago? I think a new set of eyes or hell, maybe even Keith Hernandez, just so I don't have to listen to his droning, nasal twang in the broadcast booth, would have been a better choice.

4. 5th inning, defensively: Gotay, simple mishandling of a simple lead off grounder. At that point Maine had recovered from his initial battering, had retired 12 of the last 13 batters he'd faced and had struck out the side in the 4th. And Maine still could have gotten out of the inning with ease since he induced the next batter into grounding to Gotay again which should have been a simple double play or at worse, a force-out at second. Instead, Reyes tried to bare-hand the toss to save time and predictably perhaps, dropped the ball. Instead of getting out of trouble, they shoved Maine into a miserable hole no men out and two men on. Thereafter, the game was rubbish.

A Pair of Kudos On A Miserable Night

1. Carlos Delgado, three for two with an RBI double is continuing to show signs of waking out of a season-long slumber. His average is now all the way up to .246 and he's raised his batting average in July to a sizzling .357.

2. Lastings Milledge: 2nd game, 2nd show. This time in the form of a homer and 2 RBIs - the homer coming off former Met Mike Stanton who, at age 40 and toiling away the tail end of his career with a mutt of a team like the Reds, is not to be envied.