Walk Off Hit By Pitch, How About That

In some ways, Scott Schoeneweis' meltdown choke up last night against the Padres was reminiscent of that 1999 Game 6 against the Braves when Kenny Rogers, legendary choke artist himself, walked Andrew Jones home with the bases loaded and gave the Braves the series.

Of course, last night's game was neither as important nor as tension-filled, but Schoeneweis, who started the inning off by walking the first two batters, loaded the bases eventually with an intentional walk only to hit Paul McAnulty, a .223 hitter for crissakes, to allow the winning run to score for the Padres, 2-1.


Is Jose pointed to Schoeneweis: You da problema, no da solution, meng...

Whilst Schoeneweis, who earlier this season had almost begun to look like he put a miserable 2007 season behind him but who is looking ugly so far in June, was certainly the bullseye goat for the game, he wasn't the only problem. Just the penultimate one.

For starters, point to the Mets managing only 5 hits off of Josh Banks, a guy the Blue Jays apparently in a moment of organisational stupidity, gave away for free to the Padres in April and a guy who was starting only his second game for the Padres.

Jose Reyes was immune from the hitting flu most of the Mets were suffering from but hey, with a few wins in our pocket we can afford to look on the bright side: at least they didn't strand 15 runners like the Padres did, right? Moral victory.

And perhaps most encouraging out of a loss was the continued resilience of Mike Pelfrey who yet again pitched in and out of trouble, inning after inning, showing both confidence and guts. He's no Cy Young candidate but at least he isn't, at the moment anyway, staging diving into pools of mediocrity any longer. Has he too turned a corner now? Difficult to say but if Oliver Perez had Pelfrey's mental strength and focus he'd probably be pointing towards another 15 win season rather than trying to escape a 15 loss season.


Pelfrey does it again: Struggled but swam, not drowned.

So, it is a loss that counts but, given the Mets' performance of late, a loss that is not piled atop another and another giving us a sense of forboding. Santana will be taking the mound next and, against a team as weak-hitting as the Padres, should be shooting for the first Mets no-hitter ever.

You think?