The Good Ship Ollie-Pop: Mets 5, Dodgers 4

by Eric Simon on Jul 9, 2009 12:22 AM EDT

James already covered Ollie's return so I won't rehash all of that here. If James's synopsis was brief, mine will be comparatively miniscule: good fastball, awful command.

The real story of the game wasn't Perez's return but rather the return of the Mets' offense. While even one run would have been an improvement over the prior two games, the Mets scored five (!) runs on nine hits against a very good staff led by a very good starter in Hiroki Kuroda. His ERA was deceptively high at 3.91 entering tonight; his tRA was a more impressive 2.91, driven by his terrific strikeout-to-walk and groundball rates. Kuroda didn't really have it tonight, as he allowed more flyball outs than grounders (5 to 7) and he walked two batters for the second straight game after four consecutive starts without walking anyone.

In going 0-for-5 and seeing just 11 pitches in the process Alex Cora continued his freefall back to his old cruddy self, but everyone else in the starting lineup reached base at least once. Daniel Murphy picked up a pair of doubles and contributed this ridiculous flip-play at first base.

Francisco Rodriguez was shaky again in the ninth, allowing a leadoff homerun to Manny Ramirez and a walk to Casey Blake -- his fourth on the night -- before striking out Mark Loretta. Russell Martin singled to send the tying run to second but Rodriguez walked away with the "save" by getting Andre Ethier to ground into the game-ending double-play.

Surprise of the game: David Wright not striking out for the second consecutive game.
Non-surprise of the game: The Mets doing nothing in 1.1 innings against Guillermo Mota.

Livan Hernandez takes on Randy Wolf at 7:10pm to close out the series on Thursday.

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* True Blue LA Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Jeremy Reed, +14.0% WPA, Ryan Church, +10.0% WPA
Big losers: Alex Cora, -8.0% WPA, Gary Sheffield, -3.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ethier GIDP in ninth, +28.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Blake walk in ninth, -11.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +27.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: +22.4% WPA
GWRBI!: Brian Schneider

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by bleedin' orange and blue; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	bleedin' orange and blue	100
2	aparkermarshall	73
3	Michkin	68
4	EMSfan9	65
5	dcrockett17	48
6	Prince	47
7	squid92	43
8	itsmetsforme	37
9	Evan_S	35
10	Jadden Hopkins	32

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Comments

I knew it

That bleedin Orange and Blue just kept goin and goin and goin.

Well, that was my best shot and I got 4th. Ah well.

"We have to find a way to play better, there's no doubt. Overall. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. Offense, defense, pitching -- we have to find a way to play better. The reality of this is, coming here to Pittsburgh and being swept -- personally, I feel embarrassed." -- Carlos Beltran

by EMSfan9 on Jul 9, 2009 12:27 AM EDT reply actions

haha

its okay ull get it next time

"You don't set nobody back because of a cough."-Jerry Manuel, Mets Manager

by bleedin' orange and blue on Jul 9, 2009 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions

OMG FIVE RUNNSSSS!!!11!

WORLD SERIES HERE WE COMMMMEEE!!!!!1111

I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!

by R_Adragna on Jul 9, 2009 12:37 AM EDT reply actions

Good to see Murphy stepping up his game. That guy has a very long way to go before he can really be called reliable every day kinda a talent. The two double and the amazing flip to first hopefully becomes the building block of something for this kid.

I don’t have a lot of hope that the Mets are gonna pull out of this. That’s gonna be tough with the guys that are everyday players out of the line up. I don’t fall for the tease that was this game either.

Murhy just like FMart I felt is a little rushed into the majors. My hope is that he can pull through and the Mets at east use this time to develop some depth.

by Chickendirt on Jul 9, 2009 3:20 AM EDT reply actions

Cora

He’s a leader. So his 0-5 is really more like a 3-5 when you add the grission factor in.

by Reg Dunlop on Jul 9, 2009 8:23 AM EDT reply actions

I just give him credit for all the teams' hits, but none of their at bats

sadly that has resulted in BA less than 1.000 lately

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Jul 9, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Ol-lie...

You make my heart sing…..you walk everything.

Sadly enough, it was one of the better performances from our staff in recent memory (non Santana division).

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but Jerry abuses the privilege.

by AnthonyR on Jul 9, 2009 12:32 PM EDT reply actions

Pelf's been passable enough.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Jul 9, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions

funny who was umpiring at first base, huh?

In the clubhouse, Mark Loretta kvetched to any reporters who would listen that first-base umpire Marty Foster told him that the flip had beaten him to the bag, which was why he was called out, and, oh, wait, never mind….

by JE on Jul 9, 2009 1:59 PM EDT reply actions