Reds 3, Mets 2: Nix Blasts Off, Acosta Accosted

There are certainly nights, like this one, where I wonder why we even bother to write recaps of losses, especially bad ones. I imagine if we had the data -- and we very well might -- we would see that "win" recaps are read far more often than "lose" ones. I guess it's only natural. I can still remember flipping through the teevee channels and consciously avoiding ESPN (back when it was relevant) following Mets losses in important games. If you watched the game you certainly don't want it recapitulated. If you were fortunate enough to miss the game, good for you, you're ready to move on with your life and have neither the time nor the inclination to linger over the "whys" of the loss, content to accept that it was a loss and caring little for its details.

At all events, onward and upward we go, though the mire and the morass, all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the Mets looked to rebound from two atrocious losses in Philadelphia. Were they able to? No, they were not.

Oliver Perez, perhaps pitching to save his spot in the starting rotation, perhaps not, turned in a mediocre performance that some will label "decent" or "not bad" or possibly even "good", because he only allowed two runs in six innings. Meanwhile, he walked four and struck out four, and threw first-pitch strikes to just 15 of 27 batters. To be fair, he was certainly not awful, but fairness cuts both ways because he was most assuredly not good, either. He was good enough, to keep the score close as well as to buy himself at least a couple more starts, but he needs to get his act together because there is a grassroots effort afoot (just search Twitter for the #callupRA hashtag) to summon R.A. Dickey from Triple-A Buffalo to save the Mets' season with his mind-blowing knuckleball.

The Mets' offense struggled to do much of anything positive against rookie Mike Leake, who held our heroes to just four hits, a walk, and two runs over six innings. Five Reds relievers held the Mets in check for the final five frames, while the Mets bullpen could match only 4.1 of those innings, with Manny Acosta coughing up the game-winning, pinch-hit home run to Laynce "Yep, I'm Still In The League" Nix to send literally dozens of Reds fans home happy from Great American Ballpark.

John Maine looks to chain together two good starts in a row when he takes on Bronson Arroyo on Tuesday night.

Beer of the game: Ubu Ale from Lake Placid Brewing Company.

Poem by Howard Megdal

Mets let a good start by Ollie go to waste
As attack, with men on, remains resolutely chaste
When Reds get a chance, they reached out and grab it
Looks like losing is once again becoming a habit

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Red Reporter Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Fernando Nieve, +23.5% WPA, Pedro Feliciano, +13.2% WPA
Big losers: Manny Acosta, -36.8% WPA, Jason Bay, -23.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Reyes RBI double in sixth, +12.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nix walkoff home run, -42.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +15.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: -65.3% WPA
GWRBI!: Laynce Nix

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by BrockRocks; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.