Marlins 11, Mets 4: Scoring Runs Is Hard

The Mets racked up seven leadoff walks, nine walks overall, 10 hits, and a hit-by-pitch, and still managed to score just four runs. They left 12 runners on base and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Not content with his 2-for-4 night, Jeff Francour made up for the times-on-base surplus by getting thrown out going first-to-third on a none-out single by Josh Thole in the fifth. Yep, it was that kind of night.

Jon Niese was mostly terrific through the first five innings, striking out seven and making just one mistake that resulted in a Hanley Ramirez two-run home run in the fourth. In the sixth inning, the wheels fell off as the car caught fire and drove off a cliff. The play-by-play:

L Morrison hit by pitch.
H Ramirez singled to center, L Morrison to second.
D Uggla doubled to left, L Morrison scored, H Ramirez to third.
G Sanchez walked.
M Stanton struck out swinging.
W Helms hit sacrifice fly to right, H Ramirez scored, D Uggla to third.
B Hayes hit a ground rule double to right, D Uggla scored, G Sanchez to third.
D Murphy hit for A Sanchez.
E Dessens relieved J Niese.
D Murphy reached on infield single to shortstop, G Sanchez scored, B Hayes to third.
C Maybin singled to left, B Hayes scored, D Murphy to second.
L Morrison doubled to deep right, D Murphy and C Maybin scored.
H Ramirez flied out to left.

And just like that a 4-2 lead was transformed into a 9-4 deficit, and that was pretty much all she wrote in this one.

Adding injury to insult, Jose Reyes aggravated the right oblique strain that kept him out of action earlier in the season. The Mets are calling it a minor injury, which means he's probably out for the rest of this season and all of next as well.

On the plus side of the ledger, David Wright continued his hot streak with a 2-for-3 night, smashing his 21st homer of the season and picking up a couple of walks to boot. His OPS is creeping back towards .900.

Poem by Howard Megdal

Niese no-no through three, and Wright hits a blast
Eleven runs later, Mets fans were aghast
And theme of the night was happy, then bleak
As Reyes hits single, but oblique gets tweak

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* FishStripes Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: David Wright, +20.8% WPA, Angel Pagan, +6.4% WPA
Big losers: Jon Niese, -36.0% WPA, Elmer Dessens, -27.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright two-run home run in first, +19.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Uggla RBI double in sixth, -21.8% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -62.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: +12.8% WPA
GWRBI!: Brett Hayes

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Gina; her effort in the game thread embiggens us all.