Rockies 7, Mets 6: Comeback Falls Short In Sloppy Mess Of A Game

The Mets held a slim lead at three separate points in this game but sloppy fielding, shoddy bullpen work and the superlative Troy Tulowitzki doomed our heroes to their fifth loss in the last six games. Bobby Parnell was the main goat tonight but this was a team losing effort. Willie Harris lost a ball in the lights in the third inning, which led to a Rockies run and Carlos Beltran wearing sunglasses at 10 PM. Jose Reyes threw a ball away on a double play opportunity, which helped set-up a Dexter Fowler sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Recently recalled Ryota Igarashi made a poor throw to home, spoiling a potential inning-ending, 1-2-3 double play in the sixth. Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-tying, two-run single shortly thereafter.

But back to Parnell. Captain Fastball started the eighth inning with the game tied 4-4. Fowler singled to lead off, and made it to third after a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch. Then the dangerous Gonzalez tapped one back to Parnell and a good throw would have nailed Fowler at the plate. But Parnell channeled first baseman Jeremy Reed at Dodger Stadium, comically (for non-Met fans) tossing the ball over catcher Josh Thole's head. That made the game 5-4, and a Tulowitzki home run two pitches later extended the lead to 7-4. David Wright cracked a solo homer and Ike Davis drove home Carlos Beltran with a single in the eighth to close the gap to 7-6, but the furious comeback fell short.

Mike Pelfrey was mediocre -- 5.1 innings, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts and just 6 swinging strikes out of 113 pitches. Kind of like a John Maine performance, circa 2009. It's the type of start that, if made by a rookie, would have fans saying "Nice job big guy, way to battle without your best stuff!" But Pelfrey is not a rookie and the struggling bullpen could really use a breather. Entering tonight's game, Mets starting pitchers unsurprisingly had the lowest innings pitched per start in the National League. With no off day until next Monday, here's hoping R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese and co. can eat some innings this week.

This game wasn't all doom and gloom. Wright was 2-for-3 with the aforementioned home run and a sacrifice fly. Reyes hit a pair of Shea Stadium home runs AKA Citi Field triples. Daniel Murphy made a slick play in the field at second base, continuing the trend of strong defense from Mets second sackers this season. And Jason Isringhausen made his first appearance for the Mets in 12 years, recording two outs and bailing out Tim Byrdak, the LOOGY who apparently can't get lefties out.

We're only ten games in, folks. This loss sucks but most of the players are healthy and the weather is getting warmer. Small sample size variance will even out. Scott Hairston will eventually make contact with a pitch. And again, Jose Reyes hit two triples tonight. Just drink it all in.

Game two of the series is tomorrow night at 7:10 PM. Jon Niese and Esmil Rogers are the scheduled starting pitchers. Hopefully the fans won't do the wave at a crucial point in the game, as they did tonight.

Unintentionally sexual quote of the game: "Got him with the high, hard one" -- Gary Cohen

K Counter by sparbz

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Purple Row Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: David Wright +14.7%, Jason Isringhausen +14.5%
Big losers: Bobby Parnell -43.2%, Ryota Igarashi -14.0%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Willie Harris two-run double in the fourth inning
Teh sux0rest play: Carlos Gonzalez two-run single in the sixth inning
Total pitcher WPA: -56.5%
Total batter WPA: +6.5%
GWRBI!: Troy Tulowitzki

Game Thread Roll Call

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