Mets 3, Braves 2: Gee And Reyes Help End Losing Streak

The seven game losing streak is over! Dillon Gee impressed in his first big league start of 2011, allowing just 1 run in 5.2 innings of work. Four Mets pitchers followed -- including starters Chris Capuano and R.A. Dickey -- and were generally effective, save a Jason Heyward home run off Jason Isringhausen in the eighth inning. Why LOOGY Tim Byrdak wasn't called upon to face Heyward and Brian McCann is a mystery. Francisco Rodriguez had fans grumbling after allowing a lead-off walk in the ninth but he rallied to close it out. Frankie was also tweeting during the game -- he sent out this message in the third inning:

Translation via fxcarden:

Good day, beautiful people. A hug to those who follow me on Twitter. Let's go Mets.

Gee tallied 12 swinging strikes in 89 pitches (13.5%), an impressive ratio on par with Johan Santana in his prime. To be clear, Gee is not Santana in his prime, but the numbers provide some context. Gee also managed to keep the ball in the park, something he has struggled with in his minor league career. Terry Collins pulled him in favor of Capuano with two outs in the sixth and runners on first and second. It might have been wiser to let Gee face scheduled batter Freddie Freeman -- Capuano's entrance caused Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez to send Chipper Jones up to the plate. But the dangerous Chipper grounded out and crisis was averted.

Jose Reyes, Josh Thole and Ike Davis led the offense against Braves starter Tommy Hanson. Reyes started the game with a scorcher of a double off the right field wall and was singled in by two-batter Thole. Carlos Beltran was hit by a pitch two batters later, and Davis drove in Thole with a single to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Thole again knocked in Reyes in the fifth inning, after a Reyes single and stolen base. That's six stolen bases in six attempts for our lead-off hitter, a beautiful sight for a True SABR. Reyes also drew a highly sought-after unintentional walk.

This game was filled with strange (read: terrible) in-game strategy by both teams. Gonzalez called for a suicide squeeze with one out in the second on a 2-2 count to Tommy Hanson. Hanson whiffed on the bunt and Eric Hinske was dead meat coming down the line from third base. Bizarre. Angel Pagan attempted to sac bunt in two plate appearances. He was successful in the fourth inning, and horribly unsuccessful in the sixth. He popped it up to Braves reliever George Sherrill and Davis was doubled off second base. Pagan may have been bunting on his own but either way it's not smart baseball. The Braves also sac bunted in the ninth inning. All three bunts decreased their respective teams' win probability. Another head scratcher was Thole's attempted steal of second base in the fifth inning with David Wright up and a 3-2 count. Wright strikes out a ton, Hanson is a strikeout pitcher and Thole does not run well. Wright swung through the pitch and Thole was nailed at second. Strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out. All baseball managers are the same. They're hyper-interventionist meddlers. Most of the time there's no need to push the action. Just let it be. Gary Cohen and Ron Darling were critical of the Mets' strategy throughout, and Ron quipped "I'm very anti-manager today." Amen.

The Mets are off tomorrow but start a three game set at home against the Astros on Tuesday. Jon Niese and Wandy Rodriguez are the scheduled starting pitchers. Adam Rubin reports that Jason Bay may be activated for the series.

K Counter by sparbz

SB Nation Coverage

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* Talking Chop Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Francisco Rodriguez +19.3%, Dillon Gee +19.1%
Big losers: Angel Pagan -13.6%, David Wright -8.5%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brooks Conrad strike out in the ninth inning +15.8%
Teh sux0rest play: Jason Heyward home run in the eighth inning -14.0%
Total pitcher WPA: +52.5%
Total batter WPA: -2.5%
GWRBI!: Josh Thole

Game Thread Roll Call

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