Nationals 6, Mets 2: Home Woe-pener

On a crummy evening at Citi Field tonight, the Mets whiffed in their home opener, dropping a 6-2 stinkfest to the Nationals. R.A. Dickey was not his Dickey-est, allowing three runs and walking five in five innings. The walks in particular were discouraging, as Dickey was particularly parsimonious with the bases on balls last season. Perhaps the chilly April air stood between him and a righteous grip on his knuckleball, so we can forgive him for a bad outing under the circumstances. We learned after the game that he split a fingernail during the game which affected his feel for the knuckler, though he doesn't expect it to keep him from his next start.

The pitching problems weren't limited to innings in which Dickey held the mound, however. Mets pitchers walked nine batters overall, three of whom eventually came around to score. Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell were unspectacular in relief, though D.J. Carrasco acquitted himself quite well in two innings of work.

The real story of the game was the Mets' offense, which repeatedly failed to deliver key hits with runners in scoring position. After narrowing the run deficit to 3-1 in the fifth, Carlos Beltran cracked a one-out double in the sixth and scuttled to third on a Pudge Rodriguez passed ball. Ike Davis struck out looking and Scott Hairston, pinch-hitting for Willie Harris, likewise kayed with the bat on his shoulder to end the threat.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brad Emaus and Josh Thole got things going with back-to-back walks. Chin-lung Hu bunted them up a base, but Jose Reyes struck out swinging and Angel Pagan tapped out to pitcher Tyler Clippard, and two more runners were thus stranded in scoring position.

All told, the Mets were 0-for-10 tonight with runners in scoring position

What's more, nobody won the Billy Joel signed CD+DVD set, so we'll play again tomorrow.

Unintentionally sexual quote of the game: "He didn't have the feel and the touch that he needs." -- Bob Ojeda.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Federal Baseball Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Lucas Duda, +16.2% WPA, Josh Thole, +13.2% WPA
Big losers: Angel Pagan, -24.9% WPA, Jose Reyes, -19.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Duda RBI double in fifth, +16.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Reyes strike out in seventh, -17.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -26.4% WPA
Total batter WPA: -23.6% WPA
GWRBI!: Mike Morse

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by scott from peekskill; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.