Rockies 2, Mets 1: The Bats Waste a Fine Start by Chris Capuano

After getting swept by the Rockies in a four-game series at Citi Field last month, the Mets tried to turn the tide in Colorado this evening and failed. Chris Capuano pitched very well, but much like his last start against the Giants, the Mets just couldn't generate anything with the bats tonight, making Jhoulys Chacin, who walked six in six innings, look a lot better than he actually was.

Capuano certainly pitched well enough for the Mets to win the game, going 6.2 innings and allowing only a pair of runs, the latter of which came on a line drive by Chris Iannetta that looked nothing like a home run off the bat but never dropped and cleared the fence in the left field corner of Coors Field. Four strikeouts to three walks isn't the most impressive ratio for a pitcher, but blaming the loss on Capuano tonight would be plain silly.

Taylor Buchholz relieved Capuano in the seventh inning and stayed on for the first two outs of the eighth, retiring all three batters he faced. Tim Byrdak and his superb facial hair came on to face lefty Carlos Gonzalez and retired him on two pitches. If there's a silver lining in this game, all facets of the pitching staff did their job well tonight.

As for the bats, there were plenty of missed opportunities in this one. Josh Thole grounded out with runners on first and second to end the second inning and grounded out with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning. In the sixth, Thole watched a 3-1 fastball down the middle of the plate before taking a walk to load the bases for Capuano, who in turn struck out to end the inning. Keith Hernandez was all over Thole for taking that fastball, and he was right - Thole should have swung at that pitch.

Down 2-1 in the ninth inning, Willie Harris accidentally singled on a check swing to begin the inning, but after Jose Reyes flew out, Harris inexplicably, mind-numbingly attempted to steal second base and was thrown out by the widest of wide margins. It's one thing for a player to struggle as Harris has so far this season, but it's another thing entirely to make such a bad decision at such a crucial time in the game. With the bases empty, Daniel Murphy grounded out on a spectacular play by the always amazing and frustrating-for-Mets-fans Troy Tulowitzki.

The Mets try to beat the Rockies for the first time this season tomorrow night at 8:40 pm with Mike Pelfrey starting for the Metropolitans and Jason Hammel getting the nod for the Rockies.

SB Nation Coverage

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

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Chris Capuano, +8.5% WPA (as pitcher)
Big losers: Jose Reyes, -21.8% WPA, Chris Capuano, -16.6% WPA, Josh Thole, -12.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Willie Harris single in the ninth, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Chris Iannetta home run in the seventh, -20.0% WPA
Teh other sux0rest play: Willie Harris caught stealing in the ninth, -14.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +14.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: -64.8% WPA
GWRBI!: Chris Iannetta

Game Thread Roll Call

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