Crash And Burn Applesauce: Izzy & Turner Implode In 9th, Santana Suffers Setback, Oh The Pain (Shut Up)

No matter which way you look at it, Tuesday evening's 4-3 loss was a rough one, to say the least. I don't want to harp on the specifics because frankly, you likely either know what happened already or you don't want to know. Just in case, the Mets were up 3-2 in the 9th inning but a walk, single and an HBP loaded up the bases for Bryan Petersen with one out. Izzy, who struggled to keep up his magic act locate his pitches, managed to induce a groundball to Justin Turner at second base. Turner, instead of throwing home for the force at the plate, got discombobulated with the runner advancing between 1st and 2nd and then promptly Chuck Knoblauch'd the ball past Lucas Duda, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to score. Tough, tough loss but unfortunately that's the nature of a .500 team (which conveniently is where they sit, at 55-55). At least Ted Berg tries to kill everyone's "oh the pain" / "RAGE" buzz with some level-headedness.

Before the implosion, Chris Capuano threw a solid game, allowing just a pair of solo home runs to Omar Infante (what?). Looks like Cappy is sick of the fish after making 3 starts against them in 16 days. Jose Reyes hit a shot of his own for the Mets, called by this year's SNY Kidcaster, 11 year old Jacob Resnick. This is the second year in a row that the Kidcaster has called a home run, obviously a sign that SNY should fire Gary, Keith and Ron, while allowing random kids to announce every game (small sample size warning included).

The Mets look to avoid the embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Fish and snap their 4 game losing streak, as they will send Dillon Gee to the hill. Gee will go up against Clay Hensley, making his third start against the Mets in his last 4.

The game wasn't the only bad news of Tuesday evening. Johan Santana, who on Monday had his scheduled Wednesday start pushed back to Thursday, had that start completely scratched on Tuesday. Instead of starting this week, Santana will head back to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York to check out the discomfort in his left shoulder. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume we don't see Johan in a Mets uniform until spring training 2012, which is likely for the best at this point.

He wasn't traded but it's interesting to wonder what the Mets could've gotten for Jose Reyes at the deadline.

Speaking of trades, Scott Hairston, Chris Capuano and Tim Byrdak are probably the most interesting players on the Mets roster who could be moved before the August 31st waiver trade deadline.

Remember the Frankie Rodriguez deal? Well, the Mets are owed two prospects from the Brewers and here's some speculation on just who the Mets might be receiving.

Finally, Howard Megdal defends Daniel Murphy's defense in the aftermath of Monday's error.

Around the NL East

The Nationals continue to roll, as they beat the Braves for the second straight day, this time 9-3. Rick Ankiel, fresh off of a two home run performance, rapped a grand slam to straight away center field off of Derek Lowe. Even in the loss, Dan Uggla continues to hit as he extended his hitting streak to 24 games.

The Phillies beat the Rockies 5-0 as Kyle Kendrick (really?) tossed eight shutout innings and Ryan Howard hit a pair of home runs.

In case you missed Tuesday's Mets/Marlins matchup, Hanley Ramirez left in the 6th inning with a sprained shoulder.

Around the Majors

Yadier Molina was ejected after an iffy strike call and went crazy on the home plate umpire Rob Drake, bumping him and spitting on him. Sounds like that'll get him a few days off without pay. The link comes complete with an animated gif of the incident.

Jered Weaver was suspended for 6 games after throwing a pitch over the head of Tigers' catcher Alex Avila.

Jose Bautista hit his league leading 32nd home run, snapping a 14 game drought, his longest since 2009.

Mark Teixeira broke a record, homering from both sides of the plate in the same time for the 12th game.

Finally, the Diamondbacks beat the Giants 6-1, moving the two teams into a tie for first place in the National League West. How long will it be until some numbskull talking head pens an article blaming selfish Carlos Beltran for blowing up the Giants' chemistry and causing their drop in the standings? You know it's coming.