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The listless version of the Mets offense continues to rear its ugly head in these early August days of 2011 PB (Post Beltran), as the Mets fell 4-1 in their first game against the Wild Card leading Braves. Unclutch David Wright knocked in the only New York run in the first inning (because runs don't count unless they are knocked in during the 7th inning or later, right?) after which, Tim Hudson and the Braves pen lulled the Mets attack to sleep the rest of the way.
R.A. Dickey was solid over his seven innings of work but with the offensive brownout, it was not good enough. Tim Byrdak and Ryota Igarashi gave up two late runs, which really didn't matter anyway but ultimately put this one out of reach on Fiesta Latina night. The Mets, as pictured to the right, wore some sweet new blue uniforms with "Los Mets" emblazoned on the front. Personally, I think these would be an excellent replacement for the late 90's black uniforms that the Mets try to continue to pretend are "cool" and "hip".
Game two of this series begins at 7:10 PM and will be televised on SNY. Jon Niese will have the opportunity to play stopper for the Mets but the task won't be easy, as the Mets anemic offense gets the privilege of facing young Braves ace Tommy Hanson. Of course, what Hanson start is complete without following the brilliance that is the @CyborgHanson48 Twitter account, easily one of my personal favorites.
In case you missed it, the Mets demoted Mike Nickeas to Buffalo after Friday's game and replaced him with some random stranger/Welsh Trombonist/New Zealand Rugby Footballer/Choose Your Own Ending on Wikipedia named Evan Something-or-other. Looks like an upgrade to this observer.
It looks like Ike Davis is about ready to call it a season. It's truly a shame what happened to him this year. The updates on Davis and Johan Santana obviously weren't all that great and the losing streak is only making it worse.
Will the Mets see Johan Santana at his best ever again? Considering the gigantic sum of money left on his contract and the surgery he's returning from, I am frightened just thinking about this.
Are you off the Mets Playoff Bandwagon yet? Were you ever actually on it? Well, if you consider yourself a realist and understand what this team likely is always was, I present to you some questions that the Mets need to answer before the season ends.
Around the NL East
Mayhem in San Francisco, as Ramon Ramirez hit Shane Victorino with a pitch that led to the benches clearing. Watch as incredible humanitarian Victorino, being held away from the fight by the home plate umpire, pushes the ump out of the way in order to run at Ramirez who's inside the pile. The Phillies ended up beating the Giants 9-2.
The Nats held off the Rockies 5-3 in Colorado.
The Marlins lost to the Cardinals by a score of 3-2.
Around the Majors
Scary moment in the Rockies/Nats game as Ian Desmond hit a line drive that hit Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio square in the head and the 24 year old had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.
The inside the park home run is always a blast, isn't it? Well, the Cubs Tony Campana takes advantage of some awful defense on the part of Cincinnati's displaced first base prospect left fielder Yonder Alonso
Looks as if Alex Rodriguez won't be suspended for playing poker. Of course, it's probably a good idea to consider the probability of how often Jon Heyman is actually correct and thus, take it with a grain of salt.
In their best effort to take a page out of Bleacher Report's book, Yahoo compiles a slideshow of the most lopsided midseason trades in baseball history.