Some offensive and pitching things happened during this afternoon's game between the Mets and Braves at Citi Field, but the big story was the number of unscheduled personnel changes for the Mets today. Here's a summary:
Bottom of the second
Willie Harris pinch-hit for Jose Reyes.
Reyes was diagnosed with a tight left hamstring.
Top of the third
Harris playing second base.Justin Turner playing shortstop.
Bottom of the sixth
Daniel Murphy pinch-hit for D.J. Carrasco.
Top of the seventh
Murphy playing second base.Hairston moves back to right field.
Murphy left the game after being spiked at second by Jose Constanza.
Hairston moves back to second base
Lucas Duda comes in to play right field.
Top of the eighth
Turner back to second base.
David Wright moves to shortstop.
Hairston moves back to right field.
Nick Evans moves to third base.
Josh Thole replaces Ronny Paulino at catcher (double-switch).
Despite all of this positional musical chairs, the Mets, down 5-2 in the sixth, rallied for three runs over the next two innings to tie the game at five, but Bobby Parnell coughed up the lead in the top of the ninth and that was that (i.e., Craig Kimbrell came in to pitch). The loss pushes the Mets to nine games back of the Braves, and with the health of Reyes and Murphy very much in doubt, the Mets' odds of making the playoffs this season, a considerable longshot a week ago, are now vanishingly small.
SB Nation Coverage
* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Jason Bay, +28.2% WPA, Willie Harris, +23.2% WPA
Big losers: Dillon Gee, -40.0% WPA, Bobby Parnell, -27.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pagan RBI single in seventh, +25.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jones RBI single in ninth, -29.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -56.2% WPA
Total batter WPA: +6.2% WPA
GWRBI!: Chipper Jones
Game Thread Roll Call
Nice job by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.
| Num | Name | # of Posts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan | 404 |
| 2 | netsareboss | 215 |
| 3 | NetsMets4Life | 177 |
| 4 | MetsFan4Decades | 161 |
| 5 | astromets | 145 |
| 6 | TKFJ | 128 |
| 7 | fxcarden | 115 |
| 8 | santana9237 | 113 |
| 9 | Russ | 96 |
| 10 | Steve Schreiber | 92 |