Bullpen Blows Up on Mets

Yep, the title doesn't lie, the bullpen blew it again! We have a long way to get there though, so bare with me. Oliver Perez had himself a nice outing Sunday afternoon, pitching seven innings, with eight strikeouts, allowing only two runs. One of those runs came early on, in the first inning, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead over the Mets. David Wright tied things up in the bottom of the first with a solo shot, his 30 of the season. Mets fans had a bad feeling about the game, knowing it was Chipper Jones' last game at Shea, which is a relief, yet it gave him one more chance to strike. Jones has performed so well at Shea Stadium in his career that he named his daughter Shea. So, onto the third inning, Chipper Jones is up at bat with Josh Anderson on base, and what do you know, he hits an RBI double. Once again, the Mets are faced with a one run deficit. Bottom of the third, Daniel Murphy singles, and up comes David Wright again in position to tie up the game. Wright steps in and crushes a two run homer to left field and gives the Mets a 3-2 lead. It was a very positive game for Wright who had recently been struggling but went 4 for 5 with two home runs and three RBI. In the fourth, the Mets tacked on another when Oliver Perez scored on Brent Lillibridge's throwing error. Scott Schoeneweis and Joe Smith held things together for the ninth inning as the Mets maintained their two run lead and with luck would prepare for their second straight victory. So, Luis Ayala comes out and immediately gives up two quick singles to Casey Kotchman and Kelly Johnson. Next up was Greg Norton, who was pinch hitting for Jorge Julio. At this point fans are starting to fret and after the at bat, the fretting was over. On came the boos because Greg Norton hit a pinch hit three run dinger to right field to make the score 5-4 Atlanta. Nice job, another blown game for the brutal Mets bullpen. Luis Ayala is now done and Pedro Feliciano comes out to halt Atlanta, only to allow two runners to get on base while retiring one batter. Gregor Blanco steps up and belts a double to left center which gets to the fans even more. Now with runners at second and third, Feliciano intentionally walks Omar Infante to try to set up the double play for new pitcehr Brian Stokes. The first batter Stokes faces hits a sacrifice fly to deep center field which allows Chipper Jones to score. And, just before getting out of the inning, Stokes scares everybody by getting Casey Kotchman out on a fly ball that flew high and far but stayed in play. Bottom of the ninth, time for redemption. Back to back singles for Wright and Delgado keep things moving and get the fans alive. Carlos Beltran steps in, the fans are on their feet and........Beltran lines out to center field. Fernando Tatis steps in for Ryan Church and HE strikes out swinging. Now, the game lays in the hands of Luis Castillo. And I won't even get your hopes up, Castillo pokes the ball over to second and is retired to send the Mets into a devastating defeat. This was a game the Mets needed, but around this time of the season, every game is one the Mets need. After the dismal loss, the Mets look to set things straight in Washington where they head out to face the Major League worst Nationals. By the way, I couldn't find a picture that showed how upset the Mets were, so I got one that showed how happy the Braves were.