GAME FOUR - Mets 4 Reds 3 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Well, they finally won one. After a opening series sweep by the likely NL East Champs, The Washington Nationals, the Mets managed to win the first of a three game series with the Cincinnati Reds. Let's take a quick look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Mets first win of 2014.

THE GOOD
Jenrry Mejia: Six fairly solid innings of 4 hit, 1 run, 8 Strikeout ball. The five walks are a bit of a blemish, as like Zach Wheeler is prone to do, Mejia put himself in some trouble, but overall he seemed in command of the Reds' lineup.

Lucas Duda: One day after being handed the first base job (a move I think is a mistake), Duda launches two homeruns and drives in all four runs. We'll see how well his accention to everyday player goes, but I fear we won't be seeing a hell of a lot of days like this.

Kyle Farnsworth: After three games of terrible bullpen, (four if you count John Lannan's poor outing tonight) it was nice to see a solid effort from someone... which leads to...

Jose Valverde: He had to walk someone, because it's written in the contract of every Mets closer that saves must come with some agita, but Valverde closed out the win and is 1 for 1 in save situations and I think is the only member of the bullpen to not give up a run yet this season.

THE BAD
Daniel Murphy's Defense: I love Murph, and I think his bat and grit are intricate to this team, but he's looked bad in the field in the two games he's played. If this team continues to fail to make double-plays, there are going to be a lot of hard luck losses in the future.

Rubin Tejada: Not really hitting and defense not looking that good either. Making no real contributions to this team. I just cannot see him lasting much longer.

John Lannan: Has pitched twice, hasn't gotten through a whole inning either time, and has given up 2 runs in each appearance. He has an ERA of 36.00. Nuff said.

THE UGLY
Travis d'Arnaud's bat: I hate to say it, and I'm not giving up on the kid, but at some point he needs to use his bat for something other than to lean on.

Showing some heart

Just a quick observation about the 8th and 9th inning tonight in the Mets/Rockies game. The Mets showed some grit late to force extra innings. Nice job. And if Francour keeps swinging the bat like they way he has so far he’s going to find himself in the cleanup spot very soon.

I liked what I saw from Niese tonight. His first start in the high mountains of Denver wasn’t as bad as the line looked. His only REAL mistake was the two out homerun ball. Overall he kept his composure and battled. He’s going to be a fairly solid starter. Not a #2 guy… but someone you can count on to keep you in a game.

UPDATE: Not sure what Jerry Manuel was thinking when he pinch ran Fernando Tatis for Mike Jacobs. That left only Henry Blanco to counter LHP Randy Flores and he was the last man on the bench. So Alex Cora stayed on to face Flores and lined a weak shot to 2nd base, leaving runners at 2nd and 3rd. Tatis would have been the perfect guy to bring up in that spot.

UPDATE #2: And just like that the game is over. Putting the rookie in there like that was not the best of ideas. I think this one may prove to be the first of the nails in Jerry’s coffin. We’ve already discussed Jenrry Mejia’s being pushed up too soon… and Coors was not the place to put him in position for his first major league loss. The team battled back tonight, but the result was the same. Not leaving a good feeling around the team here folks. I could see the Mets getting into panic mode quickly. It’s way too early to say a game is a must win, but… hey… tomorrow is a must win.