6/22 Mets Game Recap – Dillon Doesn’t Have It, Mets Rally Late but Kevin Frandsen Walks Off

Well, Dillon Gee had been fantastic over his last 4 starts. He had also been terrible in his last 4 starts against the Phillies, and the latter trend unfortunately continued today. Gee went 5 innings, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits, including 3 home runs including 2 from Ryan Howard. The Mets, however, rallied late (after falling behind 7-1) to take the game into the bottom half of the 9th, but a pinch-hitting Kevin Frandsen crushed the 2nd pitch he saw off Carlos Torres, handing the Mets 8-7 loss.

Highlights and box score here.

Jun 22, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher

(35) delivers a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies in the second inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Things basically got started immediately for the Phillies in the 1st. Chase Utley hit a 1-out single, and Michael Young followed with a hit himself. Both runners moved up when John Buck just couldn’t handle an outside pitch for a passed ball. On the 1st pitch he saw, Ryan Howard hits a single into center field and both runners scored. Gee followed up by striking out Domonic Brown on 3 pitches before Mayberry popped it up.

Marlon Byrd got the first hit of the ball game for the Metsies but was erased on the next pitch when Daniel Murphy grounded into an easy 5-4-3 double play.

In the 3rd, Omar Quintanilla laced it up the middle, making Pettibone duck to open up the 3rd inning. Dillon Gee then laid down a perfect bunt towards the 1st base side to move Q over to 2nd. Eric Young laid down an even more beautiful bunt towards 3rd, just beating it out for the single with Q going to 3rd. Jordany Valdespin laid down a soft ground ball to 2nd, forcing Young out and scoring Omar. Wright then hit it sharply to 3rd to force Jordany out for the last of the inning.

Ryan Howard, who owns Dillon Gee, hit an opposite field home run a couple rows behind the left field wall to make it 3-1, Philadelphia, in the 4th. Dom Brown then doubled into the right field corner, and after John Mayberry grounded out, Ben Revere‘s RBI single made it 4-1.

After not getting pinch-hit for in the top half, Dillon gave up another solo shot, this time to Michael Young with 2 out in the 5th inning to make it 5-1. Dillon then had to face Howard once more, and this time the 1st baseman crushed it to right-center for his 2nd home run of the day, making it 6-1.

The Phillies scored their 7th run in the 6th when John Buck threw the ball into left with Ben Revere attempting a steal of 3rd.

Jonathan Pettibone, starting for the Phillies, tweaked his back batting in the 6th, but still headed out to start the 7th. He couldn’t get a warmup pitch over properly, so Michael Stutes entered the game to first face John Buck. Michael Young made a fantastic diving snare to his left, but he rushed the throw once he got to his feet for an error. Kirk then worked a walk, and Quintanilla laced a single to right, scoring Buck to make it 7-2. Josh Satin, pinch-hitting for the 9th spot, worked a walk on a 3-2 count to knock Stutes out of the game. Justin De Fratus entered, and Eric Young, Jr. greeted him with a double over Brown’s head in left, scoring Kirk and Omar to make it 7-4. That brought up Jordany,who grounded a slow one to short, scoring Satin to make it 7-5. Wright struck out on 3 pitches, but Byrd walked, forcing Charlie Manuel to bring in the rookie lefty Jake Diekman to face Murphy, who struck him out with the benefit of a wide 1st strike call. This pissed Murphy off, and he let the ump know about it emphatically on his way to the dugout.

Bastardo put a zero up in the 8th, but Jordany Valdespin, who homered off Jonathan Papelbon for his 1st Major League hit and a game-winner last year, took the 2nd pitch he saw deep into the right field stands to make it 7-6. Wright pulled the ball down the line towards Young who was playing that far over, but he couldn’t make the play for his 2nd error of the day. Marlon Byrd popped out, but Murph, on a hit-and-run, hit it to the right of J-Rol and into left-center for a base hit. Wright was running as fast as he could the whole way, and would have been sent regardless of Ben Revere’s bobble. A play at the play became moot, and Wright scored to tie the game at 7. Murph stole 2nd, but Buck grounded out to 3rd to send the game into the bottom of the ninth.

It was al for naught, however, as Carlos Torres gave up a no-doubt-about-it-pinch-hit walk off to his Bay Area Mate Kevin Frandsen on the 2nd pitch he threw.

Notables:

• Dillon looked to be settling in after a rough 1st inning, but 2 runs in each of the 4th and the 5th ruined his string of good outings.
• Eric Young, Jr. had another stellar day, going 2-5 with 2 RBI
• Though Greg Burke gave up 1 run in his 1 inning and Carlos Torres gave up the game-winner, the rest of the bullpen (Josh Edgin, Scott Rice, and David Aardsma) was stellar, giving the Mets every opportunity to rally.
• Ryan Howard is 7-15 with 6 home runs off Dillon Gee.

Thoughts:

It’s unfortunate Dillon couldn’t keep his string of good starts going, but these days the Phillies have his number. Luckily he got the no-decision after the tough walk-off loss to the Braves last Monday.

Eric Young, Jr. is showing why the Mets wanted to see what he could add to the table. So far, he’s given us some much needed energy at the top of the lineup. Until he shows otherwise, he’ll get every chance to succeed, and the New Brunswick, NJ, native will have a lot of fans in the stands when the team arrives home on the 28th of June.

I don’t understand why Juan Lagares wasn’t in the lineup after a stellar Friday evening, but I’m through harping on Terry Collins‘ questionable moves. Unless things REALLY bottom out, he’s probably going to get every opportunity to prove he’s the long-term guy, so I expect him to stick around as Sandy evaluates everything.

The Mets aim to take the series tomorrow when Matt Harvey (6-1, 2.16 ERA) takes on John Lannan (0-1, 5.49 ERA) at 1:35PM at Citizens Bank Park.

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