9/12 Mets Game Recap: Not a Bad Aaron Harang Debut, but Bullpen Can’t Keep it Close as Mets Get Swept in 4 Games

Well, it wasn’t a terrible Mets debut for Aaron Harang, sans 3 solo shots. The Mets offense failed when it counted, though, and the bullpen…well, mainly that A-hole Frank Frank, couldn’t keep it tight. The Mets were swept out of Citi by the Washington Nationals by a score of 7-2 in what was also Davey Johnson‘s final game managing against the Mets in New York.

Box Score and Lowlights Here.

Sep 12, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher

(44) throws a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the fourth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Zimmerman, the 2nd batter Harang faced as a Met, continued his torrid tear with a solo shot to make it 1-0 Nats. The other batters he faced, leadoff hitter Denard Span, 3-hitter Jayson Werth, and 4-hitter Bryce Harper, all struck out.

There was an odd play in the bottom half, when Eric Young, after singling against RHP Tanner Roark, ran on an 0-1 count to Juan Lagares. Lagares, however, kept the bunt going, then got high-fived in the dugout for “sacrificing” Young as if that was the plan all along. Heh…

Well, regardless, Young scored on Daniel Murphy‘s RBI double, tying the game at 1.

That’s when the rain came, with the crew throwing the tarp on before the drops even started. Around an hour later, the 2nd inning was underway, and Adam LaRoche was underway giving the Nats a 2-1 lead on a solo shot to left-center that had to be reviewed but was clearly a home run, evading the leaping Young’s glove and hitting the Party Deck rail.

After that, Harang settled down, giving the Mets a chance to tie it in the 4th. Lucas Duda, who entered the game on a 1-18 skid, singled to lead things off. Josh Satin struck out swinging, but Baxter singled, sending Duda to 2nd. Anthony Recker then singled on a line-drive to Bryce in left. Duda scored, but Harper threw out Baxter attempting to take 3rd on the throw, with Recker moving to 2nd. Tejada, though, flied out to center, ending the inning with the Mets tied at 2.

Harang was pretty solid today, giving up only 4 hits. 3 of them, however, were solo shots, including a leadoff solo shot by Wilson Ramos to start the 5th, making it 3-2 Nats. Harang went 6 innings, sneakily striking out 10 along the way.

Pedro Feliciano headed in to face Adam LaRoche, and he greeted the ol’ lefty with another home-run distance shot. Lagares, who we are so accustomed to making spectacular catches, mistimed his jump and the ball hit off the top of the wall for a double. Scott Atchison relieved him, the first batter Ramos grounding out softly enough to the pitcher for LaRoche to move over to 3rd. Anthony Rendon then hit a sac fly to center, scoring LaRoche to make it 4-2 Nats.

To lead things off in the bottom of the 7th, Craig Stammen relieved Roark and walked Anthony Recker on 4 pitches. Ruben Tejada challenged Denard Span on a shallow bloop to center, but he tumbled and dove and made the catch. Matt den Dekker, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, struck out. Young, though, continued to be awesome, singling with 2-out and setting up runners on the corners. After 3 pickoff attempts, Young went on a 0-2 count, stealing 2nd with ease. Lagares worked it to 3-2, but unfortunately struck out.

In the 8th, Frank Francisco did his worst impression of an effective pitcher, letting Denard Span extend his hitting streak to 23 games in a row with a double. Span scored on Zimmerman’s double down the line to make it 5-2 Nats. Frank then hit Werth, Jayson visibly ticked off and jarring off as he went to 1st. Harper grounded into a force-out, though Duda almost threw it too high for Ruben, who came down on the bag on time. They tried to turn a double play on Ian Desmond‘s grounder to short, but Murph couldn’t handle the hard Harper slide, and pulled Duda off the bag on the throw. Zim scored to make it 6-2. The last out was finally attained with a groundout to 1st that ended the atrocity that is Frank Francisco in a Mets uniform.

At least for today.

The Nats put another on the board with an Anthony Rendon solo shot in the 9th against David Aardsma, the 13th Nats home run in this series.

Notables:

• Aaron Harang went 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 10. He also collected his first Mets hit.
• The Mets were 2-7 with RISP. They left 7 on base.
• Eric Young went 2-3 with a run scored.

Thoughts:

Get Frank Francisco off this team.

Other than the home runs, not bad, Aaron Harang.

Get that stupid pitcher Frank Francisco of this freakin’ team.

The offense was just awful this series. With a red-hot Nats entering the series this week, they hardly stood a chance. Grab the individual victories and go from there.

LHP Brad Hand (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his 2013 debut for the Miami Marlins against LHP Jon Niese (6-7, 3.86 ERA) tomorrow night at 7:10PM ET in Flushing.

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