Well this one certainly isn't going to be stored in the Smithsonian.
The Mets began their series in Milwaukee by welcoming Ike Davis back from Las Vegas, celebrating another Zack Wheeler Day, and finally giving Marlon Byrd a rest. Turns out this was the perfect day to ease Davis back in (and no, not because there's lots of beer in Milwaukee, Wilpons.) But because they were playing the Brewers, who welcomed the Flushing Nine with a bevy of bad pitching, bad base running, and bad decisions to hand the Mets a 12-5 victory.
Johnny Hellweg started for the Brewers, and his control was such that Hellweg is German for "Oliver Perez". But it was when he had a simple double play on a comebacker and threw behind the runner at third base unsuccessfully that you knew this was going in the Mets' back pocket. Throw in Jean Segura and Norichika Aoki clumsily getting thrown out at the plate, Carlos Gomez getting thrown out at third and three errors by Milwaukee, it was apparent that not even the Mets could give this one away if they tried.
Davis had three hits in his return … a swinging bunt to the left side for a hit, a hard single through the shift, and another hard single to drive in a run in the ninth. He did strike out looking, but that was on a questionable call (so questionable, you'd think Angel Hernandez was behind the plate), and he also walked as well. Is he cured? Is anybody cured of anything in a day?
As for Wheeler, he went five innings and gave up seven hits while walking three batters. Not a great Wheeler Day, but all a part of the growing process. He got the outs when he absolutely needed them, and thanks to some creative official scoring, only one of his runs was earned. But the big story of the game was who was in the middle of the order, and the blogger who doubted him:
Wait, Nieuwenhuis is batting fifth? And people think Davis in the lineup is a problem?
— Metstradamus (@Metstradamus) July 6, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
For the record: Four hits, five RBI, and six times on base for Kirk Nieuwenhuis. But before you go thinking that all I need to do is trash somebody for him to produce, I've been ragging on John Buck for a good two months and he's hitting .173. Now the only question that remains is: How will Terry Collins make the lineup that scored 12 runs unrecognizable on Saturday?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
