Major Medical

So Ike Davis’ bone bruise might put him on the shelf for the rest of the season. A bone bruise. On a stupid pop-up. The least surprising part of the story is that the Mets might have made the injury worse by putting him in a boot.

This is what happens when the rest of the league has the Aflac duck, and we have the “major medical” pigeon. Pay the doctors, boy. (When do we hear that Reyes destroyed the interior shoulder capsule doing the “claw”?)

As usual, the Mets had a game to play to try to forget this latest malady and move on. The game was almost as painful as Davis’ foot in a boot.

I thought the biggest problem with Frankie’s latest blown save was pitch selection. The Matsui at-bat in the ninth was masterful, setting up the fastball with the curveball making Hideki look all kinds of stupid on the fastball looking to sit him down. The problem was that he tried to do the same thing with Conor Jackson but he saw it coming.  The situation clearly called for a curve (it seems like a second guess, but trust me I first guessed this one). And it didn’t help that the fastball was a beach ball down the middle. Frankie puts it a little more simply:

“I’ve got to get my head out of my butt, pretty much simple as that. I have to stop those pathetic outings. They are really pathetic. I’ve got to get it done and find a way to go out there and make quality pitches and start getting people out.” 

Of course, it’s a meaningless run if Juan Pierre could have driven in Justin Turner from third with two out. (Yeah, Jason Bay is back to being Juan Pierre again until further notice.) So perhaps Frankie shouldn’t be so hard on himself. But, yeah. Get some people out, Frankie. Coco Crisp would be a fine start.

But have no fear, because the Mets found a way to win an extra-inning game in which they usually lose it: a hit batsman with the bases loaded after Jose Reyes was walked intentionally (kind of) with third base open. Brad Ziegler did the honors:

“I haven’t seen the replay, so I’m not going to say he did lean into it.  But if he did, it’s kind of a cheap way to end a game.”

Great, another guy making a joke about the Mets finances. Did he really have to say cheap? C’mon, that’s low.

First off, if Turner swerved into it, what of it? That happens millions of times and never gets called. So, thanks for playing Brad.  And listen, I don’t like it any more than you do Brad. Because justice would have been for Turner to hit one through your chest after having the on deck hitter walked with third base open, risking losing the game on a wild pitch, passed ball, or … say, a hit batsman. Maybe giving up two hits to the bottom of the order before walking Jose Reyes “intentionally” and throwing the pitch to Turner a foot inside was a cheap way to lose a ballgame.

But the Mets first walk off win of the year didn’t end with a bang, but with a bruise. And maybe not a large bruise. But it still counts, just like winning on a balk does.