The Bookends Of Thwack

Game 2 of the day/night doubleheader with the Nationals began with Justin Turner crashing into Andrew Brown. It ended with Ryan Zimmerman crashing into a LaTroy Hawkins pitch to give the Nationals a 2-1 victory.

In between? Nothing and everything at the same time. The two keys to the game, of course, were Daniel Murphy’s ridiculous throw in the fifth on what could have been the most unbelievable double play ever in life after Justin Turner’s Omar Vizquel impression, only to be followed up with Murphy’s Steve Sax impression which scored the first run for the Nationals … and the lack of hitting which continues to come up and bite the Mets in the ass, and more specifically bite Matt Harvey in the ass (which I’m sure you’ve all seen by now).

I had a discussion after the game regarding the Murphy play. On the one hand, the Turner scoop and glove flip might have given Murphy goose bumps, and in turn caused him to try to add his own flair to the play by whipping around and firing without regard for human life. It’s what my friend called “being caught up in the moment”. He used the same phrase the first time Lucas Duda tried to steal a base this season after moving to first base. But if that was indeed the case, then that’s a bad job by Murphy in keeping his wits about him. Fielders and baserunners need to know who they’re sharing the field with. If Jeff Francoeur is in the outfield, for example, a baserunner needs to know not to go to third base on a hit to right. If Juan Pierre is running, and he’s lucky enough make contact, then a fielder needs to know that he needs to hurry to get him. Murphy needed to know that it was Wilson Ramos running and that he had more time to get his bearings. Instead his throw that was so bad collided with Ramos only because Ramos was so slow.

But things like that are freakish and abnormal. Sadly, the Mets not giving their starting pitcher run support while they’re pitching a gem is normal. And it will happen again. Frustratingly yet predictably, the Mets couldn’t get any offense going off of Ross Ohlendorf. Dillon Gee getting outdueled by … say … Clayton Kershaw is one thing. Matt Harvey not getting run support when Ross Ohlendorf is pushing past 110 pitches after being a reliever for half his eight appearances this season, that’s the thing that makes me want to douse myself in lemon juice and dive into a bathtub filled with rusty nails, especially after Jenrry Mejia pitched seven strong innings and got 11 runs. The Mets have been a lot better since this roster got shuffled … losing dead weight like Duda and Jordany Valdespin and getting contributions from guys like Eric Young Jr., Juan Lagares, and Josh Satin. But every time there seems to be some sort of path to some real optimism, mediocrity seems to drag them down the mountain by the heels. That and the standings.

Makes you want to bleed.