Nationals Walked Away With This One

On what must’ve been a trying day for Bartolo Colon and both of his families, he just didn’t have it. 

For the first time since 2005, Colon walked five batters. Twice he walker back to back batters. He only lasted 4.2 innings allowing five hits, three earned, and the aforementioned five walks with our strikeouts. At times, it did look as if he was getting squeezed by the home plate umpire. At this point it should be mentioned that umpires are human:

Colon had his chance to come out of the game with a no decision. In the fourth  Yoenis Cespedes had tied the game at 1-1. 

Up until that point, the Mets had been one-hit through 3.2 innings by Gio Gonzalez, who has dominated the Mets. In his career, Gonzalez is 9-4 with a 2.66 ERA. At Citi Field, he’s 6-1 with a 1.54 ERA. Tonight was more of the same with him pitching 6.1 innings allowing five hits, one earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. 

As mentioned before, Colon entered the fifth tied 1-1. Colon allowed the first two batters to reach base, and Daniel Murphy stepped to the plate. In his prior at bat, Murphy singled home a run past a diving David Wright. This time, he pulled one down the first base line, but he was robbed of an extra base hit by Eric Campbell, who made his second terrific defensive play of the game. Colon would strike out Ryan Zimmerman, but he just couldn’t put Anthony Rendon away. 

There were a few times Terry Collins looked as if he would lift Colon in the fifth. He even sent Dan Warthen to talk to him, but he never pulled the trigger apparently wanting to get Colon through five innings. While the move was understandable, it cost the Mets. 

By the way, speaking of stealing hits from Murphy, Juan Lagares showed he really is back to his Gold Glove form by doing his best Willie Mays impersonation

 https://vine.co/v/i09PLrLFExB

Murphy finished the night 1-4 with two RBI (including the above sacrifice fly). His batting average dropped to .395. 

The Mets tried to muster a rally in the seventh after falling behind 5-1. They loaded the bases with one out. However, both Kevin Plawecki and Michael Conforto grounded out against the lefty Felipe Rivero. It all but assures Collins will never hit Conforto against a lefty again.  

When all was said and done, the Mets pitching failed the offense that failed them. The Mets entered the game allowing the least amount of walks. Tonight, they allowed 11 walks and hit two batters. They would lose 7-1. The Mets not only dropped the game, but also dropped back down to third place. Still, they are only 1.5 games back with plenty of games against the Nstionals and the season. 

Game Notes: For the second straight game, Plawecki was successful throwing out a base stealer. Just to bring some levity to a frustrating game, here’s Cespedes making a goofy play in LF:

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