Well, the Mets nine game winning streak had to end at some point, and really, when you looked at this game, especially the pitching match-up, aside from the Mets being red-hot, you couldn’t really come up with a reason why the Mets SHOULD win this game.

While the Reds were sending Denny Neagle, a Cy Young caliber pitcher, to the mound, the Mets sent their sixth, seventh, or even eighth starter, Dennis Springer to the mound. While Springer gave the Mets a chance to win in his first start, he looked more like the pitcher who had a 5.17 ERA entering this season.

The Reds barrage against him started immediately scoring runs in each of the first three innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Two batters into the game, it was 2-0 Reds on a Dmitri Young homer. Young struck again in the second with an RBI double. Instead of Young, it was Aaron Boone with an RBI double in the third.

With the way the Mets offense has been humming, a 4-0 deficit in the third would not be expected to be insurmountable. It was today as Neagle was dealing. The Mets would have just two hits against Neagle over his seven innings pitched. The first was a double by Kurt Abbott in the second, and the other was a Mike Piazza double in the sixth.

The Mets were not able to push either run home, and really, they took advantage of none of their opportunities. While Neagle was difficult to hit, he still have the Mets some chances by walking four runners. In fact, while he did pitch seven scoreless, the Mets had base runners in four of the seven innings with a runner in scoring position in three of those innings.

At the end of the day, you have to just tip your cap to Neagle for pitching a great game. With respect to the Mets, you just acknowledge the Reds were a better team today, especially with Young and Ed Taubensee putting on a hitting clinic, each hitting a double and homer and combining to drive in eight of the 12 Reds runs.

While he wasn’t particularly good, Rich Rodriguez deserves some credit for wearing one in this game. The LOOGY threw three innings saving the bullpen. To be honest, the game was all but over when he entered in the seventh inning and the Mets trailing 5-0 and Neagle dominating.

He also wasn’t helped by Todd Zeile making a throwing error to allow Hal Morris to reach and open the flood gates for a four run seventh. It also didn’t help he was on fumes when the Reds put across three more runs in the ninth.

Ultimately, the Mets wore won, and the Reds seemed to get all of their frustration with the 1999 season and the beginning part of this season on the Mets. Realistically speaking, this Mets team was going to have to lose eventually, so you just shake this one off, and you look to the Mets beginning another impressive winning streak.

Game Notes: The Mets were not shut out as Derek Bell hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth after Jon Nunnally hit a lead-off triple. At that time, it made the score 9-1. This appears like it will be Springer’s last start as Bobby Jones has begun his rehab assignment, and Rick Reed‘s palm is making progress.

Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.