Vinny Rottino. Photo by: Stacy Podelski
The New York Mets (27-22) had a less than memorable day in their 8-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, as both teams took time to tribute the men and women in uniform on Memorial Day at Citi Field. There were highs and lows for 32,122 on a hot day in New York City.
Some of the highs included home runs by Vinny Rottino and Scott Hairston, who had combined to help the Mets tie the game with the Phillies at four in the bottom of the sixth inning. The lows though were the performance of one Manny Acosta who has struggled mightily in the pen for New York, and the two errors, which snapped their season high-tying errorless streak at four games.
“The balls that Manny are throwing are right in the heart of the plate,” Mets manager Terry Collins said on the biggest thing his reliever isn’t doing. “On all the films and the tapes we’ve seen of him the ball is in the middle of the plate, instead of making a good pitch-he makes one right in the hitting area.”
On if he is worried about his reliever Collins said that he was indeed. As for the move the team will make with Acosta, the manager had this to say, “We are going to talk about that in just a few minutes about what we can do to get him started. We have some concerns for sure.”
With the Phillies up by just one run, Acosta came in to give up three runs on four hits, to increase his ERA to 11.86. Having the biggest day for Philadelphia was Ex-Met Ty Wigginton, who drove in a career-best six runs, finishing 3-for-3 with a double, homer and two runs scored.
In the scary moment of the day for New York fans was when infielder Justin Turner left the game in the third inning. Turner, who was caught in a rundown, landed awkwardly at first base-immediately fell to the ground in tremendous pain.
A report from the Mets was that Turner suffered a right ankle sprain, with the X-Rays being negative. Turner finished the game with a 1-for-2 day at the dish, was able to extend his hitting streak to five games. The injury looked much worst, as Turner looked like he may have done something to his knee, there is no official word on if there are any additional injuries.
“I have no idea how long Justin will be out,” Collins said. “There is that old adage that sometimes sprains can be worse than breaks, so we will have to see.”
The manager continued to say about the injury, “I thought he might have blown out his Achilles tendon. I’ve seen guys jam their foot in the bag and seen the tendon pop on plays like that.”
Having Turner out forced third baseman David Wright to slide over to the shortstop position, it was the second career appearance at that spot for the All-Star-as the last time Wright had to field that position was on August 7, 2011 versus Atlanta.
“There are no perfect at-bats, David Wright is showing us that he is human,” Collins said of the struggles of this third baseman. “He showed that he can fall into a funk like anyone else, he has been so god for so long and you start to expect that he will get a hit and you know that is not going to happen.”
Wright is starting to see his batting average decline, as he has now gone hitless in his fourth consecutive game, which is the longest drought by games this season. Wright is 0-for his last-14 dating to his final at-bat on May 24.
Things didn’t go well for David in the field, as a potential missed turn of the double play wound up costing the Mets in the seventh inning.
“I couldn’t tell, I thought the runner was going to be safe-he was running on the play,” Collins said of that missed opportunity. “I couldn’t tell, to me David was in a good spot, he was on the inside part of the base, but I didn’t see it.”
Making his Mets debut was Jack Egbert, who is a graduate of Rutgers University. Egbert, who retired both batters he faced in the ninth inning, was born in Staten Island, New York, also made his first Major League appearance since 2009 with the Chicago White Sox.
Andres Torres, who became a father prior to the game, came off the bench in the eighth inning and doubled to left-centerfield, which is his first pinch hit since July 23 of last season. Torres and his wife had their second child Mia Carolina sometime in the wee hours of today.
The Mets will look to rebound in Game Two against the Phillies on Tuesday. It will be a battle of righties as Jeremy Hefner (0-2, 6.17 ERA) takes on Joe Blanton (2-2, 4.55 ERA). This will be Hefner’s first start against the Phillies, as the pitcher is coming off his first career start against the Padres on May 24.
Game Two between the Mets and the Phillies is set to air on the SNY Network, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
“It is going to be a grind, we have got to play against a lot of good teams,” Collins said of this stretch at home. “We have got to grind it out, that is what this business is about and that is what this game is about and you do the best you can to compete against the other teams.”
Latest News: Chris Schwinden and Omar Quintanilla are going to be called-up for the Mets.
Also seen on Examiner.com below:
http://www.examiner.com/article/not-such-a-memorable-day-for-mets-8-4-loss-to-philadelphia