It also may have struck the beginning of the death knell for manager Jerry Manuel.
Today's game perfectly encapsulated the Mets frustrations this year and last--an injury, bad defense, up and down hitting, and very spotty relief.
Jonathan Niese, who has pitched well in his rookie campaign left the game with an injured hamstring.
Niese made it to the third inning when he injured his right proximal hamstring while fielding a bunt by Gaby Sanchez. In a move that horrified Mets fans everywhere, Niese grabbed the back of his right leg and looked visibly uncomfortable. He gamely tried to pitch on, but after one toss to Hanley Ramirez, he was forced out of the game and replaced by Hisanori Takahashi.
The timing of the injury couldn't be any worse given that Oliver Perez was demoted to the bullpen yesterday, and John Maine was extremely ineffective Saturday.
Niese was only charged with one earned run thanks to a woeful defense. David Wright had a very poor game at third and the Mets quickly fell behind 7-0.
To the Mets credit, they came back to within one run on some timely hitting by, of all people, Gary Mathews Jr, but the rally quickly ended thanks to Jerry Manuel's inexplicable move of pinch-hitting for cleanup hitter Chris Carter.
Jeff Francoeur, who sat out the start of the game because of a deep, deep slump, came on to pinch-hit for Carter and was dispatched in 2 pitches.
Speaking of Carter, "The Animal" had an RBI for the Mets, who also received timely RBI hits from Alex Cora and David Wright. There is absolutely no reason why Francoeur replaced Carter other than Jerry's belief that a righty-lefty matchup is always the right call to make. The bottom line is this--Francoeur needed at least a full day off, if not more, and Carter was penciled in at cleanup. What kind of signal do you send to him when you PH for him with the game on the line.
It was piss-poor managing.
Fernando Nieve came on after the Mets rally and promptly gave up three runs to put the game out of reach at 10-7. The Mets added one more run to make it 10-8, again on a GMJ hit, but the game ended after that.
It was a disgusting 4 days of baseball for the Mets, and they failed in every way a team can fail.
Fittingly, David Wright came up with a chance to tie the game in the 9th and he struck out.
It's time for Jerry to go.
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