Catch The Replay

The Monday Afternoon getaway-day game in August is something that's been rather prevalent for the Mets lately. Yesterday's game was the second, in fact, of three consecutive Monday Afternoon getaway-day games that the Mets will play. I don't know why the schedulers made it this way, and I'm not exactly thrilled by it, since it precludes me from watching a live game. On the other hand, I already know by time I get home whether or not it's worth watching the replay of the game on SNY in the evening.

This Monday's game was replay-worthy, thanks mostly to a ship-righting 7 inning effort by Jon Niese and Anthony Recker, who broke a month-long hitless streak with authority, belting a 3-run Home Run that served as the difference maker in a 5-3 Mets victory.

Though Recker hadn't had a hit since sometime around the All Star Break, he'd only been 0-for-18 during his slump, which was probably due to his being lost in d'Arnaudville. This isn't a particular defense of Recker, but he hasn't produced in a backup role the way he did last season and he's seen what little playing time he does merit—generally once a week nowadays—evaporate. But today, he got another opportunity and made it count. His 7th inning Home Run broke a 2-2 tie and provided the Mets with enough runs to earn Niese another inning and get the Mets a victory.

Niese was another feel-good story in this game. After a string of outings that were either bad, terrible, or worse than they looked, Niese finally had a good outing, working 7 innings and allowing 2 runs to the Phillies, who looked like they used up their juice coming back to win Sunday's forgettable affair. Niese mostly worked through the game without much drama, except for the 4th inning, when Darin Ruf reached him for a Home Run. Niese bridged the way to Buddy Carlisle, who pitched the 8th inning, freeing up Jeurys Familia to take the 9th inning, where he gave up a run but still wrapped up the Save, something his ailing tag-team partner Jenrry Mejia could not do on Sunday.

So, the Mets are now done in Philadelphia for the season, as strange as it may seem. But when they went there, they did well, winning 8 of the 10 games they played at Steroid Field II. A far cry from the Phillies glory years. Then again, it's a far cry from the Mets glory years, too, but at least with the Mets you get the sense that the worm is turning a little bit. But maybe it's just a side effect of playing a team that's really lousy.