Still Searching For Answers

You sort of had to figure that after the Mets basically won by accident on Friday night that they might have been doomed on Saturday night. Though they had Matt Harvey going up against the Dodgers on a glitzy, glamorous, nationally televised Saturday Night game on FOX, the Dodgers nickled and dimed Harvey to death, while the Mets had their general lack of recourse. Though the Mets did explode for 3 runs in the late innings, it was far too late and the Dodgers hung on for what felt like a predictable 4-3 victory.

The Mets have played relatively few National TV games this season. In fact, this is, if I'm not mistaken, their first FOX game all year. I suppose this is probably because everyone still likes to make fun of the Mets, but, I mean, what do you want. The Mets aren't the Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox or Giants, so can you blame them on being deemed irrelevant by the networks? It's no secret that they're primarily interested in sexy teams and sexy names, and while Matt Harvey certainly qualifies, the networks, I suppose, are too scared to bank on a starting pitcher. You could tell that FOX didn't give two shits about the Mets from the outset of the game, when Kenny Albert, who's barely worthy of shining his father's shoes (which of course makes him the perfect fit for FOX), announced the Mets lineup, featuring their #9 hitter, "Center Fielder, Ron Lagares."

If Vin Scully had been in earshot, he probably would have taken Albert's microphone and slapped him over the head with it repeatedly, while telling him to "Shut up,  you irresponsible child."

Still, there was a game to be played and whether the Mets had Ron Lagares or Juan Lagares in Center Field, they didn't do very well. Matt Harvey didn't have any sort of control of his pitches, probably because he was soaked in sweat most of the day, and ended up walking an uncharacteristic 5 batters in 5 innings. He was, however, able to Houdini himself out of multiple jams, and had Lucas Duda been a little more daring on a 1-out ground ball with the bases loaded in the 2nd inning, he might have worked out of one more. But instead, the Dodgers scraped out a run there, and two more in the 5th inning, one on an Adrian Gonzalez Home Run, because Adrian Gonzalez always hits a Home Run against the Mets, and another on some annoying play. The Dodgers then tacked on a run in the 7th off Alex Torres. And with Zack Greinke and his Hershiser-like scoreless innings streak on a roll, the game was over. Actually, even if Greinke wasn't pitching so well, the game was probably over anyway.

But the Mets did show some signs of life once Greinke left the game, taking advantage of a slightly hittable Dodger bullpen to plate two in the 8th, and, just to make sure you knew they were still there, they got one more in the 9th and actually had the go-ahead run at the plate with two outs and Curtis Granderson up, but Granderson struck out and the Mets went right back to losing annoying games in Los Angeles, which they seem to have done quite a bit these past few seasons.

It's hard to find the good in games like this. Yes, Harvey did a good job of getting out of multiple jams, but he also got in them in the 1st place. And yes, the Mets offense did score 3 runs, which feels like the most offense they've generated in weeks, but it was also accomplished when the game was already out of reach and given the opportunity to get themselves even, they went right back in the tank.

So, one more here in LA, and it's the Dodgers Mojo against the Mets Matz...Well, something's got to give, right?