El Duque Lets Lead Slip, Mets Fall In Opener, 5-3

By Joe Janish
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA -- In seven of the last eight games, the Mets have lost in every way possible.

They’ve had games where they received good pitching without offensive support. There have been games where they hit well but the pitching was battered. They’ve been on the wrong end of laughers and lost close games. And last night they simply, flat-out, lost.

El Duque dominated the Dodgers the first time through the lineup, then struggled a bit. In the end he gave up all five runs on seven hits and three walks in five and two-thirds innings. Not a great performance by any means, but considering how well he’s pitched this year, he was bound to have a poor outing. Though, his timing was terrible.

Meantime, Randy Wolf allowed two quick runs in the first inning, but only gave up one more the rest of the way. He didn’t exactly pitch well — the Mets hit bullets all over the place — but the Mets could not push runners across the plate. A number of hard line drives were hit right at people, often in key situations.

The Mets’ best chance for a big inning came in the top of the fifth, when Shawn Green had a one-out infield single and Carlos Beltran followed with another that bounced off Wolf. David Wright blasted a line drive to leftfield that might have scored both runners, but it was speared by Luis Gonzalez for the second out. After that, the Mets could muster only one more hit in the game, a single by Paul LoDuca

Notes

Nothing notable, other than the fact the Mets suddenly stink.

Next Game

The Mets will find a way to lose against Hong-Chih Kuo in another 10:10 PM start (it may as well start at 2 AM). John Maine will be the sacrificial lamb of the Mets.

**Read more from Joe Janish at www.metstoday.com