In four different innings Thursday at Citi Field, the Mets put two men on base, presenting a slew of opportunities to score. And John Buck kept thinking they eventually would.
“It’s this time. It’s this time,” Buck said he was thinking as the chances came, explaining, “We’ve been putting together good at-bats in those situations [so far this year].”
There weren’t quite as many good at-bats Thursday for Buck and his mates, however, as the Met offense did almost nothing against the Padres. The Mets suffered their first loss this season and failed to sweep San Diego, getting shut out for eight innings before falling 2-1.
The only run the Mets produced was a solo homer from Buck to lead off the ninth inning against closer Huston Street. Besides that, the Mets managed just four other hits against lefty starter Eric Stults (five shutout innings) and Co., went 0-for-10 with men on base and went 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.
“Our offense didn’t really show up today,” Ike Davis said.
Uh, no. The middle of the order in particular was punchless – David Wright (three strikeouts), Davis (two strikeouts and a double play), Marlon Byrd (two strikeouts) and Lucas Duda (three strikeouts) went 0-for-12 and whiffed 10 times in 15 plate appearances. The Mets aren’t an offensive outfit that will manufacture a lot of runs – there’s little team speed in the lineup.
The Mets pounded out 19 runs in their first two games, tying a franchise record. That was beyond expectations, but Thursday was uninspiring. Remember, the pitching staff has injury issues, but the lineup is completely intact.
The Mets struck out 14 times after producing 14 strikeouts total in the first two wins.
“We’ve got some power,” manager Terry Collins said, “but we’ve still got to realize base hits count at times.”
In his first start since last July 7 due to shoulder surgery for a damaged artery, Dillon Gee pitched fairly well, continuing the Mets’ starting pitching success. Gee fired 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, and while his control was just so-so (50 strikes, 43 balls), the Padres lineup isn’t much of a threat.
With Johan Santana out for the year and Shaun Marcum on the DL, there’s no question that Gee is important. Jonathon Niese and Matt Harvey are impressive, and Zack Wheeler is coming. But the Mets need Gee to pitch well. He posted a 3.00 ERA in his final nine starts last year and was effective in his healthy return.
“It’s a turning point and hopefully I can keep building from there,” Gee said.
The Mets didn’t get a runner to third base until Buck’s homer but had chances with men on second. In the second inning, with men on first and second with two outs, Gee grounded out. The next inning, Justin Turner (three hits) slammed a one-out double, and Wright walked, but Davis’ double play ended the threat.
In the sixth, Byrd and Duda struck out with two on and one out, and in the seventh – the last real chance – Turner hit an inning-ending comebacker with two on and two outs.
“It does kind of suck just because Dillon did such a good job,” Davis said. “We weren’t gonna win ‘em all, but it would have been nice to take this last one.”
The Mets will now host the terrible Marlins, although their starting pitching this series features Jeremy Hefner (Friday) and likely Aaron Laffey (Sunday) in two of the games. The Mets are 2-1, a fine opening to the season. As Davis said, though, their offense yesterday was MIA.