Maine Struggles, Rallies All For Naught in Mets Loss

NEW YORK-- Entering the season, questions were surrounding the Mets 2-4 starters such as Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and tonight's starter John Maine. One of those questions were answered tonight in a bad way. Maine labored through five innings of work on a muggy night, allowing four runs and eight hits plus two home runs. The Mets trailed 4-1 after his exit but they didn't go down without a fight. Down 6-1 in the home seventh inning the Mets attempted to rally from five down. The inning started with walks to Jason Bay and Gary Matthews. After a Jeff Francoeur fielders choice and Rod Barajas sacrifice fly, Fernando Tatis singled. Later on in the inning, with David Wright at the plate as the potential go-ahead run with bases loaded in a 6-3 game, Fernando Tatis was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a passed ball by Marlins catcher John Baker. That killed the rally and ended the inning. The Mets though would indeed come back in the eighth inning as they scored the three runs needed to tie the game as the Marlins bullpen completely melted down. Leo Nunez entered the game for the Marlins with two outs in the inning bidding for a four-out save and with a 6-4 lead, walked a run in and balked the tying run in. After Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth the Mets squandered a chance to win in the bottom of the inning when Mike Jacobs popped out after a lengthy at-bat and Gary Matthews Jr. grounded out to the end another rally. Hinsiori Takahasi came in the 10th inning and gave up a run on an RBI single by Marlins pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino as that proved to be the game-winner. The Mets who continue to have solid hitting with seven runs scored on Monday and six more today, see another all-around bad pitching effort falling to 1-1 on the season.

Series probable pitchers:

April 8

Florida Marlins: Nate Robertson (2009: 2-3, 5.44 ERA) vs. New York Mets: Jon Niese (2009: 1-1, 4.21 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:

New York Mets:

April 8 vs. Florida Marlins

April 9-11 vs. Washington Nationals

Florida Marlins:

April 8 @ New York Mets

April 9-11 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers