Mess in the Citi, Mets lose 11-2 to the Dodgers

If you told me coming into the series against Los Angeles that Oliver Perez would have the best pitched game out of the starters, I would have called you crazy. If you told me that Perez would be the only Mets starter to give the team five innings, I also would have been very surprised.

Well, Mike Pelfrey struggled on Tuesday night in just over three innings of work, and tonight Livan Hernandez did not have it from the start in an 11-2 Mets loss. He surrendered a bases clearing double with two outs in the first to Orlando Hudson, which helped the Dodgers jump out to a 4-0 lead before the Mets even came to bat. Manny Ramirez was 2/2 with an rbi single in each of the first two innings, and Matt Kemp was 3/4 with an rbi, and finished the series with eight hits in 11 at-bats. 

The Mets chipped away at the Dodgers lead with a Gary Sheffield rbi single in the first inning and an rbi groundout off the bat of Ryan Church in the third inning to cut the LA lead to 6-2.

New York was hurt by a poor call at second base by umpire John Hirshbeck in the 4th inning. Casey Blake lined out to Luis Castillo, who flipped to Alex Cora at second base, and seemed to have doubled off Rafael Furcal. Despite the fact that Hirshbeck was in perfect position to make the call, and replays on SNY showed that Furcal was clearly out, he was called safe. After that James Loney was walked, and Russell Martin stroked a two-run single to right field to put the Dodgers on top by six.

Livan's night came to an end after four innings with an ugly line score of 4 IP, 8 ER, 11 H, and 4 BB. Hernandez allowed seven earned runs or more for the second straight start in falling to 5-5 on the season. To show how much he's struggled, he's given up twice as many runs as innings pitched over his last two outings, 14 ER, 7 IP.

Random Tidbits

Jerry Manuel said in his post game press conference that he will evaluate the rotation during the All Star break.

Tim Redding struggled again in relief by giving up three runs in two innings.

Gary Sheffield was tossed in the 7th inning for arguing balls and strikes. The curveball in which got Sheff looking appeared to be way below the strike zone. Tough week for Marty Foster after the Jeter situation on Monday at Yankee Stadium.

David Wright is 4 for his last 6 since snapping an 0-17 skid at the plate.

Fernando Martinez to the 15 day DL retroactive to July 4th with inflammation in his right knee. The injuries just are not going away.

Dodgers take the season series 5-1.

To add more salt to the wound, the Phillies won again against the Reds to increase their NL East lead to five and a half games.

The Nationals won a game against Houston, and the winning pitcher IS NOT even on their team anymore.