Dodgers 5 Mets 1: A Dormant Field Of Opportunity

Gonna take the view that tonight's loss to the Dodgers was just one of those games that'll happen over the year, a game in which multiple scoring opportunities are squandered over the game.


The Mets left 14 runners on base, amazingly on just five hits, but I never really got the feeling that the batter at the plate would come through, Dodger starter Chad Billingsley got a few strike outs at the beginning of the game, and finished his six inning stint with a lot of ground ball outs to kill any potential rally dead in its tracks.


Oliver Perez looked like he hadn't recovered from his disastrous last start against the Pirates, and quickly found himself down 2-0 in the first inning as Rafael Furcal led the game off with a home run, followed up by an RBI single from Russ Martin.


Perez settled down for a lengthy stretch, retiring eight batters in a row, and 11 of 12, until the Dodgers struck for two home runs in the fifth on home runs from rookie third baseman Blake DeWitt (his first career homer), and a two-run shot from Matt Kemp to effectively put the game away from the punchless Mets, who seemed to have been just a bit too aggressive at the plate in general.


Other things that happened: Perez took a hard line drive shot to the gut in the bottom of the first from Jeff Kent, but quickly recovered enough to throw him out.... as a batter, Billingsley struck out ineffectually, causing Vin Scully to state that "he was hoisted on his own petard"....Carlos Delgado made a nice toss of the ball from his glove to Perez covering first to nip Juan Pierre in a close play....the Dodger crowd roared for a curtain call from DeWitt, who responded, but it was a bit funny to see his team mates give him the "cold shoulder" when he returned to the dugout. Okay, it only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it was a good feeling to see the thrill for the young man. It's just too bad that it had to happen tonight. We'll see what happens tomorrow, another offensive performance like this one is defintely a cause for concern, but as has been shown elsewhere in both leagues, there is a high degree of uniform mediocrity at this stage of the season.