A Habit of Not Capitalizing

This has nothing to do with grammar and everything to do with anti-climax. The Mets were on a torrid hitting streak and used that to win 5 straight. They were 4 games over .500 and meaningful baseball appeared to be back.

But in typical Mets fashion they have found the nearest ditch for them to jump in and dig their way out. The Mets dropped two straight to the struggling and unimpressive Washington Nationals. I understand the Mets couldn't possibly keep up the offensive explosion of last week, but they seem to be in a pattern of following up great successes with plummeting failures.

Sunday's contest was a perfect example. One bad inning from Jon Niese gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead, but Scott Hairston, by himself, got the Mets to a 2-2 tie with 2 solo home runs including one in the top of the 9th.

So what do the Mets do the following half inning after a climactic comeback and a chance to win a series against a division rival? They do their best Tom Glavine impression and choke. Bringing Parnell into a tie game on the road in the bottom of the 9th was a stupid move. The guy is a few outings away from having Oliver Perez's mental strength and couldn't throw a strike. The Nationals were just inept to wave at a few of them.

Then you have Josh "King of the Pass Ball" Thole who couldn't catch the straightest fastball ever thrown because it was up in the zone which lead to runners on 2nd and 3rd  right after Daniel Murphy made a Hernandez-esque move to break up an attempted sacrifice bunt.

The pass ball ended up being the deciding play as the next pitch was chopped over Parnell's head into no-man's land allowing the runner to score. Game over.

The Mets are still above .500 but by only 2 games. I don't understand why this ballclub has such an inability to beat team's in their own division. It's becoming an epidemic and guess who's coming to town this week: Marlins & Braves.