I’m still surprised it got out – I really am.  But there are so many more things to be surprised about in this game that the fact that Bill Hall’s fly ball off the end of the bat cleared the wall is not particularly high on my list.  Why was Chad Bradford sent out to work a second inning, when Billy Wagner was ready in the bullpen?   Why was Duaner Sanchez running in front of Carlos Delgado when Delgado was trying to field a sacrifice bunt?  What on earth is wrong with Cliff Floyd?  How come Jose Valentin is suddenly becoming a force to be reckoned with?  How many outs can Jose Reyes make?  Why won’t Philly lose?  Has anyone noticed that the Mets only lead the N.L. East by one game?

Questions, questions, questions.  Questions to which I wish I knew the answer.  One could argue that using Bradford was a good decision because Milwaukee was sending three right-handers to the plate to start the 10th inning and that Bradford had set down the two batters he faced in the 9th and had looked impressive in the previous day’s game.  But Billy Wagner and Aaron Heilman were both available (granted Heilman threw two innings the night before, but he was throwing in the bullpen), and you can’t tell me that in extra innings against a team who can hit you want to go with your #3 option.

As for the other questions, most of them probably couldn’t be answered by the players themselves, so I’m certainly not going to try to answer them here.  Joe DiGiovanni’s mets.com wrap-up of today’s game can be found here.  I am far too disheartened with this afternoon’s loss to give a complete synopsis of the game, but let me tell you that losing this one is tough.  Especially with Philadelphia’s comeback win in Cincinnati shaving the Mets lead in the N.L. East to just a game.  The next six games (starting Tuesday) will be murder.  Three in St. Louis, followed by three at home against the Yankees.  It doesn’t get much bigger, or much tougher than that.  Hopefully, the Mets can use tomorrow’s off day to forget about today and focus on the very difficult task ahead.

Mike at Mike’s Mets sums up my reaction to last night’s game perfectly:

When you’re a blogger that follows a team on a day-in, day-out basis, some days you’re going to find yourself just plain disgusted. Today was one of those days for me. I love baseball, which is why I chose to do this, but games like tonight’s leave me feeling I have nothing to offer. It’s not sour grapes over losing, either. I don’t expect to win every game. I just hate feeling like I wasted an evening, and I felt that way watching this game.

As usual, Mike is right on the money.  Watching a pitcher who, prior to last night’s start, had just 5 innings under his big league belt shut down the best offensive lineup the Mets can put on the field was very frustrating.  Michael O’Connor was simply brilliant for the Nationals, striking out six over seven innings, and giving up only one run.  He’s got a Barry Zito-esque 12 to 6 curve that looked especially tough for left-handers.  Certainly seemed that way for Carlos Delgado.

John Maine was decent, despite a pretty bad line in the box score.  One bad pitch to Alfonso Soriano made a big difference.

Jorge Julio Watch

Julio looked outstanding, reaching 98 MPH with his fastball and throwing 1.2 perfect innings in the 8th and 9th.  He struck out two, and lowered his ERA to 6.75.