Izzy, Defense Turn The Mets Belly-Up as They Drop Their Fourth Straight

[caption id="attachment_536" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Jason Isringhausen can only stare in disbelief as poor pitching and defense hand him his second straight loss to the Marlins last night. (Photo Credit: Andrew Savulich / NY Daily News)"][/caption]

Jason Isringhausen recorded his second loss in as many games with his second straight ineffective outing against the Marlins.  The Mets defense did not bail him out in the ninth, as Justin Turner’s bases loaded throwing error plated the tying and go-ahead runs to sink the Mets 4-3 last night.

Before the ninth inning meltdown, the Amazins had battled back from multiple one-run deficits to ultimately take a 3-2 lead.

Omar Infante belted two homeruns for the Marlins, one to take a 1-0 lead in the first, and another to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

Both blasts were off of Chris Capuano who only allowed those two runs on four hits.  He added five strikeouts and a walk before hitting empty on the tank as he pitched through the sixth.

Terry Collins pulled him with the score tied at two after throwing 94 pitches in the sixth because he gave up fly outs that had Angel Pagan and Scott Hairtson back-peddling to the warning track.

Capuano had the support of his offense though.  Jose Reyes answered the first of Infante’s homeruns with a shot of his own into the left field seats off of young lefty Brad Hand in the third inning.

The Mets also scored a run in the fifth and sixth to take a 3-2 lead, and gave Capuano a chance for his 10^th win.

The front of the bullpen did its job.  Manny Acosta pitched a scoreless seventh, and was helped out by his catcher, Mike Nickeas, to end the inning after a pinch-hit single.  Nickeas fired a strike to second base to gun down Dewayne Wise on a stolen base attempt.

Bobby Parnell set it up nicely for Jason Isringhausen with a scoreless eighth.  The fire-balling reliever struck out Gabby Sanchez on a 101 mph fastball before dialing it down to 99 mph to punch out Greg Dobbs.

But Isringhausen could not hold the lead out of the bullpen.  Just 24 hours removed from throwing 24 pitches to lose in the tenth inning on Monday night, Izzy came into last night’s game wild.  He managed only one out while loading the bases on a leadoff walk, a single, and a hit batsman.  He got the loss and the blown save when Justin Turner’s throwing error gave the Marlins the lead.

Fortunately for the Mets, the Braves have also been suffering through a losing streak.  They lost their third straight game 9-3 last night in Washington.  The Mets are still 7.5 games behind the Braves, but they are now tied with the Marlins in both the division and the wild card.  The Mets will send 10-game winner Dillon Gee to the mound to oppose Clay Hensley for tonight’s series finale.

Mets Notes:

Johan Santana is headed back up to New York sooner than expected. According to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger, the injured left-hander is expected to fly to the Big Apple and meet with team doctors at the Hospital for Special Surgery.  He pitched three scoreless innings for Single A St. Lucie last Thursday in his first and only game action of 2011.