On a day the New York Mets looked to recover from owner Fred Wilpon's silly batch of interviews in which he bashed his own ballclub and players by announcing the sale of a minority stake in franchise, the team went out and laid an egg against the Chicago Cubs losing 9-3. To make matter worse, they fed into his "we're snakebitten, baby!" quote when starter R.A. Dickey was forced to leave the game in the third inning with a heel injury.
Rookie Pedro Beato took over for Dickey and turned in his second straight poor performance after a blistering start, surrendering four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks over just 1.1 innings of work to pick up his first loss. Pat Misch wasn't any better, giving up three earned on four hits in his only inning.
The Mets offense had their chances all day but couldn't cash in. They continued to struggle with runners in scoring position, going just 1-12, with the lone hit an RBI single off the bat of catcher Josh Thole.
Chicago starter Carlos Zambrano was far from perfect on the mound, but he got the job done. He went six innings, giving up just one earned run while striking out five for his fifth victory of the season. Zambrano had a day at the plate that rivaled any player in the Mets lineup. The eccentric righty went 3-for-3 including an RBI single in the fourth that drove in the deciding run.
After showing some signs of life last week with three game winning streak, the Mets have dropped four of five and have to come home to face the first-place Phillies who have won six of their last nine.
The series represents the start of a season-long 10-game home stand and kicks off Friday night at 7:10pm when Chris Capuano (3-5) faces off against Roy Oswalt (3-2).