For The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) -The injury-plagued New York Mets have morphed into the 1962 version: pitchers balk multiple times, runners speed past bases without touching them and outfielders converge on flyballs without catching them.
As Casey Stengel used to say: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
In Sunday night’s 2-0 loss at San Francisco, Mike Pelfrey committed three balks – becoming the second pitcher in franchise history with that ignominious distinction. The other was Don Rowe, on April 27, 1963, at Philadelphia.
And the 11th inning of Monday night’s 3-2 loss to the Dodgers was one for the books, even in the storied history of Mets futility.
Ryan Church came all the way home from first base with the apparent go-ahead run on Angel Pagan’s two-out drive to the right-center field fence. Then he was ruled out on appeal for missing third base.
ruled out by umpire Mike DiMuro, leaving Pagan with a single instead of an RBI triple. DiMuro coincidentally is the son of former ump Lou DiMuro, who will always be remembered fondly by Mets fans for awarding Cleon Jones first base in the “shoe-polish incident” during Game 5 of the 1969 World Series after an appeal by manager Gil Hodges.
Church’s baserunning gaffe brought back memories of “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry, one of the original ’62 Mets. During the team’s inaugural season, Throneberry hit a ball in the gap at the Polo Grounds and ended up at third – but was called out on an appeal play for missing second base.
When Stengel came out to argue with umpire Augie Donatelli, third base coach Solly Hemus informed Stengel that he was wasting his time – because Throneberry had also missed first base.
“I thought I touched the side of the bag,” Church said. “I felt like I nicked something, and that’s why I kept going,” Church said. “I was walking back to the dugout and I heard the crowd scream, so I turned around. I mean, what can you do? I just feel terrible. I mean, touching the bag is a simple thing to do.”
In the bottom half, errors by Gold Glove center fielder Carlos Beltran and fill-in first baseman Jeremy Reed helped Los Angeles score the winning run.
er Beltran called for the ball six times – by his own estimation.
“Pagan stood in the middle, and I couldn’t put my glove on the ball,” Beltran said. “On a ball like that, I have priority. He’s been in center field before, so he knows that when the center fielder calls for the ball, everyone has to get out of the way.”
Reed compounded the mistake with a game-ending throwing error to the plate, after fielding Orlando Hudson’s bases-loaded grounder with the infield in and trying for the force on Mark Loretta.
In all, the Mets’ defense committed five errors Monday – the most by the club since Sept. 16, 2007, when they had six in a 10-6 loss against Philadelphia at Shea Stadium.
The Beltran-Pagan escapade was an ugly reminder of another classic episode of early Mets folklore.
One time, after center fielder Richie Ashburn collided with Venezuelan-born shortstop Elio Chacon on a ball in short left-center, bilingual third baseman Joe Christopher suggested to Ashburn that he yell “Yo lo tengo” (Spanish for “I got it”) the next time that situation arose. Ashburn did just that, but the ball fell as left fielder Frank Thomas collided with him.
It was funny back in Stengel’s time, but not so humorous now.
of Blake DeWitt’s drive to right field, but the ball struck the top of the fence and Church ended up on his back while DeWitt circled the bases with a go-ahead inside-the-park homer.
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