Brewers 3, Mets 2

Art Howe's bizarrely cautious use of his starting pitchers cost the Mets another game tonight. Jae Seo pitched excellently through six innings, giving up just two runs on two hits, striking out six and walking two. But in the bottom of the seventh, with no one on and two out, Howe felt it necessary to get Jay Bell's bat in the lineup, pinch hitting for Seo, who had only thrown ninety pitches to that point. The first run had scored in the fourth inning on a home run by Eric Young, his second long ball in as many nights and the first hit of the game for the Brewers to that point. In the sixth, Young got on again with a double, his and the team's second hit of the game. He advanced to third on a wild pinch and was pinch run for. The Mets pulled the infield in to try to preserve their one run lead and Seo got a grounder right to shortstop Rey Sanchez, but he bobbled the ball and was only able to get the out at first.

The next inning, Seo was gone and Howe continued his quest to have David Weathers pitch as often as is humanly possible. Weathers came in and gave up two hits and an intentional walk while recording just one out. Mike Stanton, who was perfect in two innings yesterday, got the next two outs, but the first of them was a sacrifice fly by Brady Clark to put the Brewers on top.

And then in the eighth, the Mets' offensive difficulty in clutch situations continued, as Mike Piazza came up with runners on first and second and no outs only to ground into a double play. Cliff Floyd then struck out to end the threat. The Mets were then able to load the bases in the ninth, but Raul Gonzalez, who entered the game in a smart double switch by Howe, grounded into a double play of his own to end the game. So Jae Seo had a healthy arm and a no decision while the Mets lost to the worst team in the National League.

Tony Clark continues to lobby for more starts as he hit a long solo home run starting in place of Mo Vaughn, who was out with knee-related troubles. The 455 foot bomb was Clark's team-leading fifth of the season in just 35 at bats. Ty Wigginton had another solid offensive game, with a triple, a single and a run in four at bats. Timo Perez had three singles, and Roger Cedeno is starting off May a lot better than he did April, as he had another two hits tonight. Roberto Alomar drew three walks in four plate appearances and also had a trifecta of sparkling defensive plays. It was the middle of the lineup that let the Mets down this time, as Piazza and Floyd, batting third and fourth, went hitless in seven at bats, with Piazza drawing a walk.

Tomorrow the Mets try to avoid another embarrassing series loss, sending Al Leiter (3-1, 3.19) to the mound against Matt Kinney (2-1 2.48) before heading home to start a series with the Dodgers on Tuesday.  ¶ joe | 10:20 PM |