Royals 7, Mets 5

Four and two-thirds innings. Six hits. One walk. Two strikeouts. Six runs. Five Earned. I don’t know what Jae Weong Seo would have had to do to keep his job last night, but that probably wasn’t it. It didn’t help that Art Howe decided to bring in Dan Wheeler to relieve him with a runner on, because apparently Art is the only one who doesn’t know what happens every time Wheeler comes in with runners on base. But still, it wasn’t a good showing from Seo and the Mets are likely to press on with their ironic interpretation of a “youth movement” and give his job to Scott Erickson. Maybe Erickson will get bombed again in his next start at Norfolk, and maybe that would be enough to give Seo a reprieve, but right now it’s not looking good.

One thing that did look pretty good, in certain ways, was the Mets’ offense. Five runs in Kansas City isn’t too impressive, but they did rack up seventeen hits, including five doubles. Their inability to come through with the timely hits continued to haunt them, although they came tantalizingly close in the ninth inning, loading the bases after two were out before finally conceding the game. While the Mets’ offense as it’s currently constituted doesn’t look good on paper, the fact that they’ve been so useless with the bases loaded so far this year has a definite flukish quality that can’t be expected to continue for the whole year. Eventually someone has to hit a grand slam or a nice bases-clearing double and then maybe they’ll outscore somebody.

Saturday’s game will feature Al Leiter (2-2, 1.98) trying to continue to walk the tightrope against Chris George (0-0, 3.75) and the Royals.  ¶ joe | 4:14 PM |