Three Run Lead Werth Nothing

The Mets had a 4-1 lead going into the seventh inning. And that's about where the story ends for Met fans. The Mets quickly built a three-run lead against World Series MVP Cole Hamels, who faced the Mets for the first time since calling them "choke artists" in the offseason -- the latest in a series of verbal barbs between the feuding teams.

Once again, the pitchers were hitters for the Mets. Mike Pelfrey's third inning double accounted for their first run. And after Chase Utley homered in the top of the inning, Pelfrey's single in the bottom fourth drove in a run and contributed to a 3 run inning.

Then trouble started in the seventh. With the bases loaded and no outs, Sean Green relieved Pelfrey - we don't need to go into details here. Suffice to say, the Mets actually escaped the inning tied. It could have been much worse than it was. In fact, I take that back... it did get worse.

The Mets stranded a season-high 16 runners, eight from innings seven through 10. But still, they nearly won it in the 10th on a David Wright liner that Philly rightfielder Jayson Werth made an unbelieveable catch on. Wright, who had three hits and two stolen bases, yanked off his helmet in frustration at first base after Werth's diving catch. (We won't mention Wright's key error in the seventh).

Utley homered again in the 11th to win the game.

The Mets now have 26 losses, but what's really frustrating about their record to this point is that in six of those losses, they had leads of at least three runs. Bullpen... starters... fielding... hitters... it doesn't really matter who we blame. It's just a shame their record isn't better at this point. Those six games would look nice in the standings right now.