The Marlins were on Big Fox Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, trying to even up the series with the Mets, and the only thing more annoying than the fact that we were subjected to yet another afternoon game was the actual game itself.
Nate Robertson was on the hill against Jon Niese and the Mets, and Nate, who has been hit or miss all season long, was a lot more miss than hit. (Well, that is unless you count all the hits the Mets had against him. Yeah, on second thought, he was plenty "hit.")
Nate made it through the first inning without incident, but then the trouble began in the second. Ike Davis hit a leadoff double, David Wright walked, and Jeff Francoeur singled Ike home. Ruben Tejada followed with an RBI double to put the Mets up 2-0.
Things got worse in the third. Nate gave up a lead-off double once again, this time to Angel Pagan, and an RBI single from Ike Davis drove him in. David Wright followed with his 150th career home run, a two-run shot that gave the Mets a 5-0 lead.
With two out in the fifth, Ike Davis got his third hit of the game, a double that ended Nate's afternoon on the mound. Brian Sanches came on in relief of Nate and promptly gave up a single to David Wright to plate Davis and make it 6-0, Mets.
While the Mets had a hay day with Nate Robertson, the Fish could accomplish nothing against Jon Niese, who was making his first start since coming off of the disabled list. Niese shut out the Marlins' anemic offense through six innings before an RBI single from Ronny Paulino ended the shutout in the seventh.
Jorge Sosa came out of the pen and sat down the Mets 1-2-3 in the sixth, and Jay Buente pitched a scoreless seventh inning. What sucked for the Marlins, though, was that the Mets bullpen took over right where where Niese left off. Jenrry Mejia threw a scoreless eighth inning on just 8-pitches.
Ike Davis made it a 4-for-4 game with a single off of Jay Buente in the bottom of the eighth, but despite giving up two hits, Buente held the score. It didn't matter, though, because in the top of the ninth, the Marlins did not make a miraculous comeback. Instead, Fernando Nieve gave up a single to Jorge Cantu to lead off the inning, and then retired the next three batters to end the game.
The Marlins have lost the series to the Mets, and are under .500 yet again.