It was vintage Mike Piazza: a tape-measure homer for the second straight game, a curtain call and five RBIs.
But it also was vintage Mets, circa 1962 or 2002, in that they bumbled away a chance at victory. Piazza’s monster day at the plate was squandered in an ugly 12-9 loss to Milwaukee, one that dropped the team back to .500 again.
“Do I worry? I don’t know,” Piazza said. “We have to address the things we’ve been deficient in.
“Potentially, we’ve shown what we can do. Teams that are able to elevate their game put it all together.”
Willie Randolph’s decision to play Piazza in a day game following a night game proved shrewd.
Piazza is batting .385 (15-for-39) with four homers and 14 RBIs in his past 11 games with an at-bat. He sees his recent hot streak as the result of laying off tough pitches.
In the third inning, Piazza elevated a 2-0 Doug Davis fastball over the center-field fence for a two-run homer that tied the game 3-3.
“I didn’t think the ball would travel well to center today,” Piazza said. “It’s not strength, trust me.”
His 14th homer of the season was greeted by an ovation from the 30,359 on hand, which he answered by blowing a kiss to the crowd.
This looks like the 36-year-old’s final year with the Mets, and the fans seem willing to give him a proper sendoff.
“I can’t explain it. They’ve been pretty supportive lately, and I’ve been swinging the bat pretty well,” he said. “I’m just very honored.”
Piazza dropped in a two-run single to right in the fourth and added an RBI double to left in the sixth. But he also let in a run with poor defense in the third.
Chad Moeller scored on Rickie Weeks’ single to left, even though Chris Woodward’s throw beat Moeller to the plate and Piazza had the dish blocked. He couldn’t glove the throw on the short hop, and it bounced away.
“We made a few defensive mistakes I think that really hurt us,” Piazza said. “We gave them a couple of runs unfortunately. They really punished us these last two nights.”
Piazza said the humid weather and lengthy pace of the game was “grueling,” and the outcome dampened what could have been a stellar afternoon.
“We had some opportunities to shut them down,” he said. “We didn’t necessarily lose in the ninth inning.
“We had a chance to bury them a little bit, and we just weren’t able to do that.”