Those Mets

GIANTS END METS HOMESTREAK

On paper, Sunday's series finale between the Mets and Giants appeared to be a mismatch. For most of the day, it looked the part. Somehow, inexplicably, the Mets hung around against Tim Lincecum and took the lead off San Francisco's bullpen, all despite Oliver Perez's historic control issues. But they could not hold it, instead snapping their home winning streak at nine with a 6-5 loss to the Giants. Half an inning after the Mets took their first lead, Jenrry Mejia served up a go-ahead, two-run home run to Aaron Rowand to deep right-center field. The wind, blowing left to right all game and at times gusting over 30 miles per hour, appeared to help Rowand's ball over the wall. With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Jason Bay -- who after Saturday's game called the wind at Citi Field "not quite Candlestick-esque" -- hit a high fly ball that fluttered back to shallow left field, where Andres Torres misplayed it into a game-tying, two-run single. Jose Reyes moved to third on the play and the next batter, David Wright, hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly off Giants reliever Sergio Romo. Walking seven batters, hitting another and throwing a wild pitch, Perez lasted merely 3 1/3 innings against the offensively challenged Giants. He threw 44 of his 98 pitches for strikes, becoming just the fourth pitcher since 1920 to throw at least 98 pitches with so few strikes. But Raul Valdes fired 3 2/3 shutout innings of relief, keeping the Mets in the game. The Mets finally broke through off Lincecum in the sixth inning, scoring on consecutive RBI singles by Ike Davis and Jeff Francoeur. (Mets.com)