Sheepishly flying the Victory Flag as Mets beat Giants

Sometimes you proudly fly the Flag of Victory, and sometimes you sort of sheepishly but it out there and say, “Oh, we won. Hey, look over there!”

Mike Pelfrey got hosed, plain and simple. He pitched eight strong innings and was pulled in the ninth with a 4-1 lead because, well, you have to use a closer in a save situation no matter what.

Except, for the second night in a row, the bullpen stunk it up. It had help. Kirk Niewenhuis overran a fly ball, allowing it to drop in and the tying run to score.

Kirk redeemed himself in the bottom of the ninth. Sort of. He came up with runners on second and third and one out, tapped one to first base. Brandon Belt threw the ball to catcher Buster Posey for an out, and Posey’s throw back to first was knocked ajar by Scott Hairston’s slide.

That allowed Reuben Tejada to score the winning run, snapping the three-game losing streak and sending the Gnome of Defeat into hiding.