Mets 4, Expos 0

It was a cold and damp Friday night in Flushing Meadows when David Cone took a major league mound for the first time in nineteen months, and that particular mound for the first time in over ten years. The Coneheads of old retrieved their oddly shaped headgear from the attic and brought their kids to the park to see if their old hero had anything left in his 40 year-old arm. The local sports media cautioned Mets fans against pinning much of their hopes on that arm and proclaimed the backside of the Mets' starting rotation awful. Cone had been talked into trying a comeback at a charity bowling tournament hosted by John Franco and earned a spot in the rotation when none of the Mets youngsters stepped up in spring training and projected fourth starter Pedro Astacio landed on the DL with tendonitis in his shoulder. Cone had pitched well in his final spring training starts, but could he translate that to regular season success? And if so, how long could it last?

Cone's first pitch to leadoff batter Endy Chavez was a strike, and he kept that up, working a perfect first inning, concluding it with a strikeout of Vladimir Guerrero. Cone used a mix of quality breaking balls and didn't give up a hit until opposing pitcher Tomo Ohka blooped a single just over Roberto Alomar's glove in the third. In the end, he pitched 5 innings on 84 pitches, giving up just two hits (both to Ohka) and three walks while striking out five (including Guerrero twice) and recording the vast majority of the outs on balls in play on ground balls. David Weathers came in and pitched two scoreless innings, followed by Mike Stanton and Armando Benitez pitching an inning apiece to preserve the shutout and Cone's 194th career win. You couldn't have realistically expected a better first start out of Cone as the old man looked, for at least one night, like he could still get major league hitters out with consistency. Will it last? There's no way to know, but Cone gave Mets fans reason to be cautiously optimistic about his spot in the back of the rotation, shutting down an Expos offense that had scored 17 runs in three games against the Braves.

The Mets' offense did a decent job, given the absence of Mike Piazza, scoring 4 runs on 13 hits. Jeromy Burnitz continued his strong start, with two doubles in four at-bats, and Mo Vaughn hit his first home run of the year in the eigth as part of a 3 for 4 night, with two runs and two RBI. Piazza's backup, Vance Wilson, drove in the other two runs with a double in the fourth. Roger Cedeno started in centerfield again and went 2 for 4, while Timo Perez failed to get a hit in his one opportunity. The only Mets starter without a hit was Cliff Floyd, as even Cone got a single.

Tomorrow, Tom Glavine tries to make up for his disappointing Opening Day start against Tony Armas Jr. as Mike Piazza serves the final game of his suspension. Maybe a day game after a night game will be a good excuse to give Roger Cedeno a day off. Probably not, though. Hopefully Glavine will rebound, Burnitz will keep up the good hitting, and the Expos won't hit anything to centerfield.  ¶ joe | 1:55 AM |