Friday, May 23, 2003
Mets 6, Braves 5
This game started out looking like quite the pitchers' duel. Both Steve Trachsel and Russ Ortiz shut the opposition down early. It wasn't until the fifth inning that Javy Lopez put the first run on the board with a solo home run.
But the Mets responded with a vengeance. After Trachsel grounded out to lead off the top of the sixth inning, Roger Cedeno hit his second double of the game (seriously) and scored when Ty Wigginton followed with a two-bagger of his own. Roberto Alomar then singled, and Wigginton plowed into Lopez, who had failed to come up with the ball at home plate, for the second run of the inning putting the Mets on top. Cliff Floyd was intentionally walked, but Jason Phillips managed to draw a walk of his own to load the bases for Jeromy Burnitz. Burnitz was exactly a month removed from being sent to the disabled list after breaking his hand and after reluctantly playing three minor league rehab games, having hit a three run homer yesterday, he started in center field for the first time this season. And in his third at bat of the evening, he hit a long drive the other way, putting it over the 380 sign in left field for a grand slam. Four games into this twelve game run against two big division rivals, and the Mets are averaging six runs per game. One would hope that that would be enough to get a win more often than not.
Trachsel tried to hold on to the lead, but it very quickly began to slip away. A single. A walk. A pair of outs. And then another walk. And then, sadly, another walk. Trachsel had walked in a run and thus began another walk, this one toward the dugout. The bases were loaded in an ever-tightening game against the best team in baseball. So of course Art Howe brings in Pedro Feliciano. He promptly gave up a two run single to cut the Mets' lead to 6-4. Feliciano was taken out and Pat Strange brought in. It started out like your standard long, Strange trip, as he walked the first batter he faced, but he got a strikeout to end the inning without allowing anymore runs.
In the top of the seventh, Roger Cedeno played the role of Roger Cedeno, instead of that other guy who'd been hitting doubles early in the game. He walked to lead off the inning and then got picked off. I think it would be best if from now he just stand on the base until somebody hits the ball. In fact, maybe he should sit on the base so there's no chance of him tripping over it and falling on his face to be tagged out.
In the bottom of the seventh, Strange was back and giving up a home run to Gary Sheffield to narrow the Mets' lead to one. But he got the rest of the heart of the Atlanta order in order to escape without any more damage and hand it over to David Weathers. Weathers gave up a leadoff double to Lopez in the eight, but retired the next three batters to preserve the lead for Armando Benitez. Also in the eighth, Howe made several defensive changes, putting Raul Gonzalez in left, Tsuyoshi Shinjo in center and Tony Clark at first. This would be one of those wacky times when a late-game managerial decision by Howe not only looked good at the time he made it, but worked out in the end as well.
In the ninth, Benitez was scheduled to face the heart of the Braves' offensive machine. He struck out Marcus Giles to start the inning and then got Sheffield to ground out. But then the wheels started to fall off of the wagon. He walked both of the Joneses, putting two on with two outs for the ageless Julio Franco. Franco lined a single into center and Larry "Chipper" Jones headed for home. But the late inning defensive changes worked out, as Shinjo nailed him at the plate by a wide margin to finish off the game and save the win for Trachsel and the save for Benitez.
Tomorrow, Tom Glavine (5-3, 3.41) faces his old team for the first time. It would be a really fun matchup if he were going up against Greg Maddux (3-5, 5.54), but no. It'll be Horacio Ramirez (3-2, 3.94) on the mound for the Braves as the Mets try to continue their winning ways against the class of the NL East. ¶ joe | 11:42 PM |
