Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Expos 2, Mets 1
This Mets team is beginning to remind me of the New York Football Giants of a couple of years ago, when you were just waiting for Michael Strahan to snap and beat the crap out of an offensive player or three. Tom Glavine has pitched well enough to be 4-0 with minimal assistance from his offense. Instead, the man with the 1.00 ERA is now 2-1. Tonight, he gave up an earned run for the first time since his first inning of the year, and the Expos added one of the unearned variety thanks to an error on the part of Mike Cameron. Glavine went seven innings again, this time on 95 pitches, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out three.
But mediocre hitting and some bad luck (or bad decision-making, depending on your perspective) led to the Mets once again putting just one run on the board. The Mets did manage to string some hits together more than once, but twice got thrown out trying to score from second on singles. I was only listening to the game on the radio, so I'll leave it up to you to assess Matt Galante's level of culpability for those outs. My sense of things is that Mike Piazza getting sent home in the second was less defensible than Karim Garcia in the eighth. The Mets managed to score in the second anyway, as Joe McEwing, of all people, drove in Mike Cameron. McEwing had two of the Mets' eight hits, as did Piazza and Shane Spencer. Piazza, Spencer and Garcia each doubled for the Mets.
I was pleased to see Jason Phillips back in the lineup, even if he only managed a walk in four plate appearances, as Ty Wigginton, who hasn't even been getting on base as often as one in four times up so far this year, got the night off. New starting infielder Todd Zeile also walked once in four times to the plate. It's probably best for the Mets to let both Phillips and Wigginton get the majority of the playing time this year, as a team looking toward the future shouldn't be bending over backward to get at bats for a thirty-eight year old utility infielder who's already stated that he'll retire after the season. But if a slumping infielder is going to take a seat temporarily to get Zeile's once-hot bat into the lineup, Wigginton is the right choice.
In more Ty Wigginton news, David Wright homered, singled and walked in five plate appearances in a 5-2 Binghamton win. The magic numbers are now .360/.492/.760. Elsewhere in the minors, Scott Kazmir may be back. He pitched five scoreless innings for St. Lucie, striking out four, walking none and allowing six hits, all singles. His ERA is now 5.06 with seven strikeouts and four walks through ten and two-thirds innings. He's not yet blowing away people at the rate he has over the last couple of years, but it's early, and tonight's a step in the right direction.
Tomorrow, the Mets get a second crack at John Patterson (1-1, 4.09) who shut them out over seven innings in San Juan. Steve Trachsel (1-2, 5.82) tries to salvage some self-respect for the Mets before they head out on a tough road trip. ¶ joe | 10:46 PM |
This Mets team is beginning to remind me of the New York Football Giants of a couple of years ago, when you were just waiting for Michael Strahan to snap and beat the crap out of an offensive player or three. Tom Glavine has pitched well enough to be 4-0 with minimal assistance from his offense. Instead, the man with the 1.00 ERA is now 2-1. Tonight, he gave up an earned run for the first time since his first inning of the year, and the Expos added one of the unearned variety thanks to an error on the part of Mike Cameron. Glavine went seven innings again, this time on 95 pitches, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out three.
But mediocre hitting and some bad luck (or bad decision-making, depending on your perspective) led to the Mets once again putting just one run on the board. The Mets did manage to string some hits together more than once, but twice got thrown out trying to score from second on singles. I was only listening to the game on the radio, so I'll leave it up to you to assess Matt Galante's level of culpability for those outs. My sense of things is that Mike Piazza getting sent home in the second was less defensible than Karim Garcia in the eighth. The Mets managed to score in the second anyway, as Joe McEwing, of all people, drove in Mike Cameron. McEwing had two of the Mets' eight hits, as did Piazza and Shane Spencer. Piazza, Spencer and Garcia each doubled for the Mets.
I was pleased to see Jason Phillips back in the lineup, even if he only managed a walk in four plate appearances, as Ty Wigginton, who hasn't even been getting on base as often as one in four times up so far this year, got the night off. New starting infielder Todd Zeile also walked once in four times to the plate. It's probably best for the Mets to let both Phillips and Wigginton get the majority of the playing time this year, as a team looking toward the future shouldn't be bending over backward to get at bats for a thirty-eight year old utility infielder who's already stated that he'll retire after the season. But if a slumping infielder is going to take a seat temporarily to get Zeile's once-hot bat into the lineup, Wigginton is the right choice.
In more Ty Wigginton news, David Wright homered, singled and walked in five plate appearances in a 5-2 Binghamton win. The magic numbers are now .360/.492/.760. Elsewhere in the minors, Scott Kazmir may be back. He pitched five scoreless innings for St. Lucie, striking out four, walking none and allowing six hits, all singles. His ERA is now 5.06 with seven strikeouts and four walks through ten and two-thirds innings. He's not yet blowing away people at the rate he has over the last couple of years, but it's early, and tonight's a step in the right direction.
Tomorrow, the Mets get a second crack at John Patterson (1-1, 4.09) who shut them out over seven innings in San Juan. Steve Trachsel (1-2, 5.82) tries to salvage some self-respect for the Mets before they head out on a tough road trip. ¶ joe | 10:46 PM |
