Thursday, May 13, 2004
Diamondbacks 9, Mets 5
Mets 1, Diamondbacks 0
The second game of this road trip looked like the Mets' best chance for a win from a pitching matchup standpoint. But Al Leiter walked his way to an early shower and another solid outing from the Mets' offense wasn't enough to salvage a win. Leiter walked five through just four innings, four unintentionally, leading to him allowing five runs on just three hits. Kazuo Matsui and Ty Wigginton hit well for the second straight night, each racking up two hits, with Matsui adding a walk to his pair of doubles while Wigginton hit his third home run of the season. But in addition to Leiter's poor performance, Mike Stanton pitched his worst inning of the year, allowing four runs on a two-out Steve Finley grand slam in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Tonight was day one of a five day gauntlet of some of the best pitching the National League has to offer taking the mound off the Mets, with a theoretically great staring pitching matchup pitting Randy Johnson against Tom Glavine. The game didn't quite live up to its billing to start off, as the first batter, Matsui, took Johnson deep for his third home run of the year. All three of them have been of the leadoff variety for the man who is clearly the most productive shortstop in New York at the moment. But that wound up being the only blemish on the scoreboard, as both Johnson and Glavine sparkled the rest of the way. Johnson went seven innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven, but it wasn't enough to best the ace of the New York Mets. Glavine bounced back from his worst start of the season with another brilliant performance, going seven and two-thirds, allowing just three hits and two walks, one semi-intentional, while striking out three. He lowered his ERA to 2.05 while picking up his fifth win of the season against two losses. With more than one-fifth of the Mets' season complete, Glavine's return to form has been just remarkable. I don't know what to attribute it to, and hardly want to speculate for fear of whatever magic is affecting him wearing off, but he's clearly more confident, whether in his defense or the dimensions of the strike zone, than he was last year and seems determined to prevent the Mets from falling off a cliff, even it he has to do it all by himself.
Braden Looper continued his own nearly flawless season by pitching another inning and one-third scoreless to earn his fifth save of the season and keep the "ER" column of his stat sheet blank. He didn't strike anyone out, and hit one batter, but he got the job done once again and continues to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the season.
Runs look like they'll be at a premium for the Mets once again tomorrow as Brandon Webb (2-2, 3.02) pitches for Arizona while Jae Weong Seo (1-3, 4.91) tries to put the Mets in position to split this series before heading off to Houston. It seems like he might have some new offensive backup, as Cliff Floyd apparently could be in the lineup for the first time in weeks. Hopefully the Mets will do the right thing and dump Ricky Gutierrez to make room on the roster. ¶ joe | 12:44 AM |
Mets 1, Diamondbacks 0
The second game of this road trip looked like the Mets' best chance for a win from a pitching matchup standpoint. But Al Leiter walked his way to an early shower and another solid outing from the Mets' offense wasn't enough to salvage a win. Leiter walked five through just four innings, four unintentionally, leading to him allowing five runs on just three hits. Kazuo Matsui and Ty Wigginton hit well for the second straight night, each racking up two hits, with Matsui adding a walk to his pair of doubles while Wigginton hit his third home run of the season. But in addition to Leiter's poor performance, Mike Stanton pitched his worst inning of the year, allowing four runs on a two-out Steve Finley grand slam in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Tonight was day one of a five day gauntlet of some of the best pitching the National League has to offer taking the mound off the Mets, with a theoretically great staring pitching matchup pitting Randy Johnson against Tom Glavine. The game didn't quite live up to its billing to start off, as the first batter, Matsui, took Johnson deep for his third home run of the year. All three of them have been of the leadoff variety for the man who is clearly the most productive shortstop in New York at the moment. But that wound up being the only blemish on the scoreboard, as both Johnson and Glavine sparkled the rest of the way. Johnson went seven innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven, but it wasn't enough to best the ace of the New York Mets. Glavine bounced back from his worst start of the season with another brilliant performance, going seven and two-thirds, allowing just three hits and two walks, one semi-intentional, while striking out three. He lowered his ERA to 2.05 while picking up his fifth win of the season against two losses. With more than one-fifth of the Mets' season complete, Glavine's return to form has been just remarkable. I don't know what to attribute it to, and hardly want to speculate for fear of whatever magic is affecting him wearing off, but he's clearly more confident, whether in his defense or the dimensions of the strike zone, than he was last year and seems determined to prevent the Mets from falling off a cliff, even it he has to do it all by himself.
Braden Looper continued his own nearly flawless season by pitching another inning and one-third scoreless to earn his fifth save of the season and keep the "ER" column of his stat sheet blank. He didn't strike anyone out, and hit one batter, but he got the job done once again and continues to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the season.
Runs look like they'll be at a premium for the Mets once again tomorrow as Brandon Webb (2-2, 3.02) pitches for Arizona while Jae Weong Seo (1-3, 4.91) tries to put the Mets in position to split this series before heading off to Houston. It seems like he might have some new offensive backup, as Cliff Floyd apparently could be in the lineup for the first time in weeks. Hopefully the Mets will do the right thing and dump Ricky Gutierrez to make room on the roster. ¶ joe | 12:44 AM |
