Friday, May 07, 2004
Mets 2, Giants 1 (11)
The Mets have had plenty of "good pitching, no hitting" games thus far this season, but tonight's performance by Al Leiter against a lineup with Barry Bonds in it may have been the most impressive of the year. Leiter went eight innings, throwing a ridiculous 126 pitches. He allowed only five hits, with just a solo home run by Pedro Feliz in the seventh effecting the score. And he struck out six while walking none. That's right, he pitched eight innings and didn't even walk Bonds. In fact, Leiter faced Bonds three times and got him out all three times, twice with men on base.
That one run was looking like it might be enough with the way Jason Schmidt was pitching, as this game lived up to its promise as a terrific pitchers' duel. But the Mets managed to find just enough offense to get by, getting three hits and three walks out of Schmidt, with Karim Garcia's solo home run in the bottom of the seventh tying the game up.
It was a good night all around as far as Art Howe's managing went, the decision to start Joe McEwing in centerfield notwithstanding. Not only did he make the right move in letting Leiter challenge Bonds three times, but he did a pretty good job with the bullpen as well. It was the usual crew of relievers, with no sign of the young guys, but bringing Braden Looper, theoretically the best pitcher in the bullpen, into a tie game in the ninth inning to face the heart of the Giants' lineup was a good, common-sense decision. Looper went two, striking out two, with the only blemish being a perfectly reasonable intentional walk to Bonds with two outs and no one on base in the ninth.
Things got a little hairy when Mike Stanton entered to pitch the ninth. After retiring the first two batters, one via strikeout he allowed consecutive singles to the guys batting second and third in the lineup. And while one lefty had held Barry Bonds in check for the night, asking Stanton to do the same would have been pretty risky. Art Howe decided, again with suitable justification, to walk Bonds and face Pedro Feliz. With the bases loaded, the free-swinging Feliz somehow worked the count to three balls and one strike against David Weathers. But Weathers came back to strike him out, ending the threat.
Then, with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh, all it took was The Man, The Myth, The Mike Piazza to put an end to this game with a line drive over the left field wall. It was Piazza sixth of the season and, of course, his second in as many days. The Mets swept the Giants and won their fourth game in a row, running their record to 13-15, good for third place in the National League East, three games behind the Marlins. And hey, the Brewers are coming to town!
Tomorrow, it'll be Tom Glavine (4-1, 1.85) going up against Doug Davis (1-2, 5.14) and trying to run this winning streak to five. ¶ joe | 1:02 AM |
The Mets have had plenty of "good pitching, no hitting" games thus far this season, but tonight's performance by Al Leiter against a lineup with Barry Bonds in it may have been the most impressive of the year. Leiter went eight innings, throwing a ridiculous 126 pitches. He allowed only five hits, with just a solo home run by Pedro Feliz in the seventh effecting the score. And he struck out six while walking none. That's right, he pitched eight innings and didn't even walk Bonds. In fact, Leiter faced Bonds three times and got him out all three times, twice with men on base.
That one run was looking like it might be enough with the way Jason Schmidt was pitching, as this game lived up to its promise as a terrific pitchers' duel. But the Mets managed to find just enough offense to get by, getting three hits and three walks out of Schmidt, with Karim Garcia's solo home run in the bottom of the seventh tying the game up.
It was a good night all around as far as Art Howe's managing went, the decision to start Joe McEwing in centerfield notwithstanding. Not only did he make the right move in letting Leiter challenge Bonds three times, but he did a pretty good job with the bullpen as well. It was the usual crew of relievers, with no sign of the young guys, but bringing Braden Looper, theoretically the best pitcher in the bullpen, into a tie game in the ninth inning to face the heart of the Giants' lineup was a good, common-sense decision. Looper went two, striking out two, with the only blemish being a perfectly reasonable intentional walk to Bonds with two outs and no one on base in the ninth.
Things got a little hairy when Mike Stanton entered to pitch the ninth. After retiring the first two batters, one via strikeout he allowed consecutive singles to the guys batting second and third in the lineup. And while one lefty had held Barry Bonds in check for the night, asking Stanton to do the same would have been pretty risky. Art Howe decided, again with suitable justification, to walk Bonds and face Pedro Feliz. With the bases loaded, the free-swinging Feliz somehow worked the count to three balls and one strike against David Weathers. But Weathers came back to strike him out, ending the threat.
Then, with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh, all it took was The Man, The Myth, The Mike Piazza to put an end to this game with a line drive over the left field wall. It was Piazza sixth of the season and, of course, his second in as many days. The Mets swept the Giants and won their fourth game in a row, running their record to 13-15, good for third place in the National League East, three games behind the Marlins. And hey, the Brewers are coming to town!
Tomorrow, it'll be Tom Glavine (4-1, 1.85) going up against Doug Davis (1-2, 5.14) and trying to run this winning streak to five. ¶ joe | 1:02 AM |
