Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Mets 5, Phillies 0
Can the Mets hang with the elite of the National League East? Well, so far, so good. They got another inexplicably dominant performance out of Steve Trachsel on Tuesday, shutting down a potent Phillies lineup for six and two-thirds innings, which would have been seven but for a Ty Wigginton error. As usual, Trachsel didn't strike out a ton, and walked more guys than you'd like, but somehow still managed to keep the opposition off the scoreboard. He struck out an unusually high six, but walked four while allowing just four hits. His strikeout and walk rates continue to be unimpressive and while he's done a decent job limiting home runs this year, something he didn't so much do last year, you'd have to think that at some point the hits would start falling in and he'd get in trouble. But whatever he's doing, it's working, as he's allowed just fifty-five hits and sixty-three and two-thirds innings after allowing almost exactly a hit per inning last year. It's hard to believe he can keep this up in the long run, but perhaps he really is just some sort of exception.
After Wigginton blew an easy grounder and Trachsel's shot at seven scoreless, Mike Stanton came in and got Jimmy Rollins to swing and miss at ball four, neatly transforming it into strike three. He went another inning with another strikeout and a walk before John Franco came in to pitch a scoreless ninth, striking out one and walking one.
On the other side of things, the Mets weren't exactly pounding the ball, but got on board in the third thanks to a walk and three singles, all coming with two outs. Mike Piazza added to things with this tenth home run of the season to lead off the sixth. And Cliff Floyd drove in a pair with a double in the seventh. Kazuo Matsui scored one of those runs after drawing his second walk of the game and stealing his fourth base of the year.
The Mets don't get such a favorable pitching matchup to end this mini-series on Wednesday, as while Brett Myers (3-2, 4.25) has struggled some for the Phillies this year, he's not nearly the question mark that Matt Ginter (1-0, 5.06) is. Will we get the Matt Ginter who kept his team in the game against Roger Clemens, or the one who limped his way to a victory against the Rockies on Friday? The Mets, one game above .500 and two games out of first place, certainly hope it's the former, but even if it's somewhere in between, the Mets might just have enough offense to cover him.
Oh, and Jose Reyes sat out a game with a sore lower back, but it doesn't appear to be too serious. Hopefully. ¶ joe | 1:11 PM |
Can the Mets hang with the elite of the National League East? Well, so far, so good. They got another inexplicably dominant performance out of Steve Trachsel on Tuesday, shutting down a potent Phillies lineup for six and two-thirds innings, which would have been seven but for a Ty Wigginton error. As usual, Trachsel didn't strike out a ton, and walked more guys than you'd like, but somehow still managed to keep the opposition off the scoreboard. He struck out an unusually high six, but walked four while allowing just four hits. His strikeout and walk rates continue to be unimpressive and while he's done a decent job limiting home runs this year, something he didn't so much do last year, you'd have to think that at some point the hits would start falling in and he'd get in trouble. But whatever he's doing, it's working, as he's allowed just fifty-five hits and sixty-three and two-thirds innings after allowing almost exactly a hit per inning last year. It's hard to believe he can keep this up in the long run, but perhaps he really is just some sort of exception.
After Wigginton blew an easy grounder and Trachsel's shot at seven scoreless, Mike Stanton came in and got Jimmy Rollins to swing and miss at ball four, neatly transforming it into strike three. He went another inning with another strikeout and a walk before John Franco came in to pitch a scoreless ninth, striking out one and walking one.
On the other side of things, the Mets weren't exactly pounding the ball, but got on board in the third thanks to a walk and three singles, all coming with two outs. Mike Piazza added to things with this tenth home run of the season to lead off the sixth. And Cliff Floyd drove in a pair with a double in the seventh. Kazuo Matsui scored one of those runs after drawing his second walk of the game and stealing his fourth base of the year.
The Mets don't get such a favorable pitching matchup to end this mini-series on Wednesday, as while Brett Myers (3-2, 4.25) has struggled some for the Phillies this year, he's not nearly the question mark that Matt Ginter (1-0, 5.06) is. Will we get the Matt Ginter who kept his team in the game against Roger Clemens, or the one who limped his way to a victory against the Rockies on Friday? The Mets, one game above .500 and two games out of first place, certainly hope it's the former, but even if it's somewhere in between, the Mets might just have enough offense to cover him.
Oh, and Jose Reyes sat out a game with a sore lower back, but it doesn't appear to be too serious. Hopefully. ¶ joe | 1:11 PM |
