Mets 9, Rockies 7

So Braden Looper gave up his first earned run of the season. And then, he gave up his second earned run of the season. Looper struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth after the Mets had robbed him of another save opportunity by scoring a couple of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Three hits, a walk and two runs later, Todd Helton was up as a pinch hitter trying to put the Rockies on top, but Looper managed to get him to ground out, keeping his newfound ERA at 0.79.

While the final score might look like that of a game played at Coors Field, this game was in fact played at Shea. It was just that a couple of inexperienced starting pitchers got smacked around pretty thoroughly. Got Baldwin'd, if you will. The Rockies' Jason Young was out after just three innings, having allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out two. Matt Ginter fared a little bit better in earning his first win as a starter and as a Met, but his performance was a far cry from what he showed in his Mets debut on Sunday. Ginter went five innings, and while his five strikeouts look nice, the seven hits, two walks and five runs do a pretty good job of overshadowing them.

But it was the Mets' offense that managed to pick up their starting pitcher on this night, as they racked up nine doubles among their fourteen hits, as well as a solo home run by Mike Piazza, his ninth. Kazuo Matsui had a good night, going two for four with a double and a walk. And Danny Garcia added a pair of doubles and a walk while the guy whose job he's temporarily holding, Jose Reyes was down in Florida going one for two with a stolen base on his apparently healthy legs. Jason Phillips also had a pair of doubles, and even the terribly slumping Mike Cameron got in on the act with one of his own. Ty Wigginton, Karim Garcia and Cliff Floyd rounded out the barrage of two-base hits.

Tonight, Tyler Yates (1-4, 6.04) returns to the majors to square off with Aaron Cook (0-0, 9.00).  ¶ joe | 3:53 PM |