Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Mets 4, Phillies 1 (10)
Al Leiter's starts are beginning to resemble that old line about laws and sausages. He usually winds up getting the job done, but you might not want to see quite how he does it. Tonight he returned from the disabled list to make his first start in about three weeks and pitched five scoreless innings on a parsimonious eighty-four pitches. He allowed just three hits. And he walked four while striking out none. Maybe it's some sort of cosmic justice that's allowed him to post such a miniscule ERA, now at 2.23, and only have earned one win to this point in the season. Leiter left a significant chunk of this game in the hands of the bullpen, and if you've been paying attention, I bet you can guess the names of the guys who pitched.
David Weathers pitched a decent pair of innings, but allowed the scoreless tie to be broken with the help of a questionable balk call (as if there's any other kind) and a novice first baseman. Todd Zeile, starting at third base for second surprising day, retied the game in the top of the eighth with his fourth home run of the year. Then Mike Stanton continued his unlikely pursuit of Cal Ripken's record, entering his seventh consecutive game. He did a fine job, though, striking out the one batter he faced, Jim Thome, before giving way to Ricky Bottalico, who pitched a scoreless inning and two-thirds, striking out three, walking one and allowing two hits.
Bottalico wound up getting the win after the Mets managed to put three runs on the board in the top of the tenth. Kazuo Matsui led off the inning with a single and stole second before being driven home by Zeile's third hit of the day, a single. Zeile himself came home on a home run by Vance Wilson, batting in the spot occupied by Mike Piazza before he was removed for defensive purposes in favor of that proven first baseman Eric Valent. Once again the Mets' offense got the job done in spite of Art Howe's best efforts and Braden Looper pitched a scoreless tenth, allowing one hit and striking out one to earn his ninth save.
Tomorrow the Mets go for the sweep with their ace on the mound, as Tom Glavine (6-3, 2.17) matches up with another fine lefty in Randy Wolf (2-3, 2.98). The bullpen could really use seven or eight strong innings out of Glavine and this team could certainly use a win to get back to .500 and moving in the right direction as the Marlins come to town. ¶ joe | 1:35 AM |
Al Leiter's starts are beginning to resemble that old line about laws and sausages. He usually winds up getting the job done, but you might not want to see quite how he does it. Tonight he returned from the disabled list to make his first start in about three weeks and pitched five scoreless innings on a parsimonious eighty-four pitches. He allowed just three hits. And he walked four while striking out none. Maybe it's some sort of cosmic justice that's allowed him to post such a miniscule ERA, now at 2.23, and only have earned one win to this point in the season. Leiter left a significant chunk of this game in the hands of the bullpen, and if you've been paying attention, I bet you can guess the names of the guys who pitched.
David Weathers pitched a decent pair of innings, but allowed the scoreless tie to be broken with the help of a questionable balk call (as if there's any other kind) and a novice first baseman. Todd Zeile, starting at third base for second surprising day, retied the game in the top of the eighth with his fourth home run of the year. Then Mike Stanton continued his unlikely pursuit of Cal Ripken's record, entering his seventh consecutive game. He did a fine job, though, striking out the one batter he faced, Jim Thome, before giving way to Ricky Bottalico, who pitched a scoreless inning and two-thirds, striking out three, walking one and allowing two hits.
Bottalico wound up getting the win after the Mets managed to put three runs on the board in the top of the tenth. Kazuo Matsui led off the inning with a single and stole second before being driven home by Zeile's third hit of the day, a single. Zeile himself came home on a home run by Vance Wilson, batting in the spot occupied by Mike Piazza before he was removed for defensive purposes in favor of that proven first baseman Eric Valent. Once again the Mets' offense got the job done in spite of Art Howe's best efforts and Braden Looper pitched a scoreless tenth, allowing one hit and striking out one to earn his ninth save.
Tomorrow the Mets go for the sweep with their ace on the mound, as Tom Glavine (6-3, 2.17) matches up with another fine lefty in Randy Wolf (2-3, 2.98). The bullpen could really use seven or eight strong innings out of Glavine and this team could certainly use a win to get back to .500 and moving in the right direction as the Marlins come to town. ¶ joe | 1:35 AM |
