Thursday, June 03, 2004
Mets 5, Phillies 3 (10)
You should be allowed to exchange Todd Zeile for goods and services, for he is indeed money. One day after he tied a game with a home run and won it in extra innings with a single, he came back with an even more impressive encore. Randy Wolf shut the Mets down through seven and two-thirds innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. But with two outs in the eighth, pinch hitter Vance Wilson reached him for a single and Kazuo Matsui chimed in with his daily hit, a double. Larry Bowa went to his bullpen and the heretofore dominant Ryan Madson to finish the inning, but Zeile had a tremendous at bat, working his way to a full count before taking a hanging curve and driving it over the left field wall to bring the Mets all the way back from a three-run deficit.
Tom Glavine wasn't at his sharpest, having trouble with the dimensions of the strike zone, throwing 57 of his 116 pitches outside its edges. He walked four and struck out just two through seven innings, but he also allowed just three hits and the end result was a mere three runs. It wasn't a bad final product for Glavine, but he's pitched better and lost this year and it looked like tonight would be more of the same before Zeile's heroics. John Franco and David Weathers each pitched a perfect inning to send the Mets and Phillies back to extra frames and it was once again time for Todd Zeile to do what no one else could.
Karim Garcia doubled off the top of the center field wall with one out in the tenth, but after Matsui grounded out, it was up to Zeile with two down and once again he came through in a big way. Not satisfied with a repeat of his tenth inning RBI single of one night before, Zeile smacked his second home run of the night, this time to right field, to give the Mets the lead. Braden Looper made things interesting in the bottom of the tenth, allowing a pair of hits and a walk, although one of the "hits" was courtesy of "second baseman" Joe McEwing's adventures in defense. Danny Garcia's sudden banishment to the bench remains perplexing. But Looper managed to escape, getting a big strikeout of Ricky Ledee with two on and one out and getting Jim Thome to ground out with the bases loaded to end the game, earning his tenth save of the season and third in as many days.
This sweep of the division-favorite Phillies was obviously huge for the Mets, especially coming as it did on the heels of that rough weekend in Florida and in advance of another four meetings with the first-place Fish. The Mets are now 26-26 on the season, but also 4-4 so far in this twelve game stretch against the class of the National League East. With the Marlins coming to town tomorrow, the Mets are in great position to emerge even or better for this little two-week trial by fire. If they can win two or three of these next four games, they'll still be right with the division leaders, doing a good job treading water while still awaiting reinforcements in the form of young infielders, whether at second or even third. Jae Weong Seo (2-4, 4.97) gets first crack at the Marlins agaisnt A.J. Burnett, making his 2004 debut. ¶ joe | 1:27 AM |
You should be allowed to exchange Todd Zeile for goods and services, for he is indeed money. One day after he tied a game with a home run and won it in extra innings with a single, he came back with an even more impressive encore. Randy Wolf shut the Mets down through seven and two-thirds innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. But with two outs in the eighth, pinch hitter Vance Wilson reached him for a single and Kazuo Matsui chimed in with his daily hit, a double. Larry Bowa went to his bullpen and the heretofore dominant Ryan Madson to finish the inning, but Zeile had a tremendous at bat, working his way to a full count before taking a hanging curve and driving it over the left field wall to bring the Mets all the way back from a three-run deficit.
Tom Glavine wasn't at his sharpest, having trouble with the dimensions of the strike zone, throwing 57 of his 116 pitches outside its edges. He walked four and struck out just two through seven innings, but he also allowed just three hits and the end result was a mere three runs. It wasn't a bad final product for Glavine, but he's pitched better and lost this year and it looked like tonight would be more of the same before Zeile's heroics. John Franco and David Weathers each pitched a perfect inning to send the Mets and Phillies back to extra frames and it was once again time for Todd Zeile to do what no one else could.
Karim Garcia doubled off the top of the center field wall with one out in the tenth, but after Matsui grounded out, it was up to Zeile with two down and once again he came through in a big way. Not satisfied with a repeat of his tenth inning RBI single of one night before, Zeile smacked his second home run of the night, this time to right field, to give the Mets the lead. Braden Looper made things interesting in the bottom of the tenth, allowing a pair of hits and a walk, although one of the "hits" was courtesy of "second baseman" Joe McEwing's adventures in defense. Danny Garcia's sudden banishment to the bench remains perplexing. But Looper managed to escape, getting a big strikeout of Ricky Ledee with two on and one out and getting Jim Thome to ground out with the bases loaded to end the game, earning his tenth save of the season and third in as many days.
This sweep of the division-favorite Phillies was obviously huge for the Mets, especially coming as it did on the heels of that rough weekend in Florida and in advance of another four meetings with the first-place Fish. The Mets are now 26-26 on the season, but also 4-4 so far in this twelve game stretch against the class of the National League East. With the Marlins coming to town tomorrow, the Mets are in great position to emerge even or better for this little two-week trial by fire. If they can win two or three of these next four games, they'll still be right with the division leaders, doing a good job treading water while still awaiting reinforcements in the form of young infielders, whether at second or even third. Jae Weong Seo (2-4, 4.97) gets first crack at the Marlins agaisnt A.J. Burnett, making his 2004 debut. ¶ joe | 1:27 AM |
