Friday, June 11, 2004
Twins 3, Mets 2 (15)
Matt Ginter gave the Mets another job-saving performance with the sword of Erickson hanging above his head, but as usual, it wasn’t enough for the Mets’ pathetic offense. Ginter went longer than he has all season, tossing seven and two-thirds innings, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk while striking out one. Amazin’ly, that was enough to put him in the lead as he left, thanks to the Mets putting two whole runs on the board. But as so often happens, the bullpen and defense faltered in trying to preserve the slim lead.
Cliff Floyd drove in both runs with a home run and a double. But otherwise the Mets again failed to get anything done against a struggling starting pitcher. This time it was Kyle Lohse—he of the 5.33 ERA—and while that’s good news for my pitching-weak fantasy team, it’s a pretty sad testament to the current state of the Mets’ bats. The team managed just eight hits through fifteen innings, and while they did draw five walks, two of those were intentionally handed to Mike Piazza, the only other remotely scary guy in the lineup.
Still, the Mets did manage to make it to the ninth inning with a one-run lead and their best reliever on the mound. And Braden Looper did retire the first two batters he faced. But after Matt LeCroy, the slowest man this side of Jason Phillips reached on a single, Jose Offerman drove a double to the gap in left center and Mike Cameron proceeded to overthrow two cutoff men, allowing LeCroy to waddle home as the tying run. While Cameron’s defense has been mostly superlative this season, and it has (scroll on down), I’ve been pretty unimpressed with what I’ve seen of his throwing, in the areas of both strength and accuracy. He certainly excels in the field of catching the ball before it hits the ground, but after that, he ceases to be Mike Cameron, Defensive God, and turns into just another guy who thinks he can reach home when he should probably just throw it to the shortstop. My impressions are admittedly based on a pretty small sample of plays, but I don’t think this is the first time this has come up at a crucial juncture of a game.
Anyway, you know the rest, the game went six more innings and the Mets lost the battle of the bullpens, as they often do, their record in extra-inning games notwithstanding. Tyler Yates was nowhere to be seen and Ricky Bottalico finally coughed up the winning run one out into his second inning of work.
Tomorrow, Jae Weong Seo (3-4, 4.53) tries again to save his job with a start at Coors Field East against Darrel May (2-8, 6.14) and the Royals. Seo’s been pitching fine lately, but I don’t like his chances heading into that park with the deck already seemingly stacked against him. If Art Howe chooses tomorrow to give Mike Cameron the day off, suspect that something is up. ¶ joe | 2:40 AM |
Matt Ginter gave the Mets another job-saving performance with the sword of Erickson hanging above his head, but as usual, it wasn’t enough for the Mets’ pathetic offense. Ginter went longer than he has all season, tossing seven and two-thirds innings, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk while striking out one. Amazin’ly, that was enough to put him in the lead as he left, thanks to the Mets putting two whole runs on the board. But as so often happens, the bullpen and defense faltered in trying to preserve the slim lead.
Cliff Floyd drove in both runs with a home run and a double. But otherwise the Mets again failed to get anything done against a struggling starting pitcher. This time it was Kyle Lohse—he of the 5.33 ERA—and while that’s good news for my pitching-weak fantasy team, it’s a pretty sad testament to the current state of the Mets’ bats. The team managed just eight hits through fifteen innings, and while they did draw five walks, two of those were intentionally handed to Mike Piazza, the only other remotely scary guy in the lineup.
Still, the Mets did manage to make it to the ninth inning with a one-run lead and their best reliever on the mound. And Braden Looper did retire the first two batters he faced. But after Matt LeCroy, the slowest man this side of Jason Phillips reached on a single, Jose Offerman drove a double to the gap in left center and Mike Cameron proceeded to overthrow two cutoff men, allowing LeCroy to waddle home as the tying run. While Cameron’s defense has been mostly superlative this season, and it has (scroll on down), I’ve been pretty unimpressed with what I’ve seen of his throwing, in the areas of both strength and accuracy. He certainly excels in the field of catching the ball before it hits the ground, but after that, he ceases to be Mike Cameron, Defensive God, and turns into just another guy who thinks he can reach home when he should probably just throw it to the shortstop. My impressions are admittedly based on a pretty small sample of plays, but I don’t think this is the first time this has come up at a crucial juncture of a game.
Anyway, you know the rest, the game went six more innings and the Mets lost the battle of the bullpens, as they often do, their record in extra-inning games notwithstanding. Tyler Yates was nowhere to be seen and Ricky Bottalico finally coughed up the winning run one out into his second inning of work.
Tomorrow, Jae Weong Seo (3-4, 4.53) tries again to save his job with a start at Coors Field East against Darrel May (2-8, 6.14) and the Royals. Seo’s been pitching fine lately, but I don’t like his chances heading into that park with the deck already seemingly stacked against him. If Art Howe chooses tomorrow to give Mike Cameron the day off, suspect that something is up. ¶ joe | 2:40 AM |
