Monday, July 26, 2004
Braves 5, Mets 2
Braves 4, Mets 3
It’s hard to get too pessimistic with four games with the Expos coming up on the schedule, but even so, this homestand went about as badly as it could have for the Mets. And in the end, it was a Piazza-less offense failing to get the job done against the Braves.
On Saturday, it was the standard Al Leiter performance of slightly more than half of a really good game, while the offense couldn’t muster nearly enough runs to cushion the blow from the inevitable bullpen collapse. Leiter went five innings on 117 pitches, walking five and allowing four hits while striking out three, but of course that only added up to one run by this year’s wacky Leiter math. And he actually left with a lead as the Mets put two whole runs on the board with the lineup’s table setters actually doing their intended job, as both Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui were on base, Reyes by singles and Matsui by walks, and scoring one run each.
Mike DeJean actually continued his excellent post-trade work in support of Leiter, tossing two scoreless innings while allowing two hits and striking out two. But then things were turned over to poor, overworked Mike Stanton and things went to hell. Stanton, having had two full days off since his last collapse, entered in the eighth and faced two batters, retiring neither. After a single, a double and the tying run, Stanton was relieved by Ricky Bottalico, who couldn’t quite clean up his mess. Bottalico got one out, but followed that with two walks, one intentional and one not. Then Braden Looper entered in an unusually clever move by Art Howe, and wound up allowing three more runs on a sac fly and two singles. But hey, at least John Franco pitched a scoreless ninth.
A day after using six pitchers, the Mets got a lengthier outing from their starter, but Steve Trachsel didn’t get much help from the guys with the gloves and bats either, so all his seven inning performance accomplished was resting the bullpen. He gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out three, but only one of the runs was ruled earned. David Wright was charged a somewhat tough error on a sharp grounder in the second that led to a pair of runs when Trachsel couldn’t quite work around it, and a Matsui error in the fifth contributed to another run. DeJean pitched another two scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing no baserunners. I’d say he was well on his way to being burned out by Howe’s overuse, but he only threw twenty pitches in each of the two weekend games, with thirty-one of them going for strikes. I don’t know if he’s a five inning mirage or a Rick Peterson miracle, but what he’s doing and the way he’s doing it look pretty good so far.
As for the offense, it was the Jose Reyes show on Sunday, as he continued to tear it up, managing a career-high four hits, including a double. He’s still not drawing walks, and he did get picked off once, but he certainly appears to be on his way back to form, raising his average all the way to .261. He did strike out to end the game, though, which wasn’t that much of a surprise. He’s still swinging at just about everything, and while he’s making good contact a lot of the time, that’s not a strategy that’s likely to be too effective against someone like John Smoltz.
Also on Sunday, Scott Kazmir kept carving up AA hitters. This time he went seven innings and allowed just one run on five hits, two walks and a hit batter while striking out seven to earn his second win since being promoted. His ERA with Binghamton is a very Kazmir-like 1.73 and he’s struck out twenty-nine while walking just nine in twenty-six innings. If I can get well ahead of myself, what, aside from another injury, is going to keep us from seeing him a Shea around the middle of next year or so? The dominant way he’s gotten his year back on track is very exciting.
Now hope for the fourth-place Mets comes in the form of a trip to Canada, as they’ve got four scheduled against Bud Selig’s personal playthings. Scott Erickson (0-0, 1.50) tries to keep backing up his veteranness with numbers adequate enough to keep his job as he takes on John Patterson (1-2, 4.02), who the Mets knocked around for four runs in four innings last week. The Mets don’t have their first scheduled day off of the second half until next Monday, so hopefully the ineptitude of the Expos’ offense will prevent Erickson from getting knocked out of this game too early.
¶ joe | 2:42 AM |
Braves 4, Mets 3
It’s hard to get too pessimistic with four games with the Expos coming up on the schedule, but even so, this homestand went about as badly as it could have for the Mets. And in the end, it was a Piazza-less offense failing to get the job done against the Braves.
On Saturday, it was the standard Al Leiter performance of slightly more than half of a really good game, while the offense couldn’t muster nearly enough runs to cushion the blow from the inevitable bullpen collapse. Leiter went five innings on 117 pitches, walking five and allowing four hits while striking out three, but of course that only added up to one run by this year’s wacky Leiter math. And he actually left with a lead as the Mets put two whole runs on the board with the lineup’s table setters actually doing their intended job, as both Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui were on base, Reyes by singles and Matsui by walks, and scoring one run each.
Mike DeJean actually continued his excellent post-trade work in support of Leiter, tossing two scoreless innings while allowing two hits and striking out two. But then things were turned over to poor, overworked Mike Stanton and things went to hell. Stanton, having had two full days off since his last collapse, entered in the eighth and faced two batters, retiring neither. After a single, a double and the tying run, Stanton was relieved by Ricky Bottalico, who couldn’t quite clean up his mess. Bottalico got one out, but followed that with two walks, one intentional and one not. Then Braden Looper entered in an unusually clever move by Art Howe, and wound up allowing three more runs on a sac fly and two singles. But hey, at least John Franco pitched a scoreless ninth.
A day after using six pitchers, the Mets got a lengthier outing from their starter, but Steve Trachsel didn’t get much help from the guys with the gloves and bats either, so all his seven inning performance accomplished was resting the bullpen. He gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out three, but only one of the runs was ruled earned. David Wright was charged a somewhat tough error on a sharp grounder in the second that led to a pair of runs when Trachsel couldn’t quite work around it, and a Matsui error in the fifth contributed to another run. DeJean pitched another two scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing no baserunners. I’d say he was well on his way to being burned out by Howe’s overuse, but he only threw twenty pitches in each of the two weekend games, with thirty-one of them going for strikes. I don’t know if he’s a five inning mirage or a Rick Peterson miracle, but what he’s doing and the way he’s doing it look pretty good so far.
As for the offense, it was the Jose Reyes show on Sunday, as he continued to tear it up, managing a career-high four hits, including a double. He’s still not drawing walks, and he did get picked off once, but he certainly appears to be on his way back to form, raising his average all the way to .261. He did strike out to end the game, though, which wasn’t that much of a surprise. He’s still swinging at just about everything, and while he’s making good contact a lot of the time, that’s not a strategy that’s likely to be too effective against someone like John Smoltz.
Also on Sunday, Scott Kazmir kept carving up AA hitters. This time he went seven innings and allowed just one run on five hits, two walks and a hit batter while striking out seven to earn his second win since being promoted. His ERA with Binghamton is a very Kazmir-like 1.73 and he’s struck out twenty-nine while walking just nine in twenty-six innings. If I can get well ahead of myself, what, aside from another injury, is going to keep us from seeing him a Shea around the middle of next year or so? The dominant way he’s gotten his year back on track is very exciting.
Now hope for the fourth-place Mets comes in the form of a trip to Canada, as they’ve got four scheduled against Bud Selig’s personal playthings. Scott Erickson (0-0, 1.50) tries to keep backing up his veteranness with numbers adequate enough to keep his job as he takes on John Patterson (1-2, 4.02), who the Mets knocked around for four runs in four innings last week. The Mets don’t have their first scheduled day off of the second half until next Monday, so hopefully the ineptitude of the Expos’ offense will prevent Erickson from getting knocked out of this game too early.
¶ joe | 2:42 AM |
