Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Marlins 9, Mets 7
Yeah, the Mets lost, but who cares? David Wright is a major leaguer! The wait is over and The Future will be at third base on Wednesday. Wright went one for five to finish up his minor league career on Tuesday, leaving him at .298/.388/.579 through 114 at bats. Getting swept in this two game series by the Marlins is severely disappointing, but I’m having serious difficulty being upset about anything at all right now.
The other good news on Tuesday was that even without Wright in the lineup, the Mets’ offense came to play, bouncing back from an early six-run deficit to put seven on the board. Mike Cameron and Richard Hidalgo each smacked home runs. Jose Reyes<./a> and the Mets’ new utility infielder Ty Wigginton each had two hits and two stolen bases and Kazuo Matsui had a hit, a walk and a stolen base of his own. Wigginton and Cliff Floyd each had doubles.
Of course, there was plenty of bad news to go along with that, beginning with the starting pitcher. Steve Trachsel, who’d been so excellent at home, allowed six runs in the first inning and later let in the seventh to blow the slim lead the Mets had built. He got through five innings, but allowed three walks and eight hits, including a pair of home runs, while striking out three in his worst home start of the season. After Trachsel exited, John Franco and Dan Wheeler immediately untied the game as Franco walked two in two-thirds of an inning before Wheeler came in an let in the go-ahead run on a single. Ricky Bottalico later allowed a run on three hits in two inning of work while Mike DeJean managed a scoreless inning on one hit in his New York debut.
But then the worst news of the night was that Mike Piazza had to leave the game in the second with what’s being called a "sprained left wrist" after colliding with Juan Pierre trying to reach for Wigginton’s errant throw to first base. Wigginton will slide over to first for at least one game, and it’s not like Piazza’s exactly been tearing it up with the bat, but even so, the Mets really need this to be a minor, two or three-day thing for the sake of their new Wright-powered offense.
Down in Binghamton, Scott Kazmir had his best AA start to date and what, as far as I know, was the longest start of his professional career. The young lefty went eight innings and allowed just two runs, one of which was unearned thanks to his own error, on two hits while striking out ten. Whatever rust the kid may have had early in the season after battling injury problems, he seems to have shaken it off with gusto since his recent promotion. Kazmir took the loss as his teammates managed just one hit and no runs in the game, but he also dropped his ERA to 1.89. He’s struck out twenty-two in nineteen innings while walking seven and allowing just eleven hits.
Tomorrow, the new era begins with Jae Weong Seo (4-6, 4.59) on the mound for the Mets against John Patterson (1-2, 3.29) and the Expos.
¶ joe | 2:46 AM |
Yeah, the Mets lost, but who cares? David Wright is a major leaguer! The wait is over and The Future will be at third base on Wednesday. Wright went one for five to finish up his minor league career on Tuesday, leaving him at .298/.388/.579 through 114 at bats. Getting swept in this two game series by the Marlins is severely disappointing, but I’m having serious difficulty being upset about anything at all right now.
The other good news on Tuesday was that even without Wright in the lineup, the Mets’ offense came to play, bouncing back from an early six-run deficit to put seven on the board. Mike Cameron and Richard Hidalgo each smacked home runs. Jose Reyes<./a> and the Mets’ new utility infielder Ty Wigginton each had two hits and two stolen bases and Kazuo Matsui had a hit, a walk and a stolen base of his own. Wigginton and Cliff Floyd each had doubles.
Of course, there was plenty of bad news to go along with that, beginning with the starting pitcher. Steve Trachsel, who’d been so excellent at home, allowed six runs in the first inning and later let in the seventh to blow the slim lead the Mets had built. He got through five innings, but allowed three walks and eight hits, including a pair of home runs, while striking out three in his worst home start of the season. After Trachsel exited, John Franco and Dan Wheeler immediately untied the game as Franco walked two in two-thirds of an inning before Wheeler came in an let in the go-ahead run on a single. Ricky Bottalico later allowed a run on three hits in two inning of work while Mike DeJean managed a scoreless inning on one hit in his New York debut.
But then the worst news of the night was that Mike Piazza had to leave the game in the second with what’s being called a "sprained left wrist" after colliding with Juan Pierre trying to reach for Wigginton’s errant throw to first base. Wigginton will slide over to first for at least one game, and it’s not like Piazza’s exactly been tearing it up with the bat, but even so, the Mets really need this to be a minor, two or three-day thing for the sake of their new Wright-powered offense.
Down in Binghamton, Scott Kazmir had his best AA start to date and what, as far as I know, was the longest start of his professional career. The young lefty went eight innings and allowed just two runs, one of which was unearned thanks to his own error, on two hits while striking out ten. Whatever rust the kid may have had early in the season after battling injury problems, he seems to have shaken it off with gusto since his recent promotion. Kazmir took the loss as his teammates managed just one hit and no runs in the game, but he also dropped his ERA to 1.89. He’s struck out twenty-two in nineteen innings while walking seven and allowing just eleven hits.
Tomorrow, the new era begins with Jae Weong Seo (4-6, 4.59) on the mound for the Mets against John Patterson (1-2, 3.29) and the Expos.
¶ joe | 2:46 AM |
