Friday, July 16, 2004
Mets 3, Phillies 2 (11)
The second half of the 2004 season started out looking a lot like the first half for the New York Mets. They got a pretty good performance out of their starting pitcher and not quite as much offense to back him up as you would like. Steve Trachsel got the honor of watching his efforts nearly go to waste this time around, going five and two-thirds while allowing just two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out a season-high six. But in a departure from first-half patterns, he got a lot of support from his bullpen. Orber Moreno did a good job coming in with the bases loaded in the sixth to save Trachsel and preserve a tie game, making a nice defensive play on a weak grounder down the third base line. He wound up finishing one and one-third perfect innings on just eleven pitches and has now stranded ten of twelve inherited runners on the season.
Mike Stanton followed with a shocking perfect inning of his own, striking out two while facing the heart of the Phillies’ lineup. Braden Looper pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. And Jose Parra wound up getting the win with a scoreless inning featuring one walk and two strikeouts.
Of course, while David Wright was down with Norfolk smacking home runs in his first two at bats, the major league Met offense was struggling to score more than two runs against Eric Milton. Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui each doubled to start the fourth inning and produce a run and Trachsel drove in Ty Wigginton, who had singled, in the fifth. That was it until the Mets loaded the bases with two walks and a hit in the eleventh, giving Wigginton a shot to win the game after he had failed to do so in a similar spot in the ninth. He grounded one sharply back up the middle and Vance Wilson was able to come home when pitcher Roberto Hernandez had trouble handling the grounder and wound up bouncing a throw home that got away from the catcher. Wigginton wound up with two hits on the night, but he also exhibited his trademark first pitch swing a few times and game-winning hit or not, I don’t have much doubt that the Mets’ lineup would be better with David Wright at third base.
Elsewhere in the minors, Scott Kazmir got things going in the right direction for Binghamton, picking up his first AA win in the process. He went just five innings, but only allowed one run on three hits and, perhaps most importantly, one walk, striking out five. He did hit two batters and throw a wild pitch, but it seems tonight was at least a small step forward as far as his control goes. Justin Huber had a fine night as well, with a single, double, walk and hit by pitch of his own.
Tomorrow, the Mets are apparently going to send Scott Erickson to the mound for his first start since 2002. Erickson’s been solid in his last few minor league starts, and this will probably go a little bit better than The James Baldwin Experiment of earlier this year, but I still don’t expect Erickson to be able to get major league hitters out for very long and I think the best we can hope for tomorrow is a high-scoring slugfest against Kevin Millwood (6-5, 5.15) and the Phillies.
¶ joe | 12:40 AM |
The second half of the 2004 season started out looking a lot like the first half for the New York Mets. They got a pretty good performance out of their starting pitcher and not quite as much offense to back him up as you would like. Steve Trachsel got the honor of watching his efforts nearly go to waste this time around, going five and two-thirds while allowing just two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out a season-high six. But in a departure from first-half patterns, he got a lot of support from his bullpen. Orber Moreno did a good job coming in with the bases loaded in the sixth to save Trachsel and preserve a tie game, making a nice defensive play on a weak grounder down the third base line. He wound up finishing one and one-third perfect innings on just eleven pitches and has now stranded ten of twelve inherited runners on the season.
Mike Stanton followed with a shocking perfect inning of his own, striking out two while facing the heart of the Phillies’ lineup. Braden Looper pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. And Jose Parra wound up getting the win with a scoreless inning featuring one walk and two strikeouts.
Of course, while David Wright was down with Norfolk smacking home runs in his first two at bats, the major league Met offense was struggling to score more than two runs against Eric Milton. Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui each doubled to start the fourth inning and produce a run and Trachsel drove in Ty Wigginton, who had singled, in the fifth. That was it until the Mets loaded the bases with two walks and a hit in the eleventh, giving Wigginton a shot to win the game after he had failed to do so in a similar spot in the ninth. He grounded one sharply back up the middle and Vance Wilson was able to come home when pitcher Roberto Hernandez had trouble handling the grounder and wound up bouncing a throw home that got away from the catcher. Wigginton wound up with two hits on the night, but he also exhibited his trademark first pitch swing a few times and game-winning hit or not, I don’t have much doubt that the Mets’ lineup would be better with David Wright at third base.
Elsewhere in the minors, Scott Kazmir got things going in the right direction for Binghamton, picking up his first AA win in the process. He went just five innings, but only allowed one run on three hits and, perhaps most importantly, one walk, striking out five. He did hit two batters and throw a wild pitch, but it seems tonight was at least a small step forward as far as his control goes. Justin Huber had a fine night as well, with a single, double, walk and hit by pitch of his own.
Tomorrow, the Mets are apparently going to send Scott Erickson to the mound for his first start since 2002. Erickson’s been solid in his last few minor league starts, and this will probably go a little bit better than The James Baldwin Experiment of earlier this year, but I still don’t expect Erickson to be able to get major league hitters out for very long and I think the best we can hope for tomorrow is a high-scoring slugfest against Kevin Millwood (6-5, 5.15) and the Phillies.
¶ joe | 12:40 AM |
