Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Mets 4, Expos 2
After Monday’s debacle, the Mets didn’t only need a good performance out of Tom Glavine, they needed the kind of rare, extraordinary effort that it’s taken for Tom Glavine to actually win a game this season. Well, it wasn’t exactly a brilliant all-around effort, as the Mets made another pair of infield errors, but somehow this team pulled together to get the man with the 2.61 ERA back to .500 on the season. Glavine himself only went six innings, and allowed seven hits and three walks, though one of those was intentional. But he held the Expos to just two runs and actually got some help from his offense and bullpen to make that stand up.
Mike Cameron provided all the offense the Mets needed with a three-run home run in the sixth, his team-leading eighteenth on the year. Ty Wigginton drove in the other run with one of his three singles on the night. And Jose Reyes had another good game, hitting a double and a single and stealing two more bases on the night.
He’s now stolen twelve while being caught just once and is adding serious value to the Mets’ offense with his once-fragile legs, even if he didn’t score a run tonight. He’s not the only Met having a good year on the basepaths, but the quick start he’s gotten off to since his return to the lineup has been far more than I ever expected. He’s stolen just one fewer than he did in more than twice as many games last year, and is stealing bases at a rate that would add up to a ridiculous-for-this-era sixty steals over the course of a 162 game season. With he, Cameron, Kazuo Matsui and even David Wright, who had success stealing bases throughout his minor league career despite not being a real speedster, could the Mets be developing into a serious base-stealing threat of a team? Base-stealing isn’t really my favorite form of run-producing, and I certainly didn’t see this coming, but the Mets have now stolen sixty-nine bases in eighty-three chances this year—a success rate of 83%--and now rank near the top of the league in steals and at the very top in success rate. And what’s going to stop the Mets from keeping this up in the coming years? Matsui, Reyes and Cameron seem unlikely to slow down too much, barring injury, and Wright should eventually pitch in a few steals at a good rate as well. The Mets offense may always have some holes, but the stolen base might actually wind up a nice added weapon to put a couple of runs on the board. And if they keep running without getting caught, I certainly won’t complain.
Mike DeJean, Mike Stanton and Braden Looper each pitched well enough in relief, with Stanton even striking out two of the three batters he faced to further cement Art Howe’s faith in him.
Tomorrow, Jae Weong Seo (4-6, 4.58) pitches for the Mets against Tony Armas Jr. (2-3, 3.97).
¶ joe | 2:14 AM |
After Monday’s debacle, the Mets didn’t only need a good performance out of Tom Glavine, they needed the kind of rare, extraordinary effort that it’s taken for Tom Glavine to actually win a game this season. Well, it wasn’t exactly a brilliant all-around effort, as the Mets made another pair of infield errors, but somehow this team pulled together to get the man with the 2.61 ERA back to .500 on the season. Glavine himself only went six innings, and allowed seven hits and three walks, though one of those was intentional. But he held the Expos to just two runs and actually got some help from his offense and bullpen to make that stand up.
Mike Cameron provided all the offense the Mets needed with a three-run home run in the sixth, his team-leading eighteenth on the year. Ty Wigginton drove in the other run with one of his three singles on the night. And Jose Reyes had another good game, hitting a double and a single and stealing two more bases on the night.
He’s now stolen twelve while being caught just once and is adding serious value to the Mets’ offense with his once-fragile legs, even if he didn’t score a run tonight. He’s not the only Met having a good year on the basepaths, but the quick start he’s gotten off to since his return to the lineup has been far more than I ever expected. He’s stolen just one fewer than he did in more than twice as many games last year, and is stealing bases at a rate that would add up to a ridiculous-for-this-era sixty steals over the course of a 162 game season. With he, Cameron, Kazuo Matsui and even David Wright, who had success stealing bases throughout his minor league career despite not being a real speedster, could the Mets be developing into a serious base-stealing threat of a team? Base-stealing isn’t really my favorite form of run-producing, and I certainly didn’t see this coming, but the Mets have now stolen sixty-nine bases in eighty-three chances this year—a success rate of 83%--and now rank near the top of the league in steals and at the very top in success rate. And what’s going to stop the Mets from keeping this up in the coming years? Matsui, Reyes and Cameron seem unlikely to slow down too much, barring injury, and Wright should eventually pitch in a few steals at a good rate as well. The Mets offense may always have some holes, but the stolen base might actually wind up a nice added weapon to put a couple of runs on the board. And if they keep running without getting caught, I certainly won’t complain.
Mike DeJean, Mike Stanton and Braden Looper each pitched well enough in relief, with Stanton even striking out two of the three batters he faced to further cement Art Howe’s faith in him.
Tomorrow, Jae Weong Seo (4-6, 4.58) pitches for the Mets against Tony Armas Jr. (2-3, 3.97).
¶ joe | 2:14 AM |
