Sunday, April 10, 2005
Braves 6, Mets 3
Mets 6, Braves 1
On Saturday, the worst team in the major leagues sent Aaron Heilman to the mound in search of their first win. And I bet you can guess how that worked out. Heilman continued his love affair with the longball and a second-inning grand slam by Brian Jordan was enough to put away the Mets and their suddenly slumbering offense. Heilman went five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs, while striking out three and walking none. Jose Reyes' first home run of the season provided the only real offensive excitement for the Mets.
So they entered the last game of this road trip with a real chance of heading home 0-6, already the last winless team in the majors. Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz faced off and put on a pitchers duel that exceeded my expectations. After getting pounded in his first start of the season, Smoltz bounced back to strike out fifteen Mets through seven and one-third innings. Martinez only allowed one run on two hits and one walk, and yet through seven innings it looked like the Same Old Mets would find a way to lose it for him, as they trailed 1-0 heading into the eighth inning and were being thoroughly dominated by Smoltz.
But then the New Mets came through. Jose Reyes hit his second single of the game to lead off the eighth. And after a Miguel Cairo sacrifice moved him to second, Carlos Beltran came to the plate with a chance to tie it and at least get Pedro off the hook. Instead he took a 2-1 pitch and lined it over the right field wall to put the Mets on top and send Smoltz to the dugout. As if to reemphasize the point, Cliff Floyd followed with a home run of his own. And after a Doug Mientkiewicz double, David Wright launched one of his own over the center field wall to put the Mets up by four. Each man's homer was his second of the season.
With a cushy lead in hand, Pedro kept cruising along and wound up going the distance on just 101 pitches, striking out nine, to earn his first win as a Met and the team's first of the season. The Mets added another run in the ninth when Reyes turned a ground ball past the second baseman into a double with his blazing speed and scored on a Beltran single. Reyes has yet to draw a walk on the season, but he is hitting .393 and slugging .607 for a nice round OPS of 1.000, best among the team's starters.
The Mets will still return home with the worst record in the majors, but there's still plenty of reason for optimism this early in the season. While the rest of the starting pitching may be a disaster, Pedro Martinez is looking like he's worth every penny after two dominant starts, as is Carlos Beltran (.296/.321/.556). And Reyes, Floyd (.304/.385/.565), Mientkiewicz (.333/.375/.524) and Wright (.250/.375/.600) are all off to good offensive starts. The defense hasn't been too shabby either.
Tomorrow afternoon's home opener features Tom Glavine (0-1, 12.27) trying to get his season back on track against Andy Pettitte (0-0, 1.50) and the Astros. Houston is 4-1 on the season, but they've scored even fewer runs than the Mets, 19, against 15 allowed. We'll see if the Mets can keep up their two-inning offensive resurgence against that pitching. ¶ joe | 9:52 PM |
Mets 6, Braves 1
On Saturday, the worst team in the major leagues sent Aaron Heilman to the mound in search of their first win. And I bet you can guess how that worked out. Heilman continued his love affair with the longball and a second-inning grand slam by Brian Jordan was enough to put away the Mets and their suddenly slumbering offense. Heilman went five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs, while striking out three and walking none. Jose Reyes' first home run of the season provided the only real offensive excitement for the Mets.
So they entered the last game of this road trip with a real chance of heading home 0-6, already the last winless team in the majors. Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz faced off and put on a pitchers duel that exceeded my expectations. After getting pounded in his first start of the season, Smoltz bounced back to strike out fifteen Mets through seven and one-third innings. Martinez only allowed one run on two hits and one walk, and yet through seven innings it looked like the Same Old Mets would find a way to lose it for him, as they trailed 1-0 heading into the eighth inning and were being thoroughly dominated by Smoltz.
But then the New Mets came through. Jose Reyes hit his second single of the game to lead off the eighth. And after a Miguel Cairo sacrifice moved him to second, Carlos Beltran came to the plate with a chance to tie it and at least get Pedro off the hook. Instead he took a 2-1 pitch and lined it over the right field wall to put the Mets on top and send Smoltz to the dugout. As if to reemphasize the point, Cliff Floyd followed with a home run of his own. And after a Doug Mientkiewicz double, David Wright launched one of his own over the center field wall to put the Mets up by four. Each man's homer was his second of the season.
With a cushy lead in hand, Pedro kept cruising along and wound up going the distance on just 101 pitches, striking out nine, to earn his first win as a Met and the team's first of the season. The Mets added another run in the ninth when Reyes turned a ground ball past the second baseman into a double with his blazing speed and scored on a Beltran single. Reyes has yet to draw a walk on the season, but he is hitting .393 and slugging .607 for a nice round OPS of 1.000, best among the team's starters.
The Mets will still return home with the worst record in the majors, but there's still plenty of reason for optimism this early in the season. While the rest of the starting pitching may be a disaster, Pedro Martinez is looking like he's worth every penny after two dominant starts, as is Carlos Beltran (.296/.321/.556). And Reyes, Floyd (.304/.385/.565), Mientkiewicz (.333/.375/.524) and Wright (.250/.375/.600) are all off to good offensive starts. The defense hasn't been too shabby either.
Tomorrow afternoon's home opener features Tom Glavine (0-1, 12.27) trying to get his season back on track against Andy Pettitte (0-0, 1.50) and the Astros. Houston is 4-1 on the season, but they've scored even fewer runs than the Mets, 19, against 15 allowed. We'll see if the Mets can keep up their two-inning offensive resurgence against that pitching. ¶ joe | 9:52 PM |
