Friday, April 15, 2005
Mets 4, Marlins 0
"Heilman strikes out the side in the eighth inning."
That sentence, uttered by Ted Robinson at around 9:15 EDT, is best not to take all at once. Breaking it down into smaller pieces makes it much easier to digest. "Heilman strikes out..." Now that's not too strange. Aaron Heilman had struck out 76 major league hitters in his career prior to Friday night. It's bound to happen a time or two when he takes the mound. He's not Danny Kolb out there. "...strikes out the side..." Well, that's unusual, but probably not unprecedented. He could have just gotten lucky with the bottom of the order, I suppose. It's not like the Marlins' lineup is the deepest in the league. "...in the eighth inning." And here's where things get a little tricky. Aaron Heilman was effective into the eighth inning? Aaron Heilman pitched into the eighth inning? Has he ever done that before? (No, he hasn't.) Aaron Heilman faced three batters in the eighth inning and struck them all out. Wow.
Looking at that eighth inning in isolation leaves one impressed and surprised, but doesn't really prepare one for the further shock of looking at the other eight innings of the game. The ones where Heilman didn't give up a run. I know what you're thinking, and no, he didn't enter the game in relief. First-round flop Aaron Heilman pitched a complete game shutout against the Marlins. Take as much time as you like to wrap your head around that one. This is text. You're allowed to read it at your own pace.
Got it? Okay. It's all true. He struck out seven. He walked three. He hit one. He needed 107 pitches. He gave up one hit. Seriously. Aaron Heilman outpitched Josh Beckett. His pitches had some velocity and some nice location and some serious movement. And it was about 40 degrees out and the wind may have been blowing in. But it was still a terrific performance, the best by a Met this year and by Heilman ever. Last week he was so bad it wouldn't have been surprising if the Mets called up somebody else to pitch in this game. Ths week he dominated Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado and the Florida Marlins. The Marlins reached base five times and three of those were Luis Castillo. Heilman has never, even in the high minors, shown himself capable of pitching like this on a regular basis. But then, he's never pitched like this even once in the majors. Like Kazushisa Ishii's start a couple days back, this was not enough to start relaxing about the back end of the rotation. But watching Heilman pitch, it was enough to let one imagine that the Mets might actually have a young pitcher capable of retiring major league hitters right now. If Heilman turns a corner and becomes a productive major leaguer at this point, it will be downright shocking. But then, so was what he did on this cool Friday night in Flushing.
On the other side of the ball, Mike Piazza went Mark Twain on the rumors of his demise, smacking a pair of doubles and driving in three runs. Jose Reyes also doubled. And Victor "needs to work on his discipline" Diaz drew three more walks to put his OBP at a robust .423. The Mets got some help from three Florida errors, but thanks to Heilman, one run was all they ever needed. His one-hitter was one of the more improbable pitching performances in Mets history and even if he comes back and gives up three home runs in his next start, he was excellent for one night.
Tomorrow's pitching matchup figures to be quite entertaining as well, even if it's for different reasons. Pedro Martinez (1-0, 2.40) tries to keep on blowing people away while Al Leiter (0-1, 3.38) makes his return to Shea in a uniform even uglier than the the Mets' black duds. If Jose Reyes is ever going to draw a walk, this may be the day. ¶ joe | 11:33 PM |
"Heilman strikes out the side in the eighth inning."
That sentence, uttered by Ted Robinson at around 9:15 EDT, is best not to take all at once. Breaking it down into smaller pieces makes it much easier to digest. "Heilman strikes out..." Now that's not too strange. Aaron Heilman had struck out 76 major league hitters in his career prior to Friday night. It's bound to happen a time or two when he takes the mound. He's not Danny Kolb out there. "...strikes out the side..." Well, that's unusual, but probably not unprecedented. He could have just gotten lucky with the bottom of the order, I suppose. It's not like the Marlins' lineup is the deepest in the league. "...in the eighth inning." And here's where things get a little tricky. Aaron Heilman was effective into the eighth inning? Aaron Heilman pitched into the eighth inning? Has he ever done that before? (No, he hasn't.) Aaron Heilman faced three batters in the eighth inning and struck them all out. Wow.
Looking at that eighth inning in isolation leaves one impressed and surprised, but doesn't really prepare one for the further shock of looking at the other eight innings of the game. The ones where Heilman didn't give up a run. I know what you're thinking, and no, he didn't enter the game in relief. First-round flop Aaron Heilman pitched a complete game shutout against the Marlins. Take as much time as you like to wrap your head around that one. This is text. You're allowed to read it at your own pace.
Got it? Okay. It's all true. He struck out seven. He walked three. He hit one. He needed 107 pitches. He gave up one hit. Seriously. Aaron Heilman outpitched Josh Beckett. His pitches had some velocity and some nice location and some serious movement. And it was about 40 degrees out and the wind may have been blowing in. But it was still a terrific performance, the best by a Met this year and by Heilman ever. Last week he was so bad it wouldn't have been surprising if the Mets called up somebody else to pitch in this game. Ths week he dominated Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado and the Florida Marlins. The Marlins reached base five times and three of those were Luis Castillo. Heilman has never, even in the high minors, shown himself capable of pitching like this on a regular basis. But then, he's never pitched like this even once in the majors. Like Kazushisa Ishii's start a couple days back, this was not enough to start relaxing about the back end of the rotation. But watching Heilman pitch, it was enough to let one imagine that the Mets might actually have a young pitcher capable of retiring major league hitters right now. If Heilman turns a corner and becomes a productive major leaguer at this point, it will be downright shocking. But then, so was what he did on this cool Friday night in Flushing.
On the other side of the ball, Mike Piazza went Mark Twain on the rumors of his demise, smacking a pair of doubles and driving in three runs. Jose Reyes also doubled. And Victor "needs to work on his discipline" Diaz drew three more walks to put his OBP at a robust .423. The Mets got some help from three Florida errors, but thanks to Heilman, one run was all they ever needed. His one-hitter was one of the more improbable pitching performances in Mets history and even if he comes back and gives up three home runs in his next start, he was excellent for one night.
Tomorrow's pitching matchup figures to be quite entertaining as well, even if it's for different reasons. Pedro Martinez (1-0, 2.40) tries to keep on blowing people away while Al Leiter (0-1, 3.38) makes his return to Shea in a uniform even uglier than the the Mets' black duds. If Jose Reyes is ever going to draw a walk, this may be the day. ¶ joe | 11:33 PM |
