Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Mets 5, Braves 4
Okay, now I"m confused. Which one is real? The good Aaron Heilman--let's call him "Home Aaron"--showed up again to baffle the Braves for seven innings. Home Aaron again looked like an entirely different pitcher than that incompetent Road Aaron fellow, allowing just one run on two hits and a walk while striking out five. The bullpen and the defense made things a little scary before it was over, but in the end the Mets held on to get Home Aaron his second win in as many tries.
He's now pitched sixteen innings on the year and allowed just one run, three hits and five walks and has struck out twelve. Road Aaron, meanwhile, has pitched only nine innings in two starts and has given up twelve runs on nineteen hits, though he has struck out six as compared to just one walk. Road Aaron has had some trouble with the longball, though, giving up three home runs, which is three more than Home Aaron has allowed. In his two starts, Home Aaron has shown a lot more of the first round-caliber player the Mets thought they had drafted than Aaron Heilman ever had previously in his major league career. Only once prior to this year had he ever pitched as many as seven innings in a game and allowed fewer than two runs. And now he's done it twice in two weeks. It might be time to start considering the possibility of thinking about Home Aaron as maybe a legitimate major league starter. Now if he could just have a word with that Road Aaron character.
While Heilman was busy confusing the Braves' hitters and me, the Mets' offense lay dormant for five innings, going scoreless with just three hits. But they exploded in the sixth, with Mike Piazza driving in the first run with the second of his two doubles on the night. Cliff Floyd then smacked his fifth home run of the year to drive in Piazza. And after Chris Woodward--inexplicably batting sixth--singled, David Wright went deep as well, his fourth of the season. Wright did have a pretty awful night defensively, though, which contributed to some tense moments late in the game.
He booted one grounder in the sixth which luckily deflected right to Jose Reyes, possessor of the cannon arm to throw out Marcus Giles at first. Then after Roberto Hernandez had tightened things up a bit by allowing a two-run homer to Pete Orr in the eighth, Braden Looper came in to pitch the ninth. He got into trouble on his own pretty much right away, giving up a pair of singles with one out. Then Wright bobbled a potential double play grounder and was lucky to get one out at second. Then he completely botched the next play, failing to even get a throw off after fielder a grounder and thus allowing a run to score. This was his only official error of the game. But Looper got Julio Franco to ground out to second, giving the Mets the win. This wasn't the first time this season that Wright has looked shaky defensively and he has three errors on the year. Tentativeness has seemed to be his problem most of the time and I do believe that it's correctable, but he really needs to be more consistent with the glove.
Tomorrow's game will be less of a surprise if someone turns in a great pitching performance, as Pedro Martinez (2-0, 2.17) will square off again with John Smoltz (0-3, 4.30). Their last matchup produced a terrific game in which Smoltz struck out fifteen but still got outpitched by Pedro, who went the distance and allowed just one run. Tomorrow's weather will likely be more conducive to hitting than tonight's was, but it should still be quite a game. ¶ joe | 12:03 AM |
Okay, now I"m confused. Which one is real? The good Aaron Heilman--let's call him "Home Aaron"--showed up again to baffle the Braves for seven innings. Home Aaron again looked like an entirely different pitcher than that incompetent Road Aaron fellow, allowing just one run on two hits and a walk while striking out five. The bullpen and the defense made things a little scary before it was over, but in the end the Mets held on to get Home Aaron his second win in as many tries.
He's now pitched sixteen innings on the year and allowed just one run, three hits and five walks and has struck out twelve. Road Aaron, meanwhile, has pitched only nine innings in two starts and has given up twelve runs on nineteen hits, though he has struck out six as compared to just one walk. Road Aaron has had some trouble with the longball, though, giving up three home runs, which is three more than Home Aaron has allowed. In his two starts, Home Aaron has shown a lot more of the first round-caliber player the Mets thought they had drafted than Aaron Heilman ever had previously in his major league career. Only once prior to this year had he ever pitched as many as seven innings in a game and allowed fewer than two runs. And now he's done it twice in two weeks. It might be time to start considering the possibility of thinking about Home Aaron as maybe a legitimate major league starter. Now if he could just have a word with that Road Aaron character.
While Heilman was busy confusing the Braves' hitters and me, the Mets' offense lay dormant for five innings, going scoreless with just three hits. But they exploded in the sixth, with Mike Piazza driving in the first run with the second of his two doubles on the night. Cliff Floyd then smacked his fifth home run of the year to drive in Piazza. And after Chris Woodward--inexplicably batting sixth--singled, David Wright went deep as well, his fourth of the season. Wright did have a pretty awful night defensively, though, which contributed to some tense moments late in the game.
He booted one grounder in the sixth which luckily deflected right to Jose Reyes, possessor of the cannon arm to throw out Marcus Giles at first. Then after Roberto Hernandez had tightened things up a bit by allowing a two-run homer to Pete Orr in the eighth, Braden Looper came in to pitch the ninth. He got into trouble on his own pretty much right away, giving up a pair of singles with one out. Then Wright bobbled a potential double play grounder and was lucky to get one out at second. Then he completely botched the next play, failing to even get a throw off after fielder a grounder and thus allowing a run to score. This was his only official error of the game. But Looper got Julio Franco to ground out to second, giving the Mets the win. This wasn't the first time this season that Wright has looked shaky defensively and he has three errors on the year. Tentativeness has seemed to be his problem most of the time and I do believe that it's correctable, but he really needs to be more consistent with the glove.
Tomorrow's game will be less of a surprise if someone turns in a great pitching performance, as Pedro Martinez (2-0, 2.17) will square off again with John Smoltz (0-3, 4.30). Their last matchup produced a terrific game in which Smoltz struck out fifteen but still got outpitched by Pedro, who went the distance and allowed just one run. Tomorrow's weather will likely be more conducive to hitting than tonight's was, but it should still be quite a game. ¶ joe | 12:03 AM |
