Athletics 5, Mets 0
Athletics 3, Mets 2
Mets 9, Athletics 6

This isn't rocket science, people. Scoring runs is quite often the difference between winning and losing in the game of baseball. The Mets tried to go with a different approach in the first two games of this series, and it worked out about as well as you'd expect. The starting pitching was at least solid and still they lost both games. It wasn't until the long-absent bats showed up that they managed to slink away from Oakland with a win.

They managed a grand total of four hits on Tuesday night, and half of those were from the man manger Willie Randolph designated for the job of hitting under the wacky rules of American League baseball, Marlon Anderson. Mike Piazza also had a hit, and Carlos Beltran had the Mets' only extra base hit of the night, a double in the ninth inning. Only once did the Mets have more than one base runner in the same inning. In the eighth, they got a pair of singles with no one out and actually loaded the bases with just one out thanks to their only walk of the game. But Victor Diaz grounded into a double play, and that was that. Shut out by Joe Blanton and friends.

Tom Glavine had something of a rough night on the mound, allowing ten hits in six innings. But he did limit the damage to just four runs, three earned, which would count as "keeping his team in the game" if his team weren't the June 2005 version of the New York Mets. He only struck out two, but he continued to limit the walks, as he only allowed two of those. Danny Graves pitched a scoreless inning of relief to get his ERA under seven, while Mike DeJean continued his surge in the other direction, allowing a run in the eighth on two hits.

Wednesday was a slightly better effort, in terms of both pitching and hitting. But still, the Mets' impotent bats let a winnable game get away with the aid of some curious late-inning managing. The Mets added a fifth hit and second walk to their offensive assault, and that, along with consecutive seventh-inning doubles by David Wright and Doug Mientkiewicz and a couple of productive outs, was enough to put a pair of runs on the board. This time no Met had more than one hit, but no one grouded into a double play either.

Meanwhile, Victor Zambrano had another solid outing, despite a Bensonesque strikeout rate of just one in seven and two-thirds innings. But he only walked two batters for the second straight start and that, along with five hits, added up to just two runs. I don't think we can call Zambrano "fixed" just yet, but getting his ERA down to 4.06 makes it hard to agitate for his demotion to the bullpen or the minors.

So the game was tied when Zambrano was relieved with two out and two on in the bottom of the eighth. And Randolph used his only lefty, Royce Ring, who went right ahead and struck out the resurgent Eric Chavez. But in the ninth, things got interesting. Randolph has been pretty good about using Braden Looper, presumably the best reliever the Mets have, in the ninth inning of tie games at home. But on the road, it's possible even in extra innings that a situation might arise where Looper could earn a save. So rather than use his best man in the tightest spot, he goes with lesser relievers. This time that meant leaving Ring in for one more batter, who he walked, and bringing in Roberto Hernandez to clean that up. He got a couple of outs via a sac bunt and a strikeout, but in the end even he could not fell the mighty Marco Scutaro, who drove a ball to the gap to end the game. Maybe Looper couldn't have tamed Scutaro's powerful bat either, but it's hard to justify losing a game in the ninth with your best reliever sitting in the bullpen.

On Thursday the Mets switched over to the time-tested approach of scoring a ton of runs and this worked out a whole lot better. Both Piazza and Beltran broke significant home run droughts and a reconfigured Mets lineup scored nine runs on nine hits and six walks. David Wright batted higher than fifth for the first time all season, looking perfectly natural in the second slot. He only managed one RBI single in five at bats, but obviously this new sane approach to lineup construction benefited the whole team. Another new twist was the debut of Brian Daubach at first base. He drew three walks and scored two runs out of the sixth spot. DH Piazza and catcher Ramon Castro were the only Mets with two hits, but Diaz also reached base twice via the base on balls.

It was Kris Benson, the K-less wonder, who took advantage of all of this offense to earn his fifth win of the season. He only lasted six innings and once again didn't strike anybody out. But seven hits and two walks added up to just three runs despite two home runs and that was enough for this uncharacteristically potent Mets offense. Heath Bell pitched a quick seventh inning, getting three outs on just nine pitches with a six-run lead. But The New Suck Danny Graves followed him, and quickly made a game of it. He gave up three runs on four hits to put a blowout back in jeopardy in a hurry and raise his ERA all the way back to 7.97. Luckily a three-run ninth inning lead is tight enough for Looper to get in the game and he preserved the lead with just a walk allowed in the ninth. Looper's line of just eleven strikeouts and seven walks in twenty-four and one-third innings is pretty unimpressive, but you can't really argue with his 2.96 ERA or his thirteen saves in fifteen tries. This doesn't look like the same Looper who was so good early last year, but he's at least getting the job done.

The Mets (33-33) continue their tour of the bottom half of the AL West this weekend with a stop in Seattle. The Mariners (28-35) with send out Jamie Moyer (5-2, 4.90) in game one. The Mets counter with Kazuhisa Ishii (1-5, 5.48).  ¶ joe | 10:41 PM |