Sunday, June 05, 2005
Mets 5, Giants 1
Giants 6, Mets 3
Mets 12, Giants 1
On Saturday, Tom Glavine continued his slow climb toward adequacy with another good outing. He lasted seven and two-thirds innings and only allowed one run on nine hits. He only struck out three batters, but he didn't walk anyone. And that has been the key to his resurgence. Over his last six starts, he's walked two or fewer batters each time and has an ERA of 2.82. In his first six starts he had an ERA of 7.04 and walked at least three batters every time out, culminating with six walks in his sixth start. Thank goodness the number of the beast was recently revised to 616 or all of these sixes would have me concerned about the source of Glavine's newfound powers. Glavine's still not striking anyone out, having fanned just 34 in 70 innings this season, so it's hard to predict dominance for him from this point forward. But if he can continue to limit the free passes, he can be a useful piece of the Mets' rotation.
The offense had a solid day as well, putting five runs on the board on twelve hits and four walks. Mike Cameron's sixth home run of the season got the scoring started in the first. Mike Piazza had a terrific day with three singles in five at bats. And David Wright had a pair of hits. Jose Reyes's eleventh double of the season was the Mets' only other extra-base hit.
On Sunday afternoon, neither the pitching, the defense nor the offense was quite as effective. Kazuhisa Ishii took the mound and though he only walked two batters in six and one-third innings and could have gotten more help from his defense than he did, he still had a pretty unimpressive start. He gave up six runs, five of which were earned, on ten hits. And he only struck out one batter. Wright's throwing error and Carlos Beltran's inability to run at full speed contributed to his difficulty, but it's not like he was dominating the Giants' hitters.
Ishii did have a good day with the bat, though, as he had two singles and drove in the Mets' first run. They didn't score again until the bottom of the ninth, when Doug Mientkiewicz led off with a double which was followed by singles from Victor Diaz and Chris Woodward. Reyes grounded into a fiedler's choice to drive a run home, but that was all the Mets could muster.
So the Mets had to win the second game of Sunday's doubleheader to avoid dropping into last place in the National League East, a full two games behind the division-leading Washington Flukes. They took a novel approach toward achieving the nearly inevitable doubleheader split. They scored a ton of runs.
Cliff Floyd was the star of the show, as he launched two long home runs to give him fourteen on the year. But Wright and Diaz both went deep as well, for the ninth and fifth times, respectively. It wasn't exactly a barrage of hits, as the Mets only needed thirteen hits to score twelve runs, and they drew a modest four walks. But extra bases were the order of the day, as in addition to the four long balls, the Mets got doubles from Reyes and the starting pitcher. Reyes also stole his fifteenth base of the year while Wright swiped his sixth. Floyd, Wright and Reyes each had three hits.
The beneficiary of all of this offense was Kris Benson, who had another good start. He did it in a pretty unusual way, though. He lasted seven innings and gave up just one run on three hits. And he didn't walk anyone. And he somehow pulled all of this off without striking out a single batter. So Mets starters went thirteen and one-third innigns on Sunday and struck out a grand total of one batter. Weird things can happen over the course of just seven innings, and I suppose shutting down an offense without a single K is an example. Hopefully Benson doesn't try to repeat this trick against a less inept group of bats.
The third-place Mets (30-27) take a day off before starting a series against what's left of the Houston Astros (21-34). The league's worst offense will have to contend with Pedro Martinez (6-1, 2.62), which should be fun to watch. But a duel of pitchers may be on tap, as the Astros will send out Roy Oswalt (6-6, 3.06). ¶ joe | 11:11 PM |
Giants 6, Mets 3
Mets 12, Giants 1
On Saturday, Tom Glavine continued his slow climb toward adequacy with another good outing. He lasted seven and two-thirds innings and only allowed one run on nine hits. He only struck out three batters, but he didn't walk anyone. And that has been the key to his resurgence. Over his last six starts, he's walked two or fewer batters each time and has an ERA of 2.82. In his first six starts he had an ERA of 7.04 and walked at least three batters every time out, culminating with six walks in his sixth start. Thank goodness the number of the beast was recently revised to 616 or all of these sixes would have me concerned about the source of Glavine's newfound powers. Glavine's still not striking anyone out, having fanned just 34 in 70 innings this season, so it's hard to predict dominance for him from this point forward. But if he can continue to limit the free passes, he can be a useful piece of the Mets' rotation.
The offense had a solid day as well, putting five runs on the board on twelve hits and four walks. Mike Cameron's sixth home run of the season got the scoring started in the first. Mike Piazza had a terrific day with three singles in five at bats. And David Wright had a pair of hits. Jose Reyes's eleventh double of the season was the Mets' only other extra-base hit.
On Sunday afternoon, neither the pitching, the defense nor the offense was quite as effective. Kazuhisa Ishii took the mound and though he only walked two batters in six and one-third innings and could have gotten more help from his defense than he did, he still had a pretty unimpressive start. He gave up six runs, five of which were earned, on ten hits. And he only struck out one batter. Wright's throwing error and Carlos Beltran's inability to run at full speed contributed to his difficulty, but it's not like he was dominating the Giants' hitters.
Ishii did have a good day with the bat, though, as he had two singles and drove in the Mets' first run. They didn't score again until the bottom of the ninth, when Doug Mientkiewicz led off with a double which was followed by singles from Victor Diaz and Chris Woodward. Reyes grounded into a fiedler's choice to drive a run home, but that was all the Mets could muster.
So the Mets had to win the second game of Sunday's doubleheader to avoid dropping into last place in the National League East, a full two games behind the division-leading Washington Flukes. They took a novel approach toward achieving the nearly inevitable doubleheader split. They scored a ton of runs.
Cliff Floyd was the star of the show, as he launched two long home runs to give him fourteen on the year. But Wright and Diaz both went deep as well, for the ninth and fifth times, respectively. It wasn't exactly a barrage of hits, as the Mets only needed thirteen hits to score twelve runs, and they drew a modest four walks. But extra bases were the order of the day, as in addition to the four long balls, the Mets got doubles from Reyes and the starting pitcher. Reyes also stole his fifteenth base of the year while Wright swiped his sixth. Floyd, Wright and Reyes each had three hits.
The beneficiary of all of this offense was Kris Benson, who had another good start. He did it in a pretty unusual way, though. He lasted seven innings and gave up just one run on three hits. And he didn't walk anyone. And he somehow pulled all of this off without striking out a single batter. So Mets starters went thirteen and one-third innigns on Sunday and struck out a grand total of one batter. Weird things can happen over the course of just seven innings, and I suppose shutting down an offense without a single K is an example. Hopefully Benson doesn't try to repeat this trick against a less inept group of bats.
The third-place Mets (30-27) take a day off before starting a series against what's left of the Houston Astros (21-34). The league's worst offense will have to contend with Pedro Martinez (6-1, 2.62), which should be fun to watch. But a duel of pitchers may be on tap, as the Astros will send out Roy Oswalt (6-6, 3.06). ¶ joe | 11:11 PM |
