Saturday, August 27, 2005
Mets 3, D'Backs 1
Mets 1, Giants 0
I don't mean to alarm you, but the Mets are in contention for more than just the Wild Card right now. Though this five game winning streak has left them just a game and a half behind the second-place Phillies, it's also brought them to within four games of the Braves. In fact, the Braves, who have never finished anywhere but first in the National League East, don't lead anyone by more than five games. With a little more than a month left to play, they hardly have another division title locked up.
The Mets got more good pitching in these two games and their winning streak hasn't included a game in which their starter allowed more than two runs. On Thursday, it was Pedro Martinez with another excellent performance. Thought he wasn't at his sharpest in terms of "stuff", he took another no-hitter into the sixth inning, continuing his quest to rid the Mets of The Curse Of Nolan Ryan. He gave up a couple of singles with one out in the sixth, but was able to escape the inning unscored upon. He left after the sixth having thrown exactly one hundred pitches, allowing four walks and striking out six.
The bullpen made things interesting in what was then a two-run game as Aaron Heilman started the seventh by allowing a triple and hitting a batter. Roberto Hernandez was able to bail out Heilman in the seventh before doing his own damage in the eighth by allowing a leadoff home run to Chad Tracy. But that was the only hit he allowed, getting through two innings with just one run, one walk and two strikeouts. Braden Looper pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth after the Mets added an insurance run in the top half.
The Mets' offense settled down considerably after the previous two games, managing just five hits and three walks. Victor Diaz homered for the Mets for the ninth time this season. Cliff Floyd had a pair of hits including a double. David Wright had a mediocre game by his standards, with just a single, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. Mike Jacobs again nearly matched Wright's effort, as he had a single and a walk of his own.
But if that seemed like a bad offensive night for the Mets for the Mets, Friday was even worse. Giants starter Kevin Correia completely shut the Mets down. Of course, these days, "completely shutting the Mets down" means stopping everyone but Wright, who has developed into a veritable force of nature over the last month. He had two hits in the game, including his twenty-first home run of the season, which accounted for the only run. Wright is now hitting .400/.485/.694 in the month of August. Since the start of the month, he has raised his season batting average twenty points, his OBP twenty-two and his SLG thirty-seven to their current levels of .316/.396/.538. Alongside a lot of good pitching, Wright has absolutely carried the Mets back into the playoff race. The next best OPS on the team in August among players with more than twenty at bats is Diaz's .988, which is more than 190 points shy of Wright's. The Met third baseman doesn't have the kind of season numbers to put him in the NL MVP discussion, but if his September is anything like his August and the Mets stay in the playoff race until the end, he's going to wind up on some ballots and rightly so.
Of course, Wright's home run wouldn't have been enough if the Mets hadn't gotten more stellar pitching. This time it was Steve Trachsel, in his first start of the season, shutting down the Giants. The Mets' new sixth starter lasted eight innings and gave up just two hits and two walks. Like Pedro the night before, he didn't give up his first hit until the sixth inning. Things got a little scary in the eighth, when Trachsel was approaching one hundred pitches and gave up a leadoff single to Edgardo Alfonzo. A sacrifice and a groundout got Fonzie to third and then Trachsel walked a batter. But he got Randy Winn to fly out to end the threat. Trachsel struck out six batters along the way in a start that has to make Victor Zambrano nervous about his job security.
Looper kept up the tension in the ninth by allowing a leadoff double to Omar Vizquel. But three straight groundouts followed and Looper escaped with his twenty-seventh save. Games that the Mets likely would have blown earlier in the season seem to be going their way these days, and this was probably the best example. Sure the Mets are playing well right now, but it takes a little luck every now and then, too.
This afternoon's game features a couple of veteran pitchers who've seen better days. Tom Glavine goes for the Mets (10-10, 4.10) having pitched surprisingly well in four of his last five starts. Jason Schmidt (10-6, 4.41) goes for the Giants, unable to say the same. ¶ joe | 3:39 PM |
Mets 1, Giants 0
I don't mean to alarm you, but the Mets are in contention for more than just the Wild Card right now. Though this five game winning streak has left them just a game and a half behind the second-place Phillies, it's also brought them to within four games of the Braves. In fact, the Braves, who have never finished anywhere but first in the National League East, don't lead anyone by more than five games. With a little more than a month left to play, they hardly have another division title locked up.
The Mets got more good pitching in these two games and their winning streak hasn't included a game in which their starter allowed more than two runs. On Thursday, it was Pedro Martinez with another excellent performance. Thought he wasn't at his sharpest in terms of "stuff", he took another no-hitter into the sixth inning, continuing his quest to rid the Mets of The Curse Of Nolan Ryan. He gave up a couple of singles with one out in the sixth, but was able to escape the inning unscored upon. He left after the sixth having thrown exactly one hundred pitches, allowing four walks and striking out six.
The bullpen made things interesting in what was then a two-run game as Aaron Heilman started the seventh by allowing a triple and hitting a batter. Roberto Hernandez was able to bail out Heilman in the seventh before doing his own damage in the eighth by allowing a leadoff home run to Chad Tracy. But that was the only hit he allowed, getting through two innings with just one run, one walk and two strikeouts. Braden Looper pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth after the Mets added an insurance run in the top half.
The Mets' offense settled down considerably after the previous two games, managing just five hits and three walks. Victor Diaz homered for the Mets for the ninth time this season. Cliff Floyd had a pair of hits including a double. David Wright had a mediocre game by his standards, with just a single, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. Mike Jacobs again nearly matched Wright's effort, as he had a single and a walk of his own.
But if that seemed like a bad offensive night for the Mets for the Mets, Friday was even worse. Giants starter Kevin Correia completely shut the Mets down. Of course, these days, "completely shutting the Mets down" means stopping everyone but Wright, who has developed into a veritable force of nature over the last month. He had two hits in the game, including his twenty-first home run of the season, which accounted for the only run. Wright is now hitting .400/.485/.694 in the month of August. Since the start of the month, he has raised his season batting average twenty points, his OBP twenty-two and his SLG thirty-seven to their current levels of .316/.396/.538. Alongside a lot of good pitching, Wright has absolutely carried the Mets back into the playoff race. The next best OPS on the team in August among players with more than twenty at bats is Diaz's .988, which is more than 190 points shy of Wright's. The Met third baseman doesn't have the kind of season numbers to put him in the NL MVP discussion, but if his September is anything like his August and the Mets stay in the playoff race until the end, he's going to wind up on some ballots and rightly so.
Of course, Wright's home run wouldn't have been enough if the Mets hadn't gotten more stellar pitching. This time it was Steve Trachsel, in his first start of the season, shutting down the Giants. The Mets' new sixth starter lasted eight innings and gave up just two hits and two walks. Like Pedro the night before, he didn't give up his first hit until the sixth inning. Things got a little scary in the eighth, when Trachsel was approaching one hundred pitches and gave up a leadoff single to Edgardo Alfonzo. A sacrifice and a groundout got Fonzie to third and then Trachsel walked a batter. But he got Randy Winn to fly out to end the threat. Trachsel struck out six batters along the way in a start that has to make Victor Zambrano nervous about his job security.
Looper kept up the tension in the ninth by allowing a leadoff double to Omar Vizquel. But three straight groundouts followed and Looper escaped with his twenty-seventh save. Games that the Mets likely would have blown earlier in the season seem to be going their way these days, and this was probably the best example. Sure the Mets are playing well right now, but it takes a little luck every now and then, too.
This afternoon's game features a couple of veteran pitchers who've seen better days. Tom Glavine goes for the Mets (10-10, 4.10) having pitched surprisingly well in four of his last five starts. Jason Schmidt (10-6, 4.41) goes for the Giants, unable to say the same. ¶ joe | 3:39 PM |
