Sunday, August 21, 2005
Mets 9, Nationals 8 (10)
Nationals 7, Mets 4
This is not the sort of weekend you want to have when trying to establish yourself as a playoff contender. The Mets followed up narrowly avoiding a historic collapse on Saturday by getting pounded early on Sunday. Sure, they almost pulled of an enormous comeback of their own. But in the end, they once again fell short of completing a sweep of a team that just isn't very good.
Saturday's game should have been easy. The Mets had an eight-run lead and Pedro Martinez on the mound. This is the sort of situation where you wouldn't blame both teams for deciding to call it a night and just come back the next day after a good night's sleep. So how did this blowout turn into a baseball game? Well, if you follow the Mets at all, I'm sure you've got a pretty good idea what happened. Yes, Danny Graves happened.
Pedro lasted six inning and threw seventy-eight pitches. He gave up six hits and struck out four batters. And of course he didn't allow a run. Then Willie Randolph took him out. Now, this wasn't an entirely ridiculous decision. Giving Pedro some rest down the stretch is a fine idea. But putting Graves in a game is just never a good idea. This time he recorded one out and gave up five runs. Of course, only one of those was "earned" due to a throwing error by Jose Reyes, but it was still a typically terrible performance from Graves. He walked two batters and gave up two hits before being removed. His continued presence on the Mets' major league roster is absurd.
Dae-Sung Koo followed Graves and gave up a run on a hit while recording one out via the strikeout. Aaron Heilman followed and finally got the Mets out of the inning with an 8-6 lead. Braden Looper pitched the ninth and gave up the rest of the lead. He allowed two runs on three hits.
The Mets had built their lead largely on the strength of home runs by Ramon Castro, Jose Reyes and David Wright. Wright and Reyes each had two hits in the game and Reyes also drew a walk. Victor Diaz also had two hits including a double. But the Mets didn't score a run after the third inning until they got a bit of offense from some unlikely sources in the tenth. Gerald Williams drew a walk with one out and then Reyes drew his with two down. Then Chris Woodward finally got into a game started by Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson. It's hard to figure how those two get so many starts when Woodward has been a significantly better hitter all season, but he came through in the end anyway, driving in Williams to end the game.
Sunday's game was almost a mirror image of Saturday, as the Nationals got out to a big lead early. Kris Benson didn't even get out of the first inning as he allowed six runs on eight hits while recording just two outs. Juan Padilla followed him with four and one-third pretty good innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Padilla gave up the seventh run in the top of the fifth inning, and in the bottom half, the Mets started their comeback. With two runners on, Mike Jacobs came to the plate for the first time since being called to the majors on Wednesday. With Mike Piazza officially hitting the DL today, Jacobs could perhaps serve as a decent part-time catcher and first baseman for a while. But Randolph has been very reluctant to put him in a game thus far, waiting until the Mets were down by seven to give him his first major league action. So of course he took full advantage of his chance by smacking a three-run home run to right field. That may not prevent him from being sent down in favor of Mike DiFelice tomorrow, but I hope it does.
The Mets added another run in the ninth when the Washington defense fell apart. The Mets didn't have a hit in the inning, but got three runners on as a result of a walk and two errors on routine grounders. Jose Offerman scored as a result of the second error and Wright came up with two runners on and two outs. But he was unable to tie the game in heroic fashion, as he struck out to end it.
The Mets (63-60) have a rare Monday game against another beatable team in the Arizona Diamonbacks (58-67). This four-game series in Arizona will start with Tom Glavine (9-10, 4.26) taking the mound for the Mets. Brandon Webb (10-9, 3.89) goes for the Diamondbacks. ¶ joe | 10:55 PM |
Nationals 7, Mets 4
This is not the sort of weekend you want to have when trying to establish yourself as a playoff contender. The Mets followed up narrowly avoiding a historic collapse on Saturday by getting pounded early on Sunday. Sure, they almost pulled of an enormous comeback of their own. But in the end, they once again fell short of completing a sweep of a team that just isn't very good.
Saturday's game should have been easy. The Mets had an eight-run lead and Pedro Martinez on the mound. This is the sort of situation where you wouldn't blame both teams for deciding to call it a night and just come back the next day after a good night's sleep. So how did this blowout turn into a baseball game? Well, if you follow the Mets at all, I'm sure you've got a pretty good idea what happened. Yes, Danny Graves happened.
Pedro lasted six inning and threw seventy-eight pitches. He gave up six hits and struck out four batters. And of course he didn't allow a run. Then Willie Randolph took him out. Now, this wasn't an entirely ridiculous decision. Giving Pedro some rest down the stretch is a fine idea. But putting Graves in a game is just never a good idea. This time he recorded one out and gave up five runs. Of course, only one of those was "earned" due to a throwing error by Jose Reyes, but it was still a typically terrible performance from Graves. He walked two batters and gave up two hits before being removed. His continued presence on the Mets' major league roster is absurd.
Dae-Sung Koo followed Graves and gave up a run on a hit while recording one out via the strikeout. Aaron Heilman followed and finally got the Mets out of the inning with an 8-6 lead. Braden Looper pitched the ninth and gave up the rest of the lead. He allowed two runs on three hits.
The Mets had built their lead largely on the strength of home runs by Ramon Castro, Jose Reyes and David Wright. Wright and Reyes each had two hits in the game and Reyes also drew a walk. Victor Diaz also had two hits including a double. But the Mets didn't score a run after the third inning until they got a bit of offense from some unlikely sources in the tenth. Gerald Williams drew a walk with one out and then Reyes drew his with two down. Then Chris Woodward finally got into a game started by Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson. It's hard to figure how those two get so many starts when Woodward has been a significantly better hitter all season, but he came through in the end anyway, driving in Williams to end the game.
Sunday's game was almost a mirror image of Saturday, as the Nationals got out to a big lead early. Kris Benson didn't even get out of the first inning as he allowed six runs on eight hits while recording just two outs. Juan Padilla followed him with four and one-third pretty good innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Padilla gave up the seventh run in the top of the fifth inning, and in the bottom half, the Mets started their comeback. With two runners on, Mike Jacobs came to the plate for the first time since being called to the majors on Wednesday. With Mike Piazza officially hitting the DL today, Jacobs could perhaps serve as a decent part-time catcher and first baseman for a while. But Randolph has been very reluctant to put him in a game thus far, waiting until the Mets were down by seven to give him his first major league action. So of course he took full advantage of his chance by smacking a three-run home run to right field. That may not prevent him from being sent down in favor of Mike DiFelice tomorrow, but I hope it does.
The Mets added another run in the ninth when the Washington defense fell apart. The Mets didn't have a hit in the inning, but got three runners on as a result of a walk and two errors on routine grounders. Jose Offerman scored as a result of the second error and Wright came up with two runners on and two outs. But he was unable to tie the game in heroic fashion, as he struck out to end it.
The Mets (63-60) have a rare Monday game against another beatable team in the Arizona Diamonbacks (58-67). This four-game series in Arizona will start with Tom Glavine (9-10, 4.26) taking the mound for the Mets. Brandon Webb (10-9, 3.89) goes for the Diamondbacks. ¶ joe | 10:55 PM |
