Monday, May 01, 2006
Mets 2, Nationals 1
Prior to tonight, Victor Zambrano's least disastrous start of the season was against the Nationals. On April 13th, he held the mediocre Washington offense to three runs over five innings. Given another shot at them tonight, he had a legitimately good game. He lasted six innings, making this his longest start of the year, and he held them to just one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out four.
Unfortunately, the Mets' offense didn't have any better luck against Nationals punching bag Ramon Ortiz. It wasn't until the sixth inning that they finally broke through. As you might imagine, it was Carlos Delgado who put them on the board. Delgado's tenth home run of the season was a solo shot over the left field wall.
The Met offense continued to struggle, but the bullpen held the Nats in check as well. Pedro Feliciano pitched a scoreless seventh, allowing just one walk and striking out one. Duaner Sanchez added his standard perfect inning in the eighth with one strikeout. And Billy Wagner fanned the first two batters he faced before settling for a ground ball to end the ninth.
Four Mets, Xavier Nady, Jose Reyes, Paul Lo Duca and Kazuo Matsui, hit a double in this game. But it wasn't an extra base hit that got the Mets the win. With one out in the ninth, Julio Franco started things off with a walk. Then came Reyes, who may have cost the Mets a run earlier when thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple. He grounded a single through the left side, advancing pinch runner Endy Chavez to second. The stage was set for the clutch hitting that made Lo Duca famous. So of course he hit an easy double play ball back to the pitcher. But that pitcher, Gary Majewski, threw the ball into center field and Chavez rushed home for the win. Apparently Lo Duca is so clutch that no matter how easy an out he hands the opposition, runs will invariably score. This peculiar brand of magic will serve the Mets well if he can keep it up.
Tomorrow's game provides an unspectacular pitching matchup of a different sort. Rookie Michael O'Connor (0-1, 0.00...three unearned runs explain that), who led the Carolina League (that's high A-ball) in innings pitched last year, gets the start for Washington. And the Mets will send out John Maine (1-3, 2.63 in Norfolk) to make his first start of the season and try to salvage the Kris Benson trade. ¶ joe | 10:33 PM |
Prior to tonight, Victor Zambrano's least disastrous start of the season was against the Nationals. On April 13th, he held the mediocre Washington offense to three runs over five innings. Given another shot at them tonight, he had a legitimately good game. He lasted six innings, making this his longest start of the year, and he held them to just one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out four.
Unfortunately, the Mets' offense didn't have any better luck against Nationals punching bag Ramon Ortiz. It wasn't until the sixth inning that they finally broke through. As you might imagine, it was Carlos Delgado who put them on the board. Delgado's tenth home run of the season was a solo shot over the left field wall.
The Met offense continued to struggle, but the bullpen held the Nats in check as well. Pedro Feliciano pitched a scoreless seventh, allowing just one walk and striking out one. Duaner Sanchez added his standard perfect inning in the eighth with one strikeout. And Billy Wagner fanned the first two batters he faced before settling for a ground ball to end the ninth.
Four Mets, Xavier Nady, Jose Reyes, Paul Lo Duca and Kazuo Matsui, hit a double in this game. But it wasn't an extra base hit that got the Mets the win. With one out in the ninth, Julio Franco started things off with a walk. Then came Reyes, who may have cost the Mets a run earlier when thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple. He grounded a single through the left side, advancing pinch runner Endy Chavez to second. The stage was set for the clutch hitting that made Lo Duca famous. So of course he hit an easy double play ball back to the pitcher. But that pitcher, Gary Majewski, threw the ball into center field and Chavez rushed home for the win. Apparently Lo Duca is so clutch that no matter how easy an out he hands the opposition, runs will invariably score. This peculiar brand of magic will serve the Mets well if he can keep it up.
Tomorrow's game provides an unspectacular pitching matchup of a different sort. Rookie Michael O'Connor (0-1, 0.00...three unearned runs explain that), who led the Carolina League (that's high A-ball) in innings pitched last year, gets the start for Washington. And the Mets will send out John Maine (1-3, 2.63 in Norfolk) to make his first start of the season and try to salvage the Kris Benson trade. ¶ joe | 10:33 PM |
