Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Mets 1, Cubs 0 (10)
While the rest of the Mets' starting rotation seems to have taken the week off to plan an elaborate "Welcome Back" party for Pedro Martinez, the task of continuing to win games has fallen to John Maine. And he's responded excellently. Something resembling the old Mark Prior showed up, but it wasn't enough to overcome Maine.
While Maine did not earn the win, he was clearly the star of the game. After pitching a complete game shutout in his last start, he tossed seven more scoreless innings. He gave up just three hits and three walks and he struck out seven, including three in his final inning of work. The Mets will have to make some decisions about their starting rotation soon, but dropping Maine is not an option.
It took the Mets' offense a while to provide some support for Maine, as Prior pitched five and two-thirds hitless innings before being removed. He did walk five, but the Mets didn't get their first hit until the seventh inning. And while they threatened with multiple base runners in the eighth and ninth innings, it wasn't until the tenth that they finally put a run on the board. With two outs, Carlos Beltran singled and went to third on Carlos Delgado's double. David Wright was of course intentionally walked, but Jose Valentin came through with his second single of the game to end it.
The Mets (60-41) will now take a day off to try to cleanse themselves of the embarrassment of this series. Then it's time to finally finish off the Braves (48-52). The former division champs are currently eleven and a half games behind the Mets and four and a half games out of the NL Wild Card. The Mets will go to Atlanta this weekend to crush their spirit for good over the course of three games. Pedro (7-4, 3.45) will lead the way on Friday against Horacio Ramirez (5-3, 4.04). ¶ joe | 11:56 PM |
While the rest of the Mets' starting rotation seems to have taken the week off to plan an elaborate "Welcome Back" party for Pedro Martinez, the task of continuing to win games has fallen to John Maine. And he's responded excellently. Something resembling the old Mark Prior showed up, but it wasn't enough to overcome Maine.
While Maine did not earn the win, he was clearly the star of the game. After pitching a complete game shutout in his last start, he tossed seven more scoreless innings. He gave up just three hits and three walks and he struck out seven, including three in his final inning of work. The Mets will have to make some decisions about their starting rotation soon, but dropping Maine is not an option.
It took the Mets' offense a while to provide some support for Maine, as Prior pitched five and two-thirds hitless innings before being removed. He did walk five, but the Mets didn't get their first hit until the seventh inning. And while they threatened with multiple base runners in the eighth and ninth innings, it wasn't until the tenth that they finally put a run on the board. With two outs, Carlos Beltran singled and went to third on Carlos Delgado's double. David Wright was of course intentionally walked, but Jose Valentin came through with his second single of the game to end it.
The Mets (60-41) will now take a day off to try to cleanse themselves of the embarrassment of this series. Then it's time to finally finish off the Braves (48-52). The former division champs are currently eleven and a half games behind the Mets and four and a half games out of the NL Wild Card. The Mets will go to Atlanta this weekend to crush their spirit for good over the course of three games. Pedro (7-4, 3.45) will lead the way on Friday against Horacio Ramirez (5-3, 4.04). ¶ joe | 11:56 PM |
