Home » Mets 2009 Games » Mets Game 29: Win Over Pirates
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May 9, 2009 Mets 2009 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 29: Win Over Pirates

Mets 10 Pirates 1

Even without the managerial genius of their fearless leader, the Mets were able to paste a AAA club.

With the suspended gangsta Jerry Manuel enjoying cocktails with fellow playa Omar Minaya in a fly suite behind home plate, Sandy Alomar Sr. directed the Mets to hit, hit, hit, and hit some more. And hit they did, pummeling the Pirates for 17 hits and 10 runs. The biggest blow came off the bat of Carlos Beltran, who blasted his sixth homer of the season.

John Maine cruised through six easy innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk. The only run he gave up came on a solo homer by opposing pitcher Paul Maholm, who probably should have switched places with first baseman Adam LaRoche prior to the fourth inning. After all, Maholm looked better at the plate than LaRoche, and LaRoche couldn’t have done any worse tossing the “La Lob” his dad taught him.

Notes

Seven of the Mets’ eight starting position players collected at least two hits. The long-swinging Ramon Castro was the only starter to go hitless, though his short-stroking replacement Omir Santos came in late and drilled a double. Castro left the game with a tight quad. Uh oh, where’s Robinson Cancel?

The Buccos made it easy on Maine, swinging through his high fastballs all day. Maine’s command looked a little better compared to his last start, but I still believe he will struggle against a more disciplined lineup. Of course, it’s possible that such a lineup does not exist in the National League, in which case I should shut the hell up and enjoy watching Maine without passing judgment. Who cares if his shoulder blows out again? That’s what surgeons are for!

Brian Stokes finally made an appearance, his first since April 28th. Apparently he CAN be trusted with a nine-run lead.

The Mets have won six games in a row and seven of their last ten.

Next Game

The Mets finish destroying the collective confidence of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 PM. Livan Hernandez faces Ian Snell.

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Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten May 9, 2009 at 5:13 pm
    Gary Sheffield had a pretty good sliding catch of a fly ball. Guess he can still dial it up defensively. And, Maine only walked two guys.

    As I type this, Joe Blanton is down 4-1 to the Braves in the bottom of the sixth. Yay! If Javy Vasquez and the Braves’ pen can keep the lead, the Mets will be in first, won’t they?

  2. Steve May 9, 2009 at 6:33 pm
    Wow, the difference between watching the mets now and several days ago is stunning. I actually enjoy watching them when they don’t walk every third batter. I certainly hope the staff adjusts to the ballpark and continues to pound the strike zone. Now if only ollie were paying attention…
  3. isuzudude May 9, 2009 at 9:16 pm
    Steve, who is this ‘ollie’ person you speak of?

    By God, SK, you are right – the Mets are in first. Shhhhh, don’t let the cat out of the bag, though. First place in May hasn’t resulted in any first place finishes come October the last 2 years, so let’s keep this a secret and hopefully the Mets won’t catch wind and start getting too comfortable and cocky.

    A Mother’s Day sweep would be very nice. I think we can use all the wins we can get before the west coast trip and Red Sox series comes up in a week.

  4. murph May 10, 2009 at 1:59 am
    Maybe I missed it earlier.
    Can you explain what the “long swinging” Ramon Castro means?
  5. isuzudude May 10, 2009 at 10:15 am
    Murph: see http://www.metstoday.com/shea-what/2009/santos-for-castro-revisited/
  6. mic May 10, 2009 at 11:35 am
    1. As Joe stated Maholm was eating up lefties, so I expected to see Del sit and Tatis at first. So much for that.

    2. Just glad to see the wins. Lets not forget that 4 wins this week came against the Phils AND braves…so they were hardly against bottom feeders.

    3. As I have harped the RISP factor seems to be changing now that DW is rolling again. The fact CB has hit this well for this long is notable too.

    4. Tak has shored up the pen. Bobby P has been huge. In fact those two have negated the need for the mud against the wall technique of bullpen matching. In fac Tak is really good. His first MLB appearance was itself auspicious. Finally a middle reliever who STRANDS RUNNERS.

  7. joe May 10, 2009 at 12:59 pm
    Mic I wouldn’t get too excited about Takahashi just yet. Remember Scott Schoeneweis was brilliant in his first 8 appearances as a Met, giving up only 4 hits and no runs.

    Let’s give him at least 10-15 games before judgment.

    I’d also tone down on the wins and the hitting with RISP. No the Phils and Braves aren’t “bottom feeders” but three of the starters Mets faced Chan Ho Park, Kenshin Kawakami, and Jamie Moyer. Not exactly Jenkins, Gibson, and Spahn. And the Pirates are at best a mediocre AAA team.

    But hey, we now know that the Mets can beat up on bad teams and bad pitchers, so there’s that. Will there be enough of those for them to earn the 85-90 wins needed to win the NL East? Maybe.

  8. Steve May 10, 2009 at 4:58 pm
    Beating good teams has not been the mets problem in recent memory…it’s always been their inability to beat any bottom feeders. As bad as last september was, If the mets had managed to score a run or two in San Diego, against a AAAA pitching staff, would september have been an issue? They won one game in Atlanta last year, and to sum up their season, Atlanta is drafting in the top ten in june.

    They consistantly lost games against the lower quality teams, which is the only reason they were even in a position to collapse last season. I think the best sign this weekend is the fact that they haven’t stepped off the gas against a lousy team. It shouldn’t be too hard to get motivated for Atlanta, but I think how we treat the trip to SF will be a great judge of what we have.