Mets Game 22: Win Over Dodgers
Mets 7 Dodgers 3
This is getting a little silly. A 9-1 homestand? Seriously? Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming.
Game Notes
John Maine hurled 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 walks, and 2 earned runs, striking out 9. I know he did this because I saw it with my own eyes, and I reviewed the boxscore, but I have no explanation as to how he did it. His command was so-so — though, better than in his past starts — and his velocity was around 87-89. He did have good downward and sideways movement on the majority of his fastballs, but he didn’t do a fantastic job of changing speeds, nor was his breaking stuff anything better than mediocre. Yet, he was getting solid MLB hitters such as James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier to swing and miss. Color me befuddled. Maybe it was magic, or voo-doo, or a deal with the devil — whatever it was, it defied logic. And I’ll take it.
The Mets offense jumped all over Dodger pitcher John Ely, who was making his first MLB start, for 5 earned runs in 6 innings. They scored another two against Ronald Belisario, who was in only his fourth appearance of the season after coming off the suspended list and missing all of spring training due to visa problems.
Next Mets Game
The first-place Mets take a well-deserved day off on Thursday before beginnng a three-game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia on Friday night. Game time is 7:05 PM and the scheduled pitchers are Jon Niese and Kyle Kendrick.
About the Author
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.
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Kudos to the Mets on this fine home stand.
The reactions I’ve been seeing from my fellow Mets fans range from excited, to incredulous, to cautiously optimistic. But most seem to feel that it is too good to last. So let’s enjoy it while we can. For a while earlier, I thought meaningful games in May was going to be out of the question.
On another note:
Is it too early to start speculating on who will replace Oliver Perez in the rotation? From the current roster, the nominees are Takahashi, Nieve and Meijia. From Buffalo, it looks like Misch would be the first to get the call (this was previously Figueroa’s role). Off-roster, there is…. Pedro! ha ha.
Based on the length of his most recent outings, I suspect they are already “stretching” Takahashi out in case they needed to pull the plug on Perez (or Maine).
That was actually 9 strikeouts! Maine seemed to indicate in an interview that he through lots of fastballs due to the windy conditions and thought that the wind my have been helping with the movement. Maybe it helped not throwing so hard!
Also, game numbers off for Dodger’s series – up to #22!
Maine actually had 9 K’s, Jo-Jo….even crazier!
The ’86 Mets once told me: “Mirrors, magic wands, doesn’t matter – all that counts is that we won the ballgame.”
That’s what I take from Maine’s performance yesterday afternoon. Happy that it came, yet still befuddled as to how it was pulled off.
From Rubin:
“Turns out, when Jerry Manuel estimated John Maine threw his fastball 85 percent of the time on Wednesday, the manager was being conservative. ESPN Stats & Information had Maine throwing 97 fastballs in 101 pitches while tossing six-plus innings. ”
Crazy!
P.S. – Welcome to The Bigs, Johnny Ely. Nice to see the boys break out a little bit more at the dish……hopefully, it continues down the ‘pike in Philly.
I just want to point out how great it is that someone capable of an extra base hit is hitting behind Reyes. As I have said many times here: having someone like Bay or Wright hit behind Reyes means that, even with two outs, Reyes can score from 1st base very easily. Bay hits a double with Reyes on first and just like that there is a run. Before with Castillo up we had to hope he got on base somehow and then Wright (or whoever) would drive home Reyes or Reyes would have to steal 2nd base and then Castillo would have to get a hit (and he is not an RBI guy). Now all Reyes has to do is got on base in any way. Maybe he steals, maybe not, but there is a much great potential for him to score simply because Bay can hit a double, and Reyes almost always scores from 1st on an extra base hit. It is that simple.
As for the Mets current streak. I’m impressed, mostly because when they started the home stand they were playing poorly, but they ran into three teams playing worse, and now at the end they are playing extremely sharp baseball. As I have said before, there is nothing wrong with a team getting hot and confident by capitalizing on other team’s mistakes. Now they are actually playing well instead of being fortunate that other teams are struggling. Lets see them continue this is Philly and I will be convinced this team can sustain winning baseball throughout the year.
murph: nice post. The last 10 games have certainly been surreal, and almost too good to be true.
Is it a coincidence the Mets are 9-1 since Ike Davis got called up? Is he really that good, or was Mike Jacobs really that bad?
My only complaint from yesterday’s game would be using the overworked FNR trio (Feliciano, Nieve, Rodriguez) to close out a 4-run game. Seriously, what’s the point of having guys like Acosta, Mejia, and Valdes if they’re only going to be used if the Mets are up or down by 8 or more runs? Either Jerry needs to start using his entire bullpen, or Omar needs to supply him with some more reliable arms. I tend to think it’s the former.