Mets Game 98: Win Over Dodgers
It’s been a while since we had one of these — watching the TV at the edge of your seat, nervous energy flowing through the veins right to the last pitch of the game. In the end, all Mets fans breathed a collective sigh of relief as Billy Wagner saved the contest, and preserved Chip Ambres’ status as a hero.
Who is Chip Ambres? The career minor leaguer came up big by bouncing a single past a diving Nomar Garciaparra and into leftfield to score Lastings Milledge with the go-ahead run in the top of the tenth inning. He’s the man most likely to return to New Orleans when Moises Alou returns on Tuesday, but he made his short stint significant.
El Duque pitched a fairly good game, but was hurt by the few mistakes he made — first, a gopher ball to Rafael Furcal on his second pitch of the game put the Dodgers ahead 1-0. Then in the fourth, he allowed a single to Luis Gonzalez and a two-out RBI double to James Loney to make it 2-zip.
Meantime, the Mets struggled to get anything going against lefthander Eric Stults — whose only Major League victory came against the Mets last September. That is, until the sixth inning. After Orlando Hernandez struck out swinging, Jose Reyes rapped a triple into the rightfield corner, and was brought home via a hard-hit double to left by Lastings Milledge. L Millz moved to third on one of Carlos Beltran’s trademark grounders to the right side, and scored when David Wright dumped a two-strike pitch safely into shallow leftfield for an RBI single.
However, Hernandez gave to lead right back to the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning, by walking Gonzalez and then allowing a two-run homer to Nomar Garciaparra. Garciaparra, incidentally, had hit two homeruns in 89 games in 2007 — before hitting two in three games against the Mets in this series. El Duque struggled through the remainder of the inning, but completed it without allowing another run.
The Mets did not score in the seventh but did reach Roberto Hernandez for a run in the eighth. Jose Reyes led off with a double and advanced to third on a Milledge shot off Bert’s glove. Beltran followed not with a grounder to second but a fly ball, scoring Reyes with the Mets’ third run of the game.
In the ninth, with the Dodgers again turning to Jonathan Broxton, Carlos Delgado led off with a rare infield single off James Loney’s glove and was immediately replaced by Anderson Hernandez. AHern reached second on a wild pitch, then was pushed to third on a grounder to short by Paul LoDuca. With the count 0-2, Shawn Green lifted a shallow fly into rightfield that Matt Kemp lost in the sun, scoring AHern with the tying run and landing the hustling Green on second base (ironically, and inexplicably, Kemp was brought in at the beginning of the inning for defensive purposes). Green scampered to third on the second wild pitch of the inning by Broxton, but was stranded there when both Ruben Gotay and pinch-hitter Ramon Castro struck out swinging.
Pedro Feliciano retired the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the ninth to hold the tie, and that set the stage for the unlikely hero.
After D.J. Houlton retired Jose Reyes on a groundout to lead off the inning, Lastings Milledge rapped a single to left. Beltran then walked, and David Wright grounded to Garciaparra to start what looked to be a potential double play. However, Wright beat the throw to first, putting men on first and third with two out for Ambres, who entered the game in place of Green (who moved to first base when AHern pinch-ran for Delgado) in rightfield and in Delgado’s spot in the order. Ambres took a ball off the outside corner before rapping the next pitch into left.
In the bottom of the tenth, Billy Wagner came on but walked Juan Pierre to open the inning. Wagner had him picked off first but Shawn Green dropped the ball on the exchange and Pierre slid safely into second with none out and Russell Martin up. Martin struck out, and the Mets decided to intentionally walk Jeff Kent — putting the winning run on first base and slugging youngster Matt Kemp to the plate (and Nomar on deck). Kemp struck out swinging, bringing up cagey veteran Garciaparra — who’d been hot the entire series and second in the NL with a .393 batting average with RISP. Nomar worked the count to 1-1 before Wags uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners to second and third. The count went full before Wagner snuck a slider on the outside edge of the plate to catch Garciaparra looking and end the game.
Notes
Home plate umpire called at least four “automatic” strikes when Mets hitters showed bunt when taking a pitch — twice to El Duque, once to Ruben Gotay, and once to Paul LoDuca. The last time, to LoDuca, came in the top of the ninth on a 3-0 count with a runner on second. There’s no doubt it was ball four — it was inside and in the dirt — and LoDuca definitely drew the bat back. Eventually, the count went full and LoDuca bounced out to shortstop for the first out of the inning. The grounder did advance the runner, but it would have been nicer to have men on first and second, none out, than man on third and one out. Personally, I’ve always thought faking the bunt on 3-0 was bush league, and find it particularly annoying when MLBers do it. Batters would serve themselves much better by taking their normal stride and getting a good track on the baseball as it comes in — makes it much easier to blast the 3-1 delivery, which is often the same pitch.
Aaron Heilman pitched two innings of fine relief to hold the fort and keep the Mets in the game. He retired all six batters he faced, expending 19 pitches.
Nice to see the Mets manufacturing runs in this game, and making productive outs. Keep it going, boys, and good things will happen.
In contrast to the rest of the Mets batters, the majority of Shawn Green’s at-bats have been horrendous since the firing of Rick Down. (Yes, he got the big “hit” in the ninth but that was more luck than anything.) Through most of the season, Green took pitches early in counts, kept his hands back, and laid off garbage in the dirt (for the most part). Lately he’s been waving at everything thrown toward him, missing badly on off-speed pitches low and away. He must return to his early-season approach of keeping the hands back, deciding later on pitches, and focusing on opposite-field hitting.
Next Game
The Mets get a day off on Monday, and we get to go to sleep early two nights in a row. On Tuesday, the Mets host the ice-cold Pittsburgh Pirates, who were just shut out by Woody Williams and the Houston Astros. Game time Tuesday is 7:10 PM, with John Maine going against Ian Snell.
One other thing–if Green isn’t running flat-out as he goes around first in the ninth, the ball gets thrown home, and maybe AHern doesn’t score. It’s a little thing, but Green drew the throw. A tiny defense of the guy. He deserves it.
However, the rest of his game has been similarly abysmal of late. I’m pulling for him to get out of his slump and do some thumping very soon. He’s too good a guy and too much of a team player to continue with the bad karma. A handful of timely doubles in the gap will glaze over all his other shortcomings.
also: AHern should get some time at SS/2B. he might not be the offensive whizz, but he is hitting .371 in july and he has a history of slow adjusting with the bat. To me he is a perfect infield complement to Gotay. And Easley should see time in the OF and is our best PH option.
1. Mets Mulling Options At Second Base: I Like the Ahern/Gotay mix here with Easley seeing time against tough lefties
I think this changes because ala tony pena jr, I think Ahern’s stock is cresting now and his defense will be attactive to say Pitt who need some defense at 2B/SS. (Zach Duke/Damaso/Marte 4 Ahern/Pelfrey).
Metsblog have Omar in on Jay Payton. I love this personally. Between 1999-2003 SP traded away most of our minor talents; Payton for Thomson, Steve Reed for Bay, He let Dinardo go (rule V), Dotel, Izzy, Terry Long, Alex Escobar, billy Traber
Jay Payton embodies what could have been. We laugh at the fact that Payton was part of the 2000 WS team with Agbayani, but Payton was a pure hitter (and still is). A first rounder, 2000 was his overdue breakout with a 291 avg and 17 HR. In 2001 he dropped to.255/8HR. But lets remember BV could not figure where he should hit (leadoff?) then came the injury. He was on a tear only to be injured (again) in Col . And with it the Mets went flat (2001). he came back next yr to hit .284/8HR but he inexplicably was traded. He hit .335 for Col with 8HR, while the Mets went virtually winless the rest of the way. and hence bye bye Phillips. He would be the perfect complement to Millz and Gomez if we are committed to their development. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/5773/career;_ylt=ApLAEomVKfAJSl8FSRm0uoCFCLcF
I’d really like to see AHern prove he can finally hit MLB pitching — in fact, all I want to see is a line drive hit out of the infield.
On the flip side Millz is hitting .205/1HR but has been a continuous spark including 2 more runs yesterday. He IS a CFer and so looks like he needs to run to CF before going to a routine fly to LF/RF. But he is a good looking player. Certainly the difference in this past winning road trip.
In other news…
Those Damn Yankees signed Scott Williamson to a AAA contract. He’s already their next best option behind Rivera (unless you count that 28-Million dollar reliever).
I wouldn’t know what Franco’s “hot” looks like in the 21st century because I haven’t watched him play regularly since 1987. Green used to be a monster when he got hot but now is merely a guy who when hot can work good at-bats, drop some balls into leftfield, and hit some doubles.
That said, if Green is in his version of a “hot streak”, he and LMillz make a nice platoon tandem filling out the bottom of the order.
And again, why pay millions for Payton when you already have him in a younger and cheaper version as Milledge?
Why get an OFer anyway. Me, I’m content if beltran, millz, alou is my starting OF with Endy and Green as depth. An acquisition might be made at the expense of Green, with the playoffs in mind.
Why pay millions for Payton?- He’s cheaper than Green, and with Millz (and Endy ) we have a cheap OF. Remember Omar has $$$$ to spend and is way under the budget given to him in the off season. With alou, Green, glavine even valentin possibly coming off the books in a few months he might even look forward.
Oh and….’when he got hot but now is merely a guy who when hot can work good at-bats, drop some balls into leftfield, and hit some doubles’ou pretty muched summed up the similarity b/w Green and Franco.
Oh and as far as Franco:Green. … Franco doesn’t hit doubles, and he doesn’t hustle, and he’s a whiner, and he hits from the right side, and he doesn’t play the OF (OK, it’s a stretch to say that Green DOES LOL), and he’s too old to play every day, and he hits only one homer a season, and he barks at the umpires too often, and he’s hitting around the Mendoza Line. But otherwise, yeah, I guess he and Green are basically the same player.
The Mets were counting on better production from those other players, and since they’ve all underperformed, it makes Green’s lack of production that much more glaring. Fact is, Green’s one of the few who is giving us pretty much what we expected.
Baseball players, other than Robin Yount, Albert Pujols, and Ichiro are rarely ‘consistent’. By that I mean they run hot and cold. At the end of the yr most fit in their ranges. Del will hit 25-30HR and hit for .260-270. beltran will get back to .280/30HR. Neither of which is bad. The GOOD is that both are heating up when we really need it.
Dont look but the Mets have the NL best record going into a soft part of the schedule, with the big guns heating up going into Aug.
You are right about the hot/cold thing regarding most players. However, Beltran is the one who really has me concerned, because although he’s been known to go on unconscious hot streaks, he’s been fairly consistent wire-to-wire in the past — and even in his worst years, did not go three straight months under .240. This is a long, long slump for Beltran, and I’m not convinced he’ll finish near .280.
People remember Beltran’s postseason with Houston, but forget he batted .258 for the Astros in 90 games with them that year. His spurts tend to be very short (but dramatic!).
His first yr he had 16HR total, and 266 avg. Last yr he hit .275/41HR. He is rougly 2/3 thru the season. He definately can dial up and down, so looking at his numbers I agree…we have a .270-275 guy again with 30HR. What concerns me is he had 510AB last yr, 599 the yr before. I think he is a player who needs time off. For example a sunday game with a travel day next ….he’d have sat for me, Let Chip start.
You started the series with the NY home for former dodgers, but how about KC…Gotay, CB, Burgos and now Chip.
Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll see Chip in centerfield anytime soon — except maybe in New Orleans. Plus, if Gotay has to hit .350 over a three-month period before earning Willie’s trust at a position covered by broken-down has-beens, what does Ambres have to do to displace an All-Star — even if it’s only for a game once every two weeks?
We need Endy to come back. Willie trusts him enough to start once in a while.
Green’s fine as a .270/15/70 RBI guy, which is basically what he is. The Mets just need another bat to balance the lineup out (ie; Alou or a trade) and they REALLY need to figure out what to do with LoDuca. He’s a shade of what he was last year (part Willie’s fault- batting him 6th is a bad idea), hitting .265, and also grounding into ALOT of expletive-filled double plays that have killed rallies. They should seriously consider starting Castro and trading Lo Duca.
Again, just my opinion, but I think they’re better off standing pat. Chances are one of the two will be back by at least September, giving them a month to tune up for the playoffs. And if it so happens they aren’t back, then you make a minor move with a team to obtain a back-up OF who can help temporarily. The Mets can afford to wait until after the non-waiver trade deadline expires because acquiring an OF is not imperative (unless Beltran or Alou were to go down with a season ending injury). If the Mets can grab a Shawn Green after last year’s deadline expired, they can likely grab a similar player this year who can help out.