Mets Game 48: Win Over Cubs

Mets 7 Cubs 4

The Cubs looked so bad, the umpires called the game rather than put the Chicago fans through the misery of watching nine innings of ineptitude.

Mets Game Notes

Dillon Gee struggled in the first frame, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks, but quickly righted the ship and stopped the Cubs from crossing the plate thereafter.

Meanwhile, Cubs starter Casey Coleman was awful, charged with 6 runs on 7 hits and a walk in only an inning and a third. When he threw strikes, they were usually high sinkers that drifted over the middle of the plate at 88-89 MPH; kind of like batting practice. He received no help from the Chicago bullpen, who were Fahrenheit 451-type firemen. As bad as Coleman looked, his immediate replacement Justin Berg was even worse — Berg walked the only three men he faced on 12 pitches, forcing in 2 runs (both charged to Coleman). James Russell then came on to put a stop to the madness, but eventually proved to be just as bad as the previous pitchers when he gave up three straight singles and a sac fly to the bottom of the Mets order in the fifth.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Berg was a position player put on the mound during a laugher. He stands straight up throughout his motion, getting no power from his legs and putting all the pressure of the pitch and deceleration on his arm. Kids, don’t pitch like this — it’s a sure-fire recipe for major, chronic arm problems.

I’d like to say that the Mets offense was impressive, but it really wasn’t. This comeback win was more because the Cubs pitching was that bad than because the Mets hitters were that good. But hey, a win is a win is a win, right?

At least the Mets are beating teams they should beat. They need to, because the schedule will not get easier going forward.

Next Mets Game

Weather permitting, the rubber match will begin at 2:20 PM EST — an old fashioned day game at Wrigley Field. R.A. Dickey is scheduled to pitch against pinch-hitter extraordinaire Carlos Zambrano.