Mets Game 22: Win Over Rockies

Mets 6 Rockies 5

A series win gives Mets fans a Rocky Mountain High.

Mets Game Notes

The Rockies looked like the Mets did about a week ago, in that they seemed to put almost-rallies together, but were unable to get the big hit to push runners across the plate. A few times, it was a brilliant defensive play by the Mets that killed the rally.

Until the 8th inning, when Jon Rauch loaded the bases and gave Tim Byrdak the honor of allowing a pinch-hit grand slam by Todd Helton. It was the first time all day that the Rox came through, and it was enough to tie the ballgame.

Before that, Johan Santana put together a very nice outing – 6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K, no runs, 90 pitches. Miguel “Daily” Batista spun a scoreless seventh — much to the surprise of most. It was the back-end of the bullpen that let the team down, beginning with Rauch, extending to Byrdak, and ending with Frank Francisco. Francisco “earned” the win after blowing the save in the 10th and being lucky enough that the Mets went ahead in the 11th. Otherwise, he was awful, yet again.

Here’s a crazy number to point out: the Mets had 18 hits and 22 total baserunners in 11 innings — an average of two baserunners every inning — and scored but 6 runs. They left 14 on base and were 4-18 with RISP. Lucky for them, the Rox were worse: 1-11 with RISP; they had only 6 hits but 6 walks.

Yet another fine day for Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who had three more hits including a clutch RBI double in the 10th to give the Mets a brief lead, and made a spectacular diving catch to save at least two runs early in the ballgame. At this point there is zero possibility of Andres Torres returning as the starting centerfielder. It just ain’t happening.

And guess what? Ike Davis is out of his slump. He had three hits and might’ve had a fourth had it not been for an excellent snare by Marco Scutaro. Davis suddenly looks comfortable and confident, and I truly believe the confidence part is the most crucial. Despite all the many theories brought fourth by the pundits regarding Ike’s slump, my feeling is this: he has a long swing that begins with a number of moving parts, and as a result he is prone to both hot and cold streaks. Consider that he had a 3-for-31 stretch in the second half of his rookie year — in other words, this recent slump shouldn’t have been a remarkable surprise, or something that was considered unprecedented. Further, we should expect to see him go ice cold again at some point. At the same time, we can also expect him to get red-hot — starting now.

Next Mets Game

The Mets travel down to Houston to play the Astros on Monday night. Game time is 8:05 p.m. EST and pits R.A. Dickey against Bud Norris.