Mets 8 Mariners 2

I’ll take another serving of that, thank you …

The Mets broke out for eight runs on only five hits — which to some might seem unusual. To me, and likely to you, the intelligent Mets fan, it makes perfect sense. For once, the Mets were patient, forcing a mediocre pitcher to put the ball over the plate. Novelist Miguel Batista could not do that consistently, walking five batters in 2 2/3 innings. It all began with Jose Reyes, who finally did his job as a leadoff hitter and worked the count in the first at-bat of the game. That six-pitch sequence, which culminated in Reyes strolling down to first base, set the tone for the game. Every batter afterward followed his cue and sat back, waiting for Batista to prove he could toss at least two strikes in a single at-bat.

That formula worked perfectly for David Wright, who hit a first-inning solo homer to put the Mets ahead 2-0, then slammed a two-run shot in the second to make it 4-0. After that second dinger, we wondered if he might hit nine before the night was over.

The offense continued to pile on the runs in the third frame, taking advantage of more free passes and defensive miscues to double the lead to 8-0. From there on it was up to John Maine to hold it up, and he breezed through six innings of five-hit ball, allowing two earned runs on the way to his eighth win of the season.

Notes

In addition to Wright’s two homers and three RBI, Reyes popped a three-run homer of his own. The other two runs were driven in by Luis Castillo and Marlon Anderson.

Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Duaner Sanchez pitched the last three scoreless frames, allowing only one hit and two walks.

I attended the game at Shea as a guest of SNY — watched from their suite, in fact. Pretty cool, I have to say. Many thanks to Joe Pospisil for hosting me.

Here are some photos from my evening:

Next Game

The Mets have a day off and then host the crosstown Yankees for a four-game set, beginning with a day/night doubleheader. It should be an interesting litmus test for the born-again Mets. Pedro Martinez goes against Dan Giese in the opener at 2:05 pm, and Mike Pelfrey is scheduled to go against Darrel Rasner in the nightcap. Unfortunately I’m heading up to Cape Cod to hang out with the Hit Man, so the postgame recaps may come later than usual.

Mariners 11 Mets 0

It was “one of those nights” for Oliver Perez. As in, Mr. Hyde showed up on the mound instead of Dr. Perez.

By the fifth inning, it was 6-zip, and the Mets offense showed no interest in working the count on knuckleballer R.A. Dickey — despite manager Jerry Manuel’s big proclamation a night earlier that the Mets would “… have a different plan of attack”.

Yeaaaaaah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight …. nice plan there. You’re facing a knuckleballer and can only manage two walks in seven innings.

Notes

In the bottom of the fourth, Carlos Beltran was ejected by home plate umpire Brian Runge for arguing balls and strikes. Mets manager Jerry Manuel was also tossed about two minutes before Beltran, in his failed attempt to protect his player. For the record, the pitch was a strike, and Beltran shouldn’t have argued it. However, Runge was completely in the wrong for baiting Beltran and should be reprimanded by MLB. We’ll see if that happens … don’t hold your breath.

This was the first time in three years I’ve seen any emotion from Beltran whatsoever. And contrary to what Keith Hernandez said, it was NOT the first time in three years I’ve seen a Mets manager get thrown out for protecting his player. I will be the first one to say that Willie Randolph needed to get out on the field more often — it was one of his glaring defects, in fact — but please don’t try to say that he was never out there. And also contrary to Keith, this was far from the first time in three years I’ve seen emotion exuded from the Mets as a team. Rewind to late last season, game 161, when Jose Reyes and Lastings Milledge were chided by the same Hernandez for an outburst of emotions.

In the fifth inning, Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre threw his glove up after a line drive by Brian Schneider passed over his head. Technically, the umpire should have called a three-base error as per the MLB Rule Book. Why he didn’t, I’m not sure, because it was done in his full view and it was a complete bush league move. Had the umpire called the play properly, Schneider would have been given third base, baserunner Fernando Tatis would have scored, and Endy Chavez’s ground ball would have scored Schneider and made the score 6-2. Such a call would also likely have prevented Beltre from pulling such a classless move ever again.

Luis Castillo batted righthanded against knuckleballing righthander R.A. Dickey. As a result, he hit much harder outs than he would have from the left side. I think he feared not having enough strength to get the ball past the infield grass with 68-MPH flutterballs coming his way.

Brian Schneider and Fernando Tatis had three hits apiece in pulling up the bottom of the order. Marlon Anderson went 2-for-3 after taking over for the ejected Beltran. No one else hit safely.

All night, even after falling behind 5-0 (then 6-0, and 10-0), Mets batters were swinging at first pitches and swinging on 1-0 and 2-0 counts with nobody on base — against a knuckleball pitcher!!!!!!!!!!! Looks to me like it doesn’t matter what Manuel has to say on camera — it’s the same old, same old.

The answer Aflac Trivia question — who is the only former Mariner in the Hall of Fame — was Gaylord Perry (yes, I knew it within three seconds after the question was posed). Just for giggles, let me point out that in 1973, at age 34, Perry started 41 games (they had 4-man rotations back then), completed 29 of them, and tossed a total of 344 innings. Now THAT was an “innings eater”. And that was no fluke — he threw 342 frames the season before, and 322 the year after. In fact, as a 39-year-old in 1978, he logged 261 innings. And by the way, Perry never had arm problems. But hey, I completely agree with the modern idea to “protect” pitchers by limiting their pitch counts and innings. (NOT!) This has nothing to do with the Mets, but thought I’d throw it out there to chew on.

In the top of the ninth, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez had a long conversation about their dogs. My wife quipped, “this is much more interesting than watching the Mets stink up the field”. I seconded the motion.

I have to take issue with Ron Darling’s postgame criticism of Luis Castillo taking pitches in the third inning. It was correct in that Castillo should have been more aggressive with two outs and a man on third. However, Darling should have done a better job of explaining the times it makes sense to do what Castillo did, and times it doesn’t. From his synopsis, you would think that the Mets need to be more aggressive at the plate — and that is certainly, positively NOT the case.

Oh, did we mention that the Mariners have the worst record in baseball? That they are second to last in runs scored? That they are 27th in ERA?

Next Game

The Mets will do their damnedest to avoid a sweep against the Mariners in another 7:10 pm start. John Maine is slated to go against Miguel Batista. I’ll be sitting in SNY’s suite for the game, so if the Mets dog another one I should have access to plenty of painkillers in the mini-bar.

Mariners 5 Mets 1

Soooo …. Johan Santana pitches seven innings, allows one earned run, and Felix Hernandez leaves the game in the fifth due to an injury. If you were to guess, which team would win?

Most likely, you’d have guessed wrong.

Because in the second inning, with two outs, David Wright booted a routine grounder to load the bases, bringing up the opposing pitcher. An American League pitcher. An AL pitcher with one career hit in eight career at-bats. The error should have been no big deal, right? Except, King Felix jumped all over Santana’s first offering and delivered it beyond the right field fence, for a grand salami. There had to be at least a little bit of emotion and adrenaline behind that at-bat, since it was one countryman vs. another (both Hernandez and Santana hail from Venezuela).

And just like that, the Mariners went up 4-zip.

They tacked on a fifth run in the fifth, just before Hernandez left the game after spraining his left ankle in a collision at home plate with Carlos Beltran. Not that they needed it, as the Mets were only able to muster one lousy run, against a parade of non-entities with names such as Corcoran, Rowland-Smith (isn’t he a news anchor?), Green, and Rhodes. The Mets batters were limited to four hits and three walks, leading new manager Jerry Manuel to the obvious proclamation that the offense needs to “attack”. Uh huh.

Notes

Carlos Delgado dirtied his uniform for the second time this year, though not on purpose. He reached a little too far down toward the ground while backhanding a grounder a foot to his right and lost his balance, falling to the ground. A patch of clay almost eight inches in length scarred his shiny white pants leg, just below the hip. Luckily, he was able to recover from such an obscene meeting with soil and get the out at first. Kudos to Carlos for staying with the play under such filthy circumstances.

Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran had two hits apiece, with Beltran stealing third and scoring the Mets’ only run on a wild pitch by King Felix. That was the extent of the Mets’ offense.

David Wright had a terrible game, going oh-fer-three with a walk and committing two errors — after going 27 consecutive games without a miscue. After the game, Jerry Manuel announced that Wright looked “tired” and would not play in Tuesday’s contest.

There was no announcement regarding Mets fans, who are also tired.

Next Game

The Wrightless Mets play the Mariners in another 7:10 pm start. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey goes to the mound against knucklehead Oliver Perez. The world records for combined walks and wild pitches could be threatened.

Mets 3 Rockies 1

For the second consecutive game, Jose Reyes led off the game with a triple and eventually scored to put the Mets ahead 1-zip.

This time, however, the Mets held up the lead.

Carlos Beltran added a two-run homer — an absolute blast about 15 rows into the second deck in deep right-center — to give the Mets a three-run lead.

Mike Pelfrey backed it up, pitching 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing five walks and three hits in a 98-pitch effort. He struggled mightily in the early innings, but pitched through jams without allowing any runs to cross the plate.

Joe Smith allowed a solo homer to Yorvit Torrealba in an inning and a third of relief, but Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner shut down the Rockies the rest of the way to preserve Big Pelf’s 4th victory.

Next Game

The Mets come home to Shea to face the Seattle Mariners in a 7:10 pm game on Monday night. Johan Santana faces “King” Felix Hernandez.