Mets 3 Braves 2

How sweep it is !

After getting schooled by the Phillies, the Mets at least took something with them from Philadelphia — How to Sweep 101.

Tom Glavine pitched six innings, allowing only one run on five hits and three walks. He probably could have gone at least one more frame, but manager Willie Randolph pulled him after allowing a leadoff single to Kelly Johnson on his 100th pitch of the game in the bottom of the seventh. Glavine was clearly irritated with being taken out — nice to see, in my opinion. For once he wanted the fate of the victory in his hands and not the bullpen. (And can you blame him? He’d probably be a Cy Young candidate if not for ‘pen blowing several of his leads.)

Glavine struggled a bit in the first, loading the bases with one out, but wiggled out of it allowing only one run. That proved to be vital, looking at the final score.

Not one to escape from his offensive responsibility, Glavine tied up the game a few minutes later, driving a fly ball to center that scored Moises Alou. The game remained tied until the fifth, when Jose Reyes reached first on a popup that Yunel Escobar lost in the sun, and was driven in by a David Wright blast over the centerfield wall. That was one of the only mistakes Atlanta starter John Smoltz made all day, but it was the most damaging.

Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman each tossed scoreless innings, bridging the gap to Billy Wagner, who despite allowing a run, eventually closed things out to earn his 30th save.

Notes

Kind of sad to hear a louder ovation from the Atlanta crowd when Julio Franco stepped in to pinch-hit, than when Tommy Glavine left the mound for what could turn out to be the last time he ever appears as a pitcher in Atlanta. Maybe Tommy shouldn’t be kissing the butts of the Braves and their fans every chance he gets.

Wright and Alou had two hits apiece, the only Mets with more than one hit. Carlos Beltran smacked a double and also walked.

The Phillies lost in extra innings to the Marlins, dropping them back to four games again and sending the Mets’ magic number to 23. Time is running out for the phightin’ Phillthies … and with the Braves seven games behind, it’s time for Bobby Cox to start auditioning youngsters for 2008 — though it would be nice if they could take a few from Philly this week upcoming.

Next Game

The Mets go to Cincinnati for a three-game series to end their road trip. Pedro Martinez makes his 2007 debut against Aaron Harang in a 1:15 PM start.

Mets 5 Braves 1

Mike Pelfrey got mad … and then he got even.

After unintentionally hitting Jeff Francoeur leading off the fifth, Pelfrey walked toward and stared down Francoeur, who barked about the plunking. The jawing match nearly set off a melee, as the Braves bullpen began making a move toward the playing field. It would have made an interesting fight — the 6’4″, 220-lb. Francoeur against the 6’7″, 200-lb. Pelfrey — but the Brooklyn fireplug Paul LoDuca buffered himself between them. It was awesome to see Pelfrey stand up to Francoeur, but the altercation clearly unsettled him, as he completely lost his command, walking Andruw Jones and going 3-1 to Chris Woodward. Woodward, however, was inexplicably bunting — Bobby Cox was the only one in the stadium who didn’t see Pelfrey struggling to get the ball over the plate — and popped out to David Wright. Pelfrey proceeded to walk the next batter, Scott Thorman, and then gave up a sacrifice fly to Willie Harris, but finally settled down to strike out Kelly Johnson — getting out of the mess with only one run scoring.

The Mets jumped on the board first, thanks to a second-inning double play hit into by Carlos Delgado that scored Carlos Beltran. In the top of the fifth, Delgado extended it to 2-zip by mashing a line drive into the rightfield seats that might have maimed someone had they not ducked. Two batters later, Lastings Milledge sent a second ball to the same section, extending the lead to 3-0. The fracas with Francoeur followed a few minutes later.

After Pelfrey set down the Braves in order in the bottom of the sixth — retiring two via strikeout — Carlos Beltran led off the bottom of the frame with a solo homer over the wall in dead center. Beltran followed that up with a triple in the top of the ninth, scoring on a shallow sac fly by Delgado that finalized the scoring.

The bullpen supported and saved Pelfrey’s first win of the year in fine fashion. Guillermo Mota threw a scoreless seventh — his changeup floating all over the place, and Pedro Feliciano became a strike machine. Feliciano pitched two perfect innings, striking out five in earning his second save of the year. The final tally: 23 pitches, 18 strikes.

Notes

While the fifth inning was tough, Pelfrey also did a nice job working out of a fourth-inning jam — with two outs, men on first and third, and a full count on Brian McCann, Pelf threw a diving slider off the inside part of the plate, getting McCann to fish after it. It wasn’t the action of the pitch so much as the speed that caused the swing and miss — suggesting that if Pelfrey can ever consistently command his straight changeup, he might develop into a decent starting pitcher.

For the umpteenth time, we heard the play-by-play announcer state “… and no argument by Willie Randolph … ” After Delgado’s homer in the fifth, Paul LoDuca ripped a drive to left and was thrown out by Willie Harris in a close play that could have gone either way. LoDuca, obviously, thought it should have gone his way, and let the umpire know it — but Randolph never so much as leaned out of the dugout. That’s one thing I’ll never get about Willie — he rarely runs out to support his players. Even if he agreed with the ump’s call, you have to get out there and show the player you have his back. You also have to make sure one of your two catchers doesn’t get tossed halfway through the contest.

If you want to include LoDuca’s out, the Mets were unnecessarily retired three times for the second out in an inning at second base. Jose Reyes was picked off second in the sixth, and Ruben Gotay in the eighth.

Unless I wasn’t paying attention to his mechanics earlier in the season, Feliciano seems to have made a slight adjustment — breaking his hands slightly earlier in his delivery. I’m guessing this gets his hand out and back a fraction earlier as well, which in turn better synchronizes his release point with his stride. During his “slump”, Feliciano’s arm was dragging behind a bit, causing his arm angle to drop and his release point to drop as well. The result was his fingers were often on the side or underneath the ball at release — which causes breaking pitches to stay flat and the fastball to stay up. He looked much better today, staying on top of the ball and getting good downward action on his pitches.

Interesting aside by Joe Girardi during the FOX broadcast, commenting on Julio Franco’s greeting his old teammates in the visitor’s clubhouse prior to the game. Girardi noted that with the Braves and Mets trying to beat each other, it was a meeting that should have occurred after the game. On the one hand, I agree with Girardi. On the other, hard to hear it coming from a guy who gave helpful advice to the division rival Phillies’ Jon Lieber while managing the Marlins.

Jeff Francoeur is a big effing pu**y. To have the audacity to say something to Pelfrey after getting hit by a pitch was ludicrous — and an invitation to REALLY get hit on purpose in the future. Of course, that won’t happen, but “Frenchy” would find himself eating dust again if I were either Pelfrey or Pelf’s manager. Just take your base and shut your mouth, jackass. Pelfrey’s too erratic to be plunking people on purpose — and Francoeur is good, but not so important that he’d be the target of headhunting.

Braveheart

Anyone else annoyed and sickened by the Tom Glavine – John Smoltz lovefest perpetrated by FOX during the game? The first five minutes were mildly entertaining, but continuing the thing through both halves of an inning was ridiculous. Sunday’s matchup will be the third between the two pals, but FOX treated the affair like it would be the first. Also didn’t need to hear — again — how Tommy just adores Atlanta, and loved being a Brave, and blah blah blah. I half-expected the dual interview to end with Glavine and “Smoltzie” meeting on the pitcher’s mound and engaging in a long, deep, wet kiss. Hey FOX, since you’re late to the game on these things anyway, why not focus on the best-friendship between Delgado and Shawn Green? I’d much rather hear about the “good old days” in Toronto than in Atlanta.

Next Game

The Mets and Braves meet in the finale at 1:05 PM on Sunday. In case you missed the announcement by FOX, it will be Tom Glavine going against his Atlanta neighbor, longtime best friend forever and former teammate with the Braves when the Braves were great John Smoltz.

Mets 7 Braves 1

Ahhh … that’s much better.

The Mets broke their five-game slide with a big win over the Braves, getting strong performances from several individuals.

In the series preview, I implored John Maine to throw a nine-inning shutout. To his credit, he came damned close.

Maine threw seven sparkling innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks, striking out eight. I will admit a twinge of hope that he’d stay in for one more frame, but even I have to admit 112 pitches was probably the best you could get out of him.

In support of Maine, the Mets offense — the entire offense, not just D-Wright — finally showed up to the party.

The Mets scored first and kept scoring, with four unanswered runs in the first five innings, thanks to a three-run homer to dead center by Carlos Delgado and capped off by a solo blast over the rightfield fence by Jose Reyes.

The Braves finally broke through in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs on a single and two walks during a John Maine brain fart, and scoring a run on a Maine wild pitch. However, Maine regrouped in time to get harmless popups from Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira and striking out Brian McCann looking. It was the turning point in the game, and a promising performance by Maine.

The score remained 4-1 until the top of the ninth, and with Billy Wagner warming up in the bullpen, the Mets loaded the bases with two outs and Aaron Heilman coming to the plate. Heilman was called back in lieu of Marlon Anderson, who once again stepped into the batter’s box wearing a red cape. He drove the first pitch he saw into the right-center gap, clearing the bases and putting the Mets up 7-1.

At that point, Wags sat down and Scott Schoeneweis closed out the game, allowing only a Brian McCann single.

Notes

Nice to see Reyes come out of his slump — he went 2-for-5 with a double in addition to the tater, and stole his 73rd base.

Delgado started to come alive in Philly, and has continued to stroke the ball with confidence — he also added a double to his day. He’s waiting on the ball again, letting it get deep, and driving it to all fields. The Mets need him thumping.

Carlos Beltran had a relatively quiet 2-for-4 day, scoring once.

Next Game

Mike Pelfrey pitches against Chuck James in a 3:55 PM start. As you probably figured out by the start time, it’s going to be televised by FOX. Personally, I was hoping to see Philip Humber get his first start, but maybe the eighth time will be a charm for Pelf. It would be great to see Pelfrey show something — his hard sinker could be very useful coming out of the ‘pen.

Sorry it took so long … Weehawken’s finest are not well-prepared for roof-jumpers. Luckily the FD came by with a net strong enough to withstand my 220-pound frame.

Anyway …

I don’t even know where to start … no point in re-hashing … we’ll go straight to the notes.

Notes

El Duque was due to have a bad day, what are you gonna do? Willie made the right move pulling him to keep the rally going … though, you wonder if Duque might have rapped a hit himself in that situation.

For the majority of the contest (the first three hours), it seemed like the only Met who understood he had to elevate his game was David Wright. Endy Chavez tried to provide a spark as well (2-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI), but Wright singlehandedly kept the Mets in the game, going 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored and making countless fine plays in the field.

Half of the Mets’ 10 hits came from D-Wright and pinch-hitters. Add in Endy’s two and that’s 7 of the 10.

Willie made another good move, bringing in Billy Wagner to face the heart of the Phillies lineup in the eighth. However, he forgot to remove Wags in the ninth. Had Billy pitched an easy, 1-2-3, 10-pitch inning, then fine — leave him in to close things out. But after seeing him struggle a bit, and throw over 20 pitches … be smart. Once again, the myopic Randolph managing a game like it’s the 7th Game of the World Series, not considering that there are three games with the Braves this weekend. In the end, Wags threw 45 pitches with an already “dead” arm — he’s done till Sunday, at least.

Next Game

John Maine goes against Tim Hudson. If ever there was game that Maine needed to rise to the occasion and pitch a 9-inning shutout, it’s tonight. Game time is 7:35 PM, it will be carried on WPIX / CW-11.

Phillies 3 Mets 2

I’m getting really tired of typing that headline — it turns my stomach every time.

Although the Mets have now dropped all three games in Philly, and four in a row, I did see some positives — believe it or not.

First, Oliver Perez, who struggled mightily with his command yet kept the Mets in the ballgame through six innings. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks, and struck out 10. There were several situations where Ollie was in a major fix, and/or lost his cool for a moment, but he collected himself and fought through the situation. There’s no way you can fault a guy who allows only three runs in six innings against the Phillies in Citizens Bank Park. He did his job.

Second, it was nice to see the Mets battle back in the ninth inning and tie the game — though the tying run was disallowed when Marlon Anderson was called for interference. It was an awful way to end the game, but the silver lining is this: the Mets did not give up.

Now, the negatives.

The Mets managed to score only two runs — AGAIN. This two-run output every game is completely and utterly unacceptable in the easiest MLB park to score runs against the worst pitching in MLB. Phillies pitching plus CBP equals runs no matter who you are. More unbelievable is that the Mets have been able to get into the Philadelphia bullpen early — the same bullpen whose collective ERA was around NINE prior to this series. It’s understandable, and slightly excusable to have one off day, MAYBE even two — after all, once in a while an opposing pitcher will have a great night. But three nights in a row? Sorry, but I’m sending up a red flag. Make that several, big red flags.

The boxscore claims the Mets had ten hits, but I swear I only remember three or four. The most memorable was David Wright’s homerun in the first, with no one on. Carlos Delgado had a run-scoring single to drive in Carlos Beltran in the fourth — and that was it, the complete scoring for the Mets’ offense. Against AARP-card-carrier Jamie Moyer no less.

People keep saying there’s no reason to panic, why the pessimism, hey the Mets are still in first. Meantime the Phillies are making a mockery of the first-place team from Flushing, and about to close out a sweep, which will put them two measly games away from the leaders. Oh, do you really think the Mets are going to pull out a victory on Thursday? It’s an afternoon game, remember — and those are the ones that Willie Randolph traditionally puts out his “B” team and makes little effort to win. If their top talent can’t score against the worst pitching in the NL, in the most comfortable hitter’s park, why would the scrubs? Though, maybe a change in personnel is exactly what’s needed — sometimes a new set of eyes (and arms and bats and legs) is what can reverse bad happenings.

Notes

The two Carloses went a combined 4-for-8, and Wright was 2-for-3. Jose Reyes reached base twice and both times was picked off first.

Jorge Sosa threw two scoreless innings of relief.

Next Game

Orlando Hernandez pitches another day game, this time against Kyle Lohse in a 1:05 PM start. The way the Mets offense has been sputtering, El Duque will need to throw a nine-inning no-hitter if he hopes to pull out a victory. Let’s hope he’s only on pitch #90 when the ninth inning begins.