Mets 7 Padres 0

Sometimes you have to take things into your own hands.

The Mets’ newest strategy is reminiscent of a high school team’s: put your best athlete on the mound, and count on him to pitch, hit, and run your team to victory.

Orlando Hernandez did it all — with his arm, legs, and bat.

He did it on the mound, pitching seven shutout innings of two-hit ball, expending 95 pitches, en route to his sixth victory of the season.

And he did it at bat, attempting a drag bunt and singling once.

And he did it on the bases, stealing for the second time this season and scoring the second run of the game.

In the fifth inning, with a tight one-run lead, El Duque was eager for an insurance run. So, he lashed a base hit, stole second, and scored on a single by Jose Valentin. Moments later, Valentin alertly took second on a pitch in the dirt, and Carlos Beltran drove him home with his first opposite-field hit in five years to put the Mets up 3-0 on All-Star starter Jake Peavy.

The Mets scored first in the fourth inning when Paul LoDuca stroked a two-out single to score Carlos Beltran from second base. I would have mentioned it before but you wouldn’t have believed me. Lost in the boxscore was the preceding at-bat by Shawn Green. Green fell behind 1-2, but hung tough, working the count full and fouling off several pitches before flying out to leftfield. That nine-pitch AB gets ignored by the statheads, but was a significant contributor to LoDuca’s hit. After a tough encounter such as that, most pitchers will be not only physically tired but mentally exhausted as well. OK, maybe “exhausted” isn’t the correct word, but once the at-bat is over, there is often something of a mini mental crash — a pitcher gets so focused on getting the batter out, that the feeling of relief causes him to drop his guard to the next batter. If there’s a Bill James disciple out there, I’m interested to find out the MLB average of a hitter who follows a long count in the same inning.

The Mets tacked on a run in the eighth on a sac fly by Lastings Milledge, and then broke the game open with three more runs in the top of the ninth off their old pal Royce Ring.

In short, the game was the exact opposite in every way, shape, and form from the opener.

Notes

As much as I love to see El Duque stealing and running around the bases, I also have that twinge of fright in the back of my mind, wholly expecting him to come up lame with a pulled muscle.

How long are we going to have to deal with the SNY cameras focusing on Howard Johnson after every Mets’ hit and RBI?

Lineup Proposition

Since they appear to be the best on the team at garnering quality at-bats, running the bases, and handling the bat, I suggest that the Mets work Orlando Hernandez, Jorge Sosa, and Tom Glavine into the lineup. Sosa played the outfield for his first five pro seasons, so he can spell Green in right, El Duque would make a fine leftfielder, and Glavine can play first base. There you go — no trades need to be made, simply work from within.

Little League Advice

It’s amazing what happens when a big, bad professional team employs the advice given to little leaguers. The Mets FINALLY took the first pitch as a habit, rather than an aberration, and not only drove up Jake Peavy’s pitch count to 100 by the sixth inning, but also scored on the All-Star three times. Huh. Imagine what might have happened if they took a few pitches against Johan Santana.

Speaking of taking pitches … though Carlos Beltran had a long overdue fine day, his last at-bat of the game was a good example of his troubles this year. He worked the count 3-1, and in the process Valentin stole second. This presented a two-out, RBI opportunity for Beltran, and put him into position to swing at his pitch to drive in the run. However, he swung at ball four on both subsequent pitches. It was clear from his swings that he was zoning inside, as he waved over both pitches, which were off the outside part of the plate (batters miss over when they’re ahead of a pitch, under when they’re late, generally speaking). This was Beltran’s issue B.D. (Before Delgado) — forcing a swing to drive in a run rather than taking a walk. There’s something valiant about a hitter who wants so badly to drive in runs, but unfortunately Beltran is not nearly as effective when forcing the issue. He needs to get back into the groove of taking walks, and letting the guys behind him drive in the runs when the situation presents itself.

I hate to be a nit-picker, but why isn’t Chip Ambres in rightfield in the ninth inning? I’d like to have seen Sandy Alomar Jr. behind the plate, too — though I suppose LoDuca and Mota are more familiar with each other (yet, that shouldn’t matter in a 7-zip game).

Next Game

The rubber match pits John Maine against Greg Maddux at 10:05 PM EST. I have no idea what the Left Coast teams have against afternoon ballgames — particularly in a city where the weather is always sunny, 75 degrees, and little humidity. YAWN!

Padres 5 Mets 1

The Mets had several opportunities to push David Wells, but couldn’t move him. All that weight makes him fairly immovable, I guess. Unfortunately, every time they got a bit of a rally going, the Mets had the dumb luck of having the middle of their order up at the plate. It’s hard to score runs when you’re constantly putting runners in scoring position for Carlos Beltran and not someone further down in the lineup.

Grrrrr ….

Their inability to put anything together against a fat old man who was struggling was not only embarrassing, but a waste of a fine effort by Jorge Sosa, who pitched six strong innings in his first start since returning from the DL. Sosa, in fact, hit Wells the hardest, driving a double into the left-center gap in the third inning. Sosa also walked against Wells, and thereby had a perfect game at the plate. Pretty sad when your pitcher has the best at-bats against a grossly overweight 44-year-old. Any of the starting eight — except maybe Carlos Delgado — would have reached base easily by merely dropping a bunt back to the rotund one. In fact, had Boomer been forced to bend over, he likely would have thrown out his back and left the game.

Sosa pitched six innings and allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. He deserved better.

The bullpen wasn’t so great — Joe Smith allowed two hits, one of which eventually scored, and Aaron Heilman allowed his seventh homerun of the year, a prodigious blast to dead centerfield off the bat of Mike Cameron (huh, Heilman ineffective again on back-to-back days … who’da thunk it?). But it’s avoiding the obvious to blame the game on the bullpen. Bottom line is, the Mets had many, many chances to move runners around and failed miserably. Every game, this squad is looking less and less like champions, and more and more like also-rans. Omar Minaya is right to be concerned — and critical — of this woefully underachieving offense.

Notes

Bandits Caught

David Wright was picked off first by David Wells in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, no one noticed that Wells clearly balked — he strode a good three-quarters of his normal stride toward home plate, rather than stepping toward first as per the rule book. It didn’t matter, though, since Wright was going on first move — a bush league decision on his part. It’s OK to go first move once in a while, but it rarely makes sense before the pitcher has thrown a pitch, nor thrown to first base.

Ruben Gotay was thrown out by a mile on a 3-1 pitch to Jose Reyes in the seventh. Did someone give Jose the take sign? Normally I’m all about taking pitches and getting into deep counts, but a 3-1 count, tight ballgame, and your best triples hitter at the plate in a triples park — why isn’t he swinging there? Gotay didn’t seem to get a great jump, making one wonder if Reyes missed the hit-and-run sign. It would certainly explain things — there isn’t any other logical explanation.

mmm-kay?

After not being in good position to throw, and allowing the runners to advance on a fly ball in the third, Lastings Milledge got the TPS Reports treatment upon returning to the dugout — receiving verbal corrections from both Sandy Alomar and Jerry Manuel. Lastings’ response? “I got the memo … ”

Buff Brothers No Longer Puffed

Fascinating, isn’t it, how the Giles brothers no longer hit for any power? And how they don’t look quite as “puffy” anymore? I swear Marcus’ neck shrunk by at least two sizes. The power outage MUST have something to do with Petco, and the shrinkage may be due to the crappy food on the West Coast. Couldn’t possibly be anything else. I mean, has anything been implemented, or changed, in MLB, since 2005?

Ring My Bell

Nice to see Heath Bell pitching well for the Padres — we certainly wouldn’t be able to use an effective middle/setup reliever right now. Who did we get for him and Royce Ring? Oh, that’s right, two AAAA guys to fill out the Zephyrs’ roster.

Valid Points and Observations by My Wife During the Game

My wife Amy had a flurry of intriguing observations while watching the game and simultaneously playing solitaire with a deck of New York Mets Playing Cards (I, on the other hand, can barely walk and chew gum at the same time). Among them:

• Khalil Greene looks like Paris Hilton.
• Ron Darling was in the broadcast booth, but Keith Hernandez was not. My wife further noted that Darling and Hernandez are rarely in the booth together — making one wonder, are they the same person? Kind of like Michael and Latoya Jackson …
• Jose Valentin must have punched a wall because of a girl. Because, if it were a man who ticked him off, he would have punched the man.

Speaking of Valentin, just what in tarnation was he doing in the lineup? Especially since (a) his hand injury most severely affects his righthanded hitting; (b) Damion Easley’s career batting average against David Wells is a lofty .311 in 61 ABs; and (c) Valentin was hitting .125 career vs. Wells?

Next Game

Well, there went the Mets only chance to win the series, and they had a sweaty pig ready to be placed on the spit. They lose Tuesday night in a match to Jake Peavy that begins at 10:05 PM EST. El Duque goes to the mound for the Mets, not that it matters. If the Mets can’t muster anything against the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, the only way they’ll beat Peavy is if he tries to throw lefty.

I’m sorry, do I sound negative? I get that way when I sit up until nearly one in the morning to watch these Left Coast games, only to be disappointed by sloppy play and unfocused at-bats.