Thursday, July 07, 2005
Capitol Gains, Part II
Huge win for the Mets today, winning 3 of 4 in Washington to move to within 8 of the first-place Nats. There is still a long ways to go, but picking up two games in RFK is certainly a start, especially considering the Nats were 29-10 going into this series at home.
Jose Reyes got it started in the first with only his second walk to lead off a game this season. He then stole second, advance to third on a bunt, and scored on a Carlos Beltran RBI groundout. That kind of smallball, National League-style run is a fabric for success. If Reyes can simply get on base to lead off a game, with his speed, he'll score more often than not.
The only mistake Kris Benson made all day was to Jose Vidro, who doubled in two runs in the third. Other than that, Benson was stellar allowing just two runs and seven hits over seven innings. The Mets retaliated in the top of the fourth, as Mike Piazza doubled in Beltran to knot the game at two.
Roberto Hernandez and Heath Bell combined for three shutout innings to hold the score even until the Mets built a rally in the eleventh. Beltran got it started once again, doubling with one out off of Luis Ayala. After Cliff Floyd was intentionally walked, Piazza struck again, flaring a single into short right field to plate Beltran. The Mets instantaneously ran themselves out of the inning, as Piazza was tagged out trying to go to second base on the throw home from Jose Guillen, and then Floyd was tagged out going home on Brian Schnieder's throw back to second that nailed Piazza. Despite the two baserunning blunders, the Mets got the lead going into the bottom of the eleventh.
Braden Looper came on to pitch the eleventh, and quickly got two outs. Marlon Byrd extended the game with a walk, but Floyd made a running grab on Wil Cordero's flyout to end the game. Looper notched his third save of the series, and twentieth of the season.
The Mets face the lowly Pittsbugh Pirates in their last series before the All-Star break. The suddenly reliable Victor Zambrano (4-7, 3.80) faces Josh Fogg (4-4, 4.42) in tomorrow's 7:05 start.
The View From Boston
The Red Sox won last night over Texas, 7-4, behind Matt Clement. Clement went 8 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits while improving his record to 10-2. The talk out of Boston is that Clement could be in line for an All-Star spot if Kenny Rogers backs out of his.
Not all is good in beantown, however. Johnny Damon has said that many members of the clubhouse feel that Terry Francona is panicking by moving Curt Schilling into the closer's role due to the injury to Keith Foulke, and that he instead should go with Mike Timlin. (I tend to agree with Johnny on this point.) I also said that the Red Sox have been trying to move struggling first baseman Kevin Millar since the beginning of the season. John Olerud is getting more of the reps at first now, with Olerud hitting well over .300 since being activated by Boston. Also, Olerud is the superior defense player.
Tonight, the Sox head in to Baltimore. David Wells (6-4, 5.04) will square off with Daniel Cabrera (6-7, 5.07) as the Orioles try to stay afloat in the AL East. Boston leads second-place Baltimore by 4 games heading into tonight's action.
Jose Reyes got it started in the first with only his second walk to lead off a game this season. He then stole second, advance to third on a bunt, and scored on a Carlos Beltran RBI groundout. That kind of smallball, National League-style run is a fabric for success. If Reyes can simply get on base to lead off a game, with his speed, he'll score more often than not.
The only mistake Kris Benson made all day was to Jose Vidro, who doubled in two runs in the third. Other than that, Benson was stellar allowing just two runs and seven hits over seven innings. The Mets retaliated in the top of the fourth, as Mike Piazza doubled in Beltran to knot the game at two.
Roberto Hernandez and Heath Bell combined for three shutout innings to hold the score even until the Mets built a rally in the eleventh. Beltran got it started once again, doubling with one out off of Luis Ayala. After Cliff Floyd was intentionally walked, Piazza struck again, flaring a single into short right field to plate Beltran. The Mets instantaneously ran themselves out of the inning, as Piazza was tagged out trying to go to second base on the throw home from Jose Guillen, and then Floyd was tagged out going home on Brian Schnieder's throw back to second that nailed Piazza. Despite the two baserunning blunders, the Mets got the lead going into the bottom of the eleventh.
Braden Looper came on to pitch the eleventh, and quickly got two outs. Marlon Byrd extended the game with a walk, but Floyd made a running grab on Wil Cordero's flyout to end the game. Looper notched his third save of the series, and twentieth of the season.
The Mets face the lowly Pittsbugh Pirates in their last series before the All-Star break. The suddenly reliable Victor Zambrano (4-7, 3.80) faces Josh Fogg (4-4, 4.42) in tomorrow's 7:05 start.
The View From Boston
The Red Sox won last night over Texas, 7-4, behind Matt Clement. Clement went 8 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits while improving his record to 10-2. The talk out of Boston is that Clement could be in line for an All-Star spot if Kenny Rogers backs out of his.
Not all is good in beantown, however. Johnny Damon has said that many members of the clubhouse feel that Terry Francona is panicking by moving Curt Schilling into the closer's role due to the injury to Keith Foulke, and that he instead should go with Mike Timlin. (I tend to agree with Johnny on this point.) I also said that the Red Sox have been trying to move struggling first baseman Kevin Millar since the beginning of the season. John Olerud is getting more of the reps at first now, with Olerud hitting well over .300 since being activated by Boston. Also, Olerud is the superior defense player.
Tonight, the Sox head in to Baltimore. David Wells (6-4, 5.04) will square off with Daniel Cabrera (6-7, 5.07) as the Orioles try to stay afloat in the AL East. Boston leads second-place Baltimore by 4 games heading into tonight's action.
# posted by Dave @ 5:05 PM 
