The offense might garner most of the press after this dominant performance over Brad Penny, but I feel the true hero today was Mets starter John Maine, who fell just two outs short of a complete game shut out. The Mets bats were out in plenty, and from some unlikely sources, as the Mets trounced to salvage the final game of the series by a score of 12-1.
Maine pitched 8 1-3 innings, and only allowed four hits. He walked two and struck out four. Maine allowed two doubles and two singles and fell just short of a complete game shut out.
Maine was helped out by some nice defensive plays, two of which come to mind. David Wright made a nice running swipe on a ball hit by Jeff Kent and then made a nice throw to first for an out. The best play came from Angel Pagan, who started the game in left. In the bottom of the first, Pagan made a catch in foul territory up against the wall, flipped head over heels into the stands and held onto the ball. He stayed down for a few minutes, but stayed in the game. He was later removed with "shoulder tightness."
Sick play by Pagan. He really went all out to get that ball.
Maine was incredibly dominant. There's really nothing I can say to put his performance into perspective. He shut down the hot bats of LA, keeping his pitch count low, throwing 117 pitching into the ninth inning, 76 for strikes.
John Maine, I love thee.
How do I even recap a 12 run outing by the Mets bats, ten of which were charged to Penny? After singles from Church and Pagan in the second, Marlon Anderson hit a ball deep to center field, which hopped over the wall for a ground rule double as Church scored. Raul Casanova then singled to the right side, driving in both Pagan and Anderson. After a sacrifice from Maine and a walk to Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo grounded a ball up the middle, driving in Casanova.
The Mets strung together five hits this inning to drive in four runs, but this wasn't even the team's biggest inning of the day. Good stuff.
The Mets added one in the third as Pagan grounded into a fielders choice, allowing Carlos Beltran to score from third base.
The fifth inning was huge for the Mets and all their runs came with two outs. Church was hit by a pitch with one out, Anderson singled, and Casanova walked to set up Maine with the bases loaded. On an 0-2 pitch, Maine went down and got a slider low and away, blooping the ball to shallow center field, driving home Church and Anderson. A walk to Reyes ended Penny's day, and ex-Yankee Scott Proctor entered the game with the bases loaded and two away.
Proctor promptly walked the first batter he faced, Castillo, driving in a run. Wright, who had been struggling to this point, ripped a ball deep to left field, which hopped over the wall for a ground rule double, allowing two runs to score. With Beltran batting, Proctor threw a ground ball in the dirt, allowing Castillo to trot home with the sixth run of the inning.
Wow. The Mets bats woke up today, and had a lot of production from some reserve players, which is always good to see. Spectacular offensive performance.
Church added to the Mets runs in the top of the sixth, crushing the first pitch of the inning deep to right for his sixth home run of the season.
It's official. I must go buy a Church jersey or shirt. This guy is amazing.
Maine allowed one run in the ninth inning as Andruw Jones dunked a double in between Church and Castillo. Matt Kemp singled to center, breaking up the shut out and ending the day for Maine. Duaner Sanchez threw 2-3 of an inning, striking out James Loney to end the game.
Amazing game. This is how you quiet down the boo-birds and shut up griping fans. Where's the praise for Willie Randolph today? If you're going to blame him for the one run losses like Tuesday's performance, where are the people singing his praises for today's lashing?
Hmm...makes you think, doesn't it?? Please, Mets fans, we're better than this. Don't blame the manager for a two game losing streak. Have some sense. It happens to every team. Forget about 2007, it's a new year, but don't think it's going to be as easy as '06.
Game Ball: John Maine.
