Game Recap: Mets 12 -- Dodgers 1

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.

Live Game Blog: Mets @ Dodgers -- 5/5

Sorry!!! Picking up in the top of the second...

Second inning:

• Carlos Beltran lines out to James Loney for the first out.
• Ryan Church drives a 2-2 pitch into center field for a one out single.
• Angel Pagan, fresh off a beautiful diving grab into the stand in the bottom of the first, singles to left. Church moves to second.
• Marlon Anderson, starting for Carlos Delgado, works the count full against Brad Penny. Anderson drives one deep to center field, well over the head of Matt Kemp. The ball bounces on the warning track and skips over the top of the wall for a ground rule double. Church scores, Pagan held at third. 1-0 Mets.
• Raul Casanova pulls one through the hole on the right side. Pagan trots home and Anderson is waved around. Throw home isn't even close and the Mets score two more. 3-0 Mets. They're stringing together hits!!!
• John Maine bunts it back to the pitcher, moving Casanova to second.
• Ball four to Jose Reyes. Two on for Luis Castillo. 47 pitches for Penny. Does this mean Hong-Chih Kuo is coming out?! PLEASE NO!!!!!
• Castillo delivers with a ground ball up the middle. Casanova "rumbles" around third to score. Reyes moves to second. 4-0 Mets.
• David Wright goes down swinging to end the inning.
• 4 runs, 5 hits, 0 BB, 1 K. 4-0 Mets.

• Wright continues to make beautiful plays on tough balls, swiping the ball off a bounce from Jeff Kent and making a nice throw to Anderson for the first out.
• James Loney grounds one to Castillo, who flips it to Anderson.
• Called strike three to Russel Martin. Nice, quick, crisp inning.
• 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 BB, 1 K. 4-0 Mets.

Third inning:

• Beltran rips one to the third base side of short, and Chin-lung Hu can't make the grab. Single to left for Beltran.
• With Beltran running, Church gets busted in on the hands. Church gets some wood on it as his bat explodes at the handle. The ball dinks in behind Jeff Kent as Beltran goes to third on Church's single to short right.
• Pagan grounds one to Kent at second. With Pagan's speed, they have no chance at a double play. Beltran scores. 5-0 Mets.
• Anderson just missed a home run, driving one to the warning track on the fly. Two away.
• With Casanova batting, the Dodgers pitch out with Pagan running. Perfect throw, but Pagan still beats it. Good stuff. Casanova grounds one up the middle, but Kent tracks it down and makes a falling away throw. With Casanova lumbering up the line, Kent had more than enough time to put him away.
• 1 run, 2 hits, 0 BB, 0 K. 5-0 Mets.

• Endy Chavez is taking over for Pagan in left. His shoulder has to be bothering him from his dive into the stands. Hope he's all right. According to David Lennon, Pagan was not happy, throwing equipment around the dugout.
  
• Last night's hero, Blake DeWitt grounds out to Delgado, who makes the flip to Maine covering first.
• Hu doubles down the first base line for the first hit of the game off of Maine. And there goes the no hitter.
• Penny swings at the first pitch, popping a ball foul to Wright at third.
• Juan Pierre grounds out to Reyes at short to end the inning.
• 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 BB, 0 K. 5-0 Mets.

Fourth inning:

• Maine grounds out to DeWitt for the first out of the inning.
• Penny is up to 69 pitches while facing Reyes here with one out in the fourth inning. 3-1 pitch and Reyes grounds out to Kent. Don't let Penny get into a rhythm.
• Castillo rips one down the third base line and pulls into second with his third double of the year.
• Wright is swinging at almost everything, fouling off the first two pitches, both of which looked like they would have been balls. He grounds out to DeWitt, who makes the long throw across the diamond to end the top half of the inning.
• 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 BB, 0 K. 5-0 Mets.

• First pitch to Eithier grounded to second. Maine's 31st pitch of the day.
• Kemp batting, works the count to 2-2, before striking out swinging on a high fastball.
• 1-1 pitch to Maine goes high and inside and Kent has to hit the decks to get out of the way of that ball. Full count to Kent now. Gary just said "recombobulated." That's a new one. Check swing, and he went around, strike three to end the inning.
• 0 run, 0 hits, 0 BB, 2 K. 5-0 Mets.

Fifth inning:

• Full count to Beltran. Really making Penny work today. Beltran smokes one to first, but Loney makes a beautiful diving stab on the ball. He flips to Penny covering. One away.
• Church barely gets nicked by a ball inside. Looked like it might have touched his jersey and both benches have now been warned. Church is on base for the third straight time.
• Chavez is taking his first swings of the game. Chavez goes down swinging for only Penny's second strike out.
• Anderson checks his swings, but grounds one slowly to Hu at short. Hu is slow to field it and Anderson beats the throw to first for an infield single.
• Casanova walks out a walk, loading the bases for Maine.
• Maine gets fooled as his knees buckle on strike one and flails at a slider away for strike two. Maine then bloops a pitch into shallow center field, driving home Church and Anderson. 7-0 Mets.
• Penny walks Reyes, loading the bases for Castillo.
• Penny's day is done, and Scott Proctor will take over for LA.
• Proctor promptly walks Castillo with the bases loaded, driving in another run. 8-0 Mets.
• Wright makes up for his 0-fer day, crushes a ball to deep left field, over the head of Pierre. Two runs score as the ball skips into stands for a ground rule double. 10-0 Mets.
• With Beltran batting, Proctor throws a wild pitch in the dirt, bringing home Castillo. Wright moves to third. 11-0 Mets. And Beltran becomes another notch in the trivia book, making both the first and the last out of the inning.
• 6 runs, 3 hits, 3 BB, 0 K. 11-0 Mets.

• Maine is only at 43 pitches. Loney smacks a double into the gap for the Dodgers second hit of the game. Beltran almost had it, but it was just a few feet out of his reach.
• Now Maine is struggling, and after a long at bat, Martin walks. Maine is now up to 61 pitches on the inning without recording an out.
• Maine bounces back and strikes out DeWitt for the first out of the inning.
• Hu grounds a ball to second. Castillo attempts a tag on Martin, but pulls away and throws to first for the first out. Delgado then throws to Reyes, who tags out Martin on the basepath. Perfectly executed double play.
• 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 BB, 1 K. 11-0 Mets.

Sixth inning:

• First pitch from Proctor in the sixth, Church crushes it over the wall in right for a solo home run. I love that man.
• Chavez flies out to center.
• Anderson strikes out swinging.
• Casanova drives a ball to deep center, and Casanova "glides" into second with a double.
• Maine goes down swinging on a ball low and away to end the inning.
• 1 run, 2 hits, 0 BB, 2 K. 12-0 Mets.

• Mark Sweeney pinch hitting for the Dodgers. Sweeney grounds the fourth pitch he sees to Castillo, who makes the sidearm throw to Delgado for the first out.
• Pierre lines one right into the glove of Reyes, two away.
• Ethier pops one up to shallow left, Chavez comes in and makes the play. Quick inning as Maine is only up to 76 pitches through six.
• 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 BB, 0 K. 12-0 Mets.

Seventh inning:

• Is anyone still reading this? Haha. Hit the comments if you are, otherwise I'm suspending it soon and starting on my recap.
• Chan Ho Park is pitching.
  
• Reyes grounds out to second for the first out of the inning.
• Castillo grounds out to short for the second out of the inning. (Yes, I know those are the same sentences with different names and positions.)
• Wright grounds out to short for the third out of the inning. That was easy.
• 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 BB, 0 K. 12-0 Mets.

And that's it for me. This is an absolute blow out. If you're still reading, I'm sorry, but my arm is cramping and I have an 8 page paper to do later (It's due Friday, don't worry Dad.) so I'll be back later with the game recap. Thanks for reading and please stick around and come back as much as possible! And don't be afraid to comment and have your voice heard!

Game Preview: Mets @ Dodgers -- 5/7

The Mets looks to salvage their series against the Dodgers today, trying to take the final game and return home with a 3-3 record for the road trip.

Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Luis Castillo
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
LF Angel Pagan
1B Marlon Anderson
C Raul Casanova
SP John Maine

Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou and Brian Schneider take a seat today for the day game after the night game. Surprised Beltran is in there today, Castillo too.

Brad Penny vs. the Mets: 5-11, 111.1 IP, 132 hits, 79 runs, 34 BB, 86 K, 5.66 ERA

Mets vs. Penny:
Reyes: 7-26, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K
Castillo: No experience
Wright: 9-14, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K
Beltran: 3-15, 3B, RBI, 3 K
Church: 3-9, 2B, RBI, 2 K
Pagan: No experience
Anderson: 5-25, 2 2B, 3B, 2 BB, 3 K
Casanova: No experience

Hong-Chih Kuo, newest Mets killer

We all saw Hong-Chih Kuo's dominance over the Mets bats last night.

Here are his career numbers against them: 5 games, 3-0 record, 19.2 IP, 9 hits, 1 earned run, 5 BB, 24 K, 0.46 ERA.

Twenty four strike outs in only 19 2-3 innings. I sure hope they don't face him today.

Reyes' growing pains

Tim Brown over at Yahoo! Sports, takes a look at Jose Reyes and how he holds the power to make or break the Mets offense. Brown points out how Reyes is experiencing "growing pains," but he is so young, that fans shouldn't worry.

From Brown:

So, Reyes struggles some, like the rest. He went bad in the worst possible September. He lives with that too. But, he said, he’ll let his talent play, let the game come, expand the parts he can.

“Nobody can ever time when superstardom is going to hit,” [Damion] Easley said. “Everybody wants to automatically have it happen, to say this is the year he’s going to be Superman. I’ll tell you, he’s doing everything he needs to do to progress. He’s a good kid. He gets frustrated sometimes, emotional sometimes. Who doesn’t?

“This has been a valuable lesson for him, to let him know that what people write, say or cheer, it’s for the moment. He’s got to be consistent in thinking he’s the player he thinks he is. I’m sure it hardened him up a little bit, toughened him up.”

Maybe. Reyes smiled. He’s got stuff to take care of.

“Just play baseball,” he said, that simply. “Just play baseball.”

That's right. Just play the game. I've noticed Reyes starting to get angry at himself at the plate if he strikes out or misses a bad pitch.

I like this. It shows his frustration and that he knows he should and could be preforming better. Obviously, because I'm an eternal optimist with this team, I think Reyes will turn it around and start tearing it up again.

Right now, he's like an engine starting up. We're seeing sputters of power and it starts to kick it into gear, but the engine just isn't turning over...yet. Once this team breaks out of it's season long funk, with Reyes leading the way, it's literally going to be a whole new ball game.

Photo of the Day: Reyes

Two things:
Jose Reyes, I agree. The strike zone was miserable.
and
Doesn't Reyes look like a giant here? I found solace in that, at least.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Game Recap: Dodgers 5 -- Mets 4

First off, this was probably the most maddening game of the year, so if you didn't stay up until 1:32 a.m., you were probably better off.

The Mets had an early lead and forced the Dodgers to go to their bullpen in the fourth inning, but just couldn't hold on to the lead as they dropped the second game of the series to the Dodgers by a score of 5-4.

Nelson Figueroa was on the bump for the Mets, only lasting five innings. Figueroa allowed five earned runs on eight hits and four walks. Figueroa struck out three. He needed 104 pitches to get through the five innings.

Not good, not terrible. The Mets starters need to pitch more innings or the coaching staff is going to have no choice but to go to the bullpen. Something needs to be done, but I don't think Rick Peterson is the problem.

Ryan Church put the Mets on the board early, crushing a solo home run to deep center field as the second batter of the game.

The Mets didn't take any time off, and in the second added two runs on RBI singles from Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes. The Mets failed to score any more runs, as they had the bases loaded with nobody out, but Church grounded into a double play, 1-2-3, followed by a David Wright called strike three.

The Mets were 2-14 with runners in scoring position tonight. They absolutely cannot buy a hit with runners on base. They absolutely could have won this game, as they pounded out 11 hits and walked four times. Terrible.

The Dodgers got on the board in the second, as Juan Pierre singled in Blake DeWitt with two outs for LA's first run.

Pay attention to the two outs.

The best inning of the game was the fourth, even if the Mets only scored once. Leading off the inning, Moises Alou reached on a dribbler to third that DeWitt couldn't handle. Carlos Delgado then singled up the middle, and Alou took an aggressive turn at second, catching Andruw Jones flat footed. Alou slid into third, which would set up a coming play. Angel Pagan, starting in center for Carlos Beltran who was out with flu-like symptoms, grounded into a fielders choice, erasing Delgado at second.

With Brian Schneider batting, Pagan broke for second. Russel Martin popped up and made the strong throw to second, and as soon as Alou saw this, he broke for home. Pagan slid in safely at second and the throw home wasn't even close as Alou stole home for the fourth time in his career.

Just great, aggressive stuff on the basepath from Alou this inning. He's trying to make up for lost time, and thankfully so. This team needs some fire.

The third inning saw the Dodgers scratch back, as DeWitt knocked a two out single to right field, driving in both Jeff Kent and James Loney.

Again, two outs. DeWitt wasn't done for the day either.

In the fourth, the Mets knocked out LA starter Hiroki Kuroda as he was replaced with Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo was the Dodgers savior, as he pitched 3 2-3 innings of scoreless and hitless baseball, walking only one while striking out eight.

He was absolutely nasty. The Mets didn't even have a shot while he was on the bump. Dominant performance.

The game breaker came in the fifth inning with one on and, of course, two out. Martin singled with two outs. DeWitt came up and crushed a ball to deep right field. Church went back to the wall and made a leaping attempt at the ball. It hit off the top of the wall, barely catching the edge of his glove. Church fell to the warning track as the ball bounced back onto the field, still in play.

Church lay there, either expecting Pagan to come over and back him up on the play and pick up the ball, or he thought the ball was already called a home run, but he paused for a second, which allowed DeWitt to chug around the bases. By the time Church got up and fielded the ball, DeWitt had rounded third and headed home for his second career home run, an inside the park job.

And from there, the Mets looked defeated. I believe it should have been Pagan's ball to field as he should be backing up Church on a play like that, but I can't be 100 percent sure. Just an unlucky bounce and chain of events. Only the Mets...

Aaron Heilman turned in two innings of scoreless baseball, only allowing one hit while striking out two. Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith combined for one inning, with Feliciano allowing one hit and Smith recording one strike out.

Well, the bullpen looked good, especially Heilman. These scoreless innings have to be huge boosts to his confidence.

The Mets threatened in the ninth, getting consecutive two out singles before Castillo was called out on strikes to end the game.

Honestly, the strike zone was terrible, all night. I don't want to blame it on the ump because the Mets had a TON of chances to get hits and drive in runs, but I was screaming and throwing things on some of those strikes.

Game Ball: Alou. The team needs more hustle like that.

Game Preview: Mets @ Dodgers -- 5/6

The Mets aim to bounce back from last nights debacle, facing the Dodgers for the second late game in a row, another 10:10 p.m. start.

Lineup:
SS Jose Reyes
RF Ryan Church
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran** (Late scratch. Flu-like symptoms.)
LF Moises Alou
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Angel Pagan** (I believe this is what the lineup card in the dugout showed)
C Brian Schneider
2B Luis Castillo
SP Nelson Figueroa

Mets vs. Hiroki Kuroda:
No Met has ever faced him.

According to John Delcos, the lineup was posted late as Willie Randolph waited to hear from Alou if he was good to go for tonight. Look for Angel Pagan or Endy Chavez tomorrow.

Let's hope the Mets can find some success against a guy they've never faced. Most players were out for early BP.

Taking extra BP

According to Bart Hubbuch, most of the Mets are out four hours early taking some extended batting practice.

He points out that Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes are noticeably absent from the hitting session.

Well good for most of the guys, taking it on themselves after last night's very quiet offensive showing. Delgado and Reyes should be leading the way with the extra BP, curious they're not out there.

Awful stats

Read this statistic:

.177—The Mets’ batting average with runners in scoring position with two outs. Of their 271 at-bats overall with runners in scoring position, the Mets have struck out 42 times.

The Mets can't get that big hit in the big spots and it's shows. The offense struggles stringing three or four hits together off a pitcher, driving in a few runs an inning.

That needs to improve. Immediately.

*****

Another miserable stat: No Mets starter has gone more than seven innings in a game.

Stop blaming Willie Randolph for this. The starters need to stretch out more, and if they do get into the seventh, their pitch count is usually around 120. I'm not a huge fan of pitch counts, but pitchers have grown accustomed to only throwing 100 or so pitches, so like it or not, I have to subscribe to it.

It's not all Willie's fault, though sometimes it might be. The rotation needs to step up and get some quick innings under their belt.