Thursday, June 22, 2006

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Reds 2

The big story of this game was of course David Wright. He is developing an incredible sense of timing, and his heroics today brought back the M-V-P! chant that we heard on Opening Day. I still think that's a bit presumptuous becaue he's still third in home runs on his own team, but the way he's hitting and driving in runs, if it doesn't happen this year, it's only a matter of time before he does win one.

The Mets trailed 2-0 in the fourth when Beltran walked to lead off the inning (Milton complained about a bad call). Then Wright hit his first home run to tie the game. The Mets tacked on another in that inning when Julio Franco doubled and Xavier Nady singled to drive him in (he was out at second trying to stretch to a double).

In the fifth, Beltran singled home Reyes (more on him in a second) and Wright connected with his second home run, to make the score 6-2. Wright is now batting .338 with 16 homers and 60 RBI (on pace for 36 and 135).








And his partner in crime for the next 15 years (hopefully) Jose Reyes continued his hot streak, one of the best 10 game stretches in Mets history. I can't verify that but you argue with these numbers. Over his 10 game-hitting streak (at least 2 hits in 9 of those games) he is batting .535 (23-43) with 14 runs and 5 steals. Over that span he raised his average to .286 from .246 and is now on base at .349 compared to .315. He now leads the majors with 62 runs scored (pace for 139). Sounds like a pretty good leadoff hitter to me.

And then there's Pedro Martinez. As well as Glavine is pitching he is still the ace of the staff. I still feel, and I'm sure they players do too, that every time Pedro pitches the Mets should win the game. He didn't have his best stuff, struggling with his control, walking 5 in six innings. He had to be taken out after 6 because he'd thrown 110 pitches, and Wright had just given the Mets a 6-2 lead. He only allowed 2 hits though, keeping his season total at about 2/3 of a hit per inning pitched. He also kept his ERA steady at 3.01 by allowing 2 runs in 6 innings.




The second tier of the bullpen (Bell, Feliciano and Bradford) nailed this one down. Feliciano got in a little trouble in the 8th allowing second and third with two outs but Bradford came in and stranded even more inherited runners. He pitched the ninth to earn his second save of the season. His first was the first game in LA, when he also got 4 outs. Today Bradford recorded three of his four outs by strikeout.

A good win to end what could have been a bad series. Losing 3 of 4 at home would have been tough. Now the Mets have a rough stretch starting in Toronto with 9 games against the top 3 teams in the American League East. The series in Boston should be fun and Mets-Yankees series are always entertaining.

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