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The Mets (18–15) defeated the Reds (14–22) by the score of 12 to 6 in Shea Stadium this afternoon.
For a full recap, go to SNY’s Boxscore.
It’s impressive, because even a so-so day, in which he threw a ton of pitches, and allowed 10 hits, Johan Santana let up just three runs in six innings. So many times it could have so much worse, but he always seems to do what is necessary to get out of the inning. Also, the team’s defense came through for him often. What’s more, they got a favorable call from the ump on a grounder in the fifth, on which the runner at first was called out, when he was really safe. Thanks, ump.
I’m not sure why Willie Randolph was initially bunting with Johan Santana in the second inning, with runners at first and third and one out. Nevertheless, the pitcher threw a wild pitch, and Moises Alou scored from third anyways.
Nice hustle by David Wright in the fifth, taking second on a deep pop-up by Carlos Beltran. Wright was then able to score on a bloop single from Ryan Church.
In the third, with the infield in, Moises Alou dunked a single over the head of Brandon Phillips, to score two runs. Normally, phillips catches that ball, but, oh well.
In the top of the fourth, Edwin Encarnacion hit a home run off of santana…alou jumped to try and rob it, but missed. Honestly, I’d rather alou just keep his feet on the ground at all time – it’s just safer that way, don’t you think.
Santana struggled in the sixth, losing the bottom of the order…with 100 pitches in his pocket, two outs and runners on base, willie stuck with him, and returned the favor by striking out the batter to end the inning.
Even on a day when the Mets score 12 runs and win by six, they still manage to use three relief pitchers – on a day when they’ll have to play another nine innings. Unreal.
Give a game ball to Carlos Beltran, who had five RBI on the day, and who put the game out of reach in the sixth with a three-run, bases-clearing triple. The Mets got a nice ovation, having tacked on four insurance runs in the sixth – I look forward to endless columns in the newspapers tomorrow about the happy fans.
By the way, the Mets have won their last two games by a combined score of 24 to 7.
The Mets will play the Reds again today at 7:30 pm, with Mike Pelfrey on the mound against Bronson Arroyo.
mets won!
how could willie do that, doesnt he know anything about….
…uh…..
fire him!
Thats bottom of the 6th was the Mets best half inning all year. Having a game where Santana lets the team back in it and wears himself out in the top of the inning was followed by the type of pick me up inning the offense hasnt been providing since last April. It was a lovely thing to see.
Instead of a parade of struggling relievers trying to hold only a small lead they get to work in less pressurized situations and the fans get to breathe easy while Heilman and Feliciano still try to blow the game…
Good point. That’s the type of thing we’ve all wanted to see more of from this team since last year. Step on their throats!
I don’t know what this means really…Health, bad pitches or something else. 36 Hits and 28 runs the last 3 games. Makes me sleep better at night knowing we can score more than 3 runs. Sounds like Willie is going to get at least one more month no matter how things go. I would’ent mind a change but if we go on a nice run that would be even better. So i hope to see you this summer Willie. Godspeed
Did Willie deserve the credit/blame for today’s win/loss?
They lost? Absolutely he deserves the blame, fire him!
They Won? Absolutely not, he deserves no credit.
matt’s polls about this are obnoxious. why do willie’s defenders only address the dumbest arguments? and then put up those polls as though it’s that simple: it’s either he deserves credit for the wins and blame for the losses or neither. wrong.
when the mets win in a blowout, willie is not responsible for the win. when the mets lost a bunch of games in ‘07 because willie stubbornly stuck with mota in high leverage situations, that is very likely willie’s fault. this is not as open-and-shut an argument as matt is trying to make it. it’s game by game, case by case. he’s not responsible for every win and he’s not responsible for every loss but there is a strong case to be made that he does more harm than good.
Exactly. People who call for Willie’s head at any lost are morons, but there are plenty of people who call for his head because of years worth of bad choices.
Defend him if you want, but just saying “see they won,” is no argument that he should stay, just as “see they lost” is no argument he should be fired.
Absolutely correct that there are plenty of people who call for his head because of years worth of bad choices.
Those who come up with dumb reasons why (oh he lost or won a game so go or stay is so Sillie) are just dumb.
i think the point being made is that after the blowout loss to the Pirates, everyone wanted him gone: if you don’t give Willie credit for a blowout win, you can’t blame him for a blowout loss.
I have no problem blaming him for the bullpen issues and other tactical decisions, but people jump on the “he can’t motivate the team” bandwagon, and then conveniently ignore games the Mets win like this and the last game against the Dodgers.
I wonder how the night game will turn out. It’s our worst pitcher against theirs.
They have a starter worse than Belisle? yikes
This is a good series to keep the bats hot.
And after these three and Wed. hot batting day perhaps they will remain hot enough to stay hot.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and label Arroyo a bad pitcher. Sure, he’s been dreadful, so far, this year, but he is not going to end the season with an ERA over 8.00. He may not be one of the league’s elite pitchers, either (in fact, I would consider that pretty likely), but he will get better. For all we know, it could all start tonight. (Frankly, I always worry about the offense in the next game when the Mets score a ton.)
please be quiet!!
willie has to be given a fair chance at managing this team.
you obviously wrote this comment to be the first and get people’s attention. well, you know what?, you’ve got mine.
I hope all fans read todays newspaper article in which Willie clarifies his situation and I’m definitely one of those fans who support Willie.
i was being sarcastic, i thought obviously.
i agree with you, i’m tired of the willie bashing
How exactly has he not been given a fair chance?
Willie must have some kind of dirt on him.
You said “Absolutely correct that there are plenty of people who call for his head because”
OK so what does that mean???
Assuming Smith isn’t the guy to go down (which would be foolish), we’ve got Scho, Smith, Sanchez, Wise and Wagner in the pen. Should be plenty, unless Pelfrey gets absolutely shelled (knock on wood….)
They could use Figueroa in long relief (on 2 days rest) and then call up Tony Armas Jr to pitch in place of Figs on 5/12. Then Figgy would be the extra starter they need on 5/14, which would give him 3 days of rest after the relief outing.
I would have Figgy on alert tonight, its probably his throw day anyway. They will need a 6th starter sometime this week, so thats one way to manage that situation.
Based on us not using Smith, maybe the choice is to DL Pagan and get Wise back. Maybe Marty Noble didn’t get it correct in his story.
Thats the better choice. The mets don’t have an off day until the 19th. More pitching would be good considering we have the Yankess and Braves after the Nationals this week.
One problem with this is that they will need another starting pitcher for one of the games against the Nats. Santana nor Pelfrey will come back on 3 days rest, so they will still need to swap out a reliever for a starter. Sosa cant be that starter, it just isnt realistic, imo.
Not to mention, having only Castro, Easley, Endy, and Marlon on the bench leaves the team really short.
I particularly agree with the last point. Don’t forget, Castro is just coming back from the DL, and seems to be a bit fragile–not to mention, Willie is always (understandably) wary of using his backup catcher too soon. Plus, Endy is often used as a defensive replacement for Alou, late in games. With such a short bench, you either risk leaving the bench extra short, after inserting Endy as a defensive replacement, or you scrap that plan altogether (and playing Alou for all 9 innings is always an injury waiting to happen, isn’t it?).
As for the need for another starter, that’s a definite. Pelfrey isn’t coming back on 3 days rest, simply because he has been struggling enough on regular rest. The only exception would be if he gets shelled tonight, and doesn’t pitch much. Otherwise, not a chance of it happening. And Johan threw about 120 pitches, so he won’t be working on short rest, either.
I wonder if they would call Armas up and DFA Sosa? Clearly, Joe Smith doesn’t deserve to be sent down, but since he is the only one with options, it seems like the only choice they have. That being said, if they call up Armas for the spot start on Wednesday, against the Nats, they’d either have to DFA him or Sosa afterwards, because they don’t need two long relievers. So, if they have no choice but to DFA somebody, why not Sosa? Armas can serve as the long man, and Sosa’s higher salary may make him more likely to clear waivers.
Nice win for the Mets.
Willie Must Go!