postGame: Mets 5 Marlins 3
The Mets (24–26) defeated the Marlins (30–21) by the score of 5 to 3 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a boxscore, recap, play by play, etc., click here.
Right out of the gate, the Mets looked like the team we have been wanting them to be. They were running hard, hi-fiving, making strong defensive plays and looking alert.- In fact, the first three batters of the game reached base, and though Carlos Beltran popped out, Damon Easley drove home a run with a sac fly, which was followed by two RBI singles from Ramon Castro and Fernando Tatis, who later drove in another run with a single to left field.
- Tatis is on fire, and needs to stay in the lineup for a little while longer – and I can’t believe i just wrote that, but I did. Fernando Tatis. Go figure. In fact, I see no reason why Willie Randolph should change the lineup tomorrow.
- Later, Tatis and Carlos Beltran took part in a two-out double steal, with Ramon Castro at the plate and Nick Evans on deck.
- By the way, Evans looks totally overmatched.
- Thank God the Mets go to Andrew Miller early, though, because once he settled in, well, he settled in.
- Johan Santana allowed three runs on eight hits through seven innings pitched. He worked from behind in the count quite often, but that will do just fine against the free-swinging Marlins. The thing is, he just can’t resist allowing a home run, can he. Bizarre. Santana struck out Hanley Ramirez twice, which was nice to see.
- Later, Santana hit a double off the wall in left center, running hard to leg out the hit. He is among the best athletes on the team, no doubt about it.
- Beltran ran down a deep, deep fly ball in the left-center field gap, looking like a wide receiver, as Ron Darling likes to point out.
- In the seventh, with a runner on third and one out, Jose Reyes lost the handle on a high chopper hit right at him. The runner would have scored any way, thanks mostly to back-to-back wild pitches from Santana, but still, Reyes has now committed an error in three straight games. Also, hats off to Luis Castillo, who made a diving grab behind second earlier in the inning, which, had he not, who knows how badly the seventh could have been. In the end, Nick Evans made a hold-your-breath catch for the second out and Santana set up Dan Uggla, got ahead of the count and ended it by striking him out on a change up away. Close call.
- Speaking of close calls, I lost count of how many times the Mets hitters had to turn away and hit the deck from a high-and-tight fastball from the Marlins.
- By the way, Easley, Tatis and Castro, the heart of the team’s order tonight, were 5 for 9 with five RBI.
- Lastly, hat’s off to SNY for letting Keith Hernandez broadcast from the seats at field level behind home plate. Outstanding. In some cases, they had a camera over his shoulder looking out on to the field, as Keith broke down the at bat and pitcher. It was like Keith-Cam. The best part, though, was later in the game when in the middle of a sentence about batting stances he casually says, “Oh, no thank you, I don’t eat dairy,” after which he just continued on with his comments about the game. I laughed out loud, as it was clear he just refused ice cream from a fan.
- Despite the Marlins having runners on base all night, I felt pretty comfortable and confident in the Mets tonight. I think it was their energy level. At any rate, it was a strong, fun, exciting, entertaining game tonight, guys – and it’s about time.
The Mets play the Marlins on Wednesday, completing a three-game series, with Oliver Perez facing Scott Olsen.
