Game #75: Mets 4, A's 1

Jose Reyes drives in Josh Thole with a single to center in the sixth inning Thursday afternoon. (NYDailyNews.com)

Great pitching and well-timed base hits. The name of the game is small ball, and it's the game the Mets are learning to win with.

Jose Reyes turned in another multi-hit game and Chris Capuano delivered a scoreless start, sending the Mets on their way to a series win over the Athletics, 4-1.

The Good Stuff:

• R.A. Dickey set the tone last night and Chris Capuano kept the ball rolling in the day, scattering 5 hits over 6 scoreless innings, walking none and striking out 7. Cappy is 3-1 in his past 4 starts.
• The Mets had no extra-base hits on the day, but they got it done with strings of singles, 9 in total. In the 2nd inning, Jason Bay, Lucas Duda, and Josh Thole loaded the bases on base hits, and Capuano grounded into a double play that brought home the first run. Jose Reyes then lashed a hard grounder up the middle to score run #2.
• In the 5th, Reyes got to first on a throwing error, advanced to second on a Justin Turner sac bunt, to third on a Carlos Beltran hard groundout, and came home on Daniel Murphy's single. Murph went 3-4 on the day, breaking out of a recent slump.
• In the 6th, New York picked up one more run on a lucky break. Josh Thole picked up a 2-out walk and Willie Harris followed with a single, bringing up Reyes. Jose hit a catchable popup in foul territory, but Oakland first baseman got turned around and let it fall to the ground. One pitch after the E3, Reyes hit a line drive into center for his second RBI single of the day.
• In 72 games this season, Jose has multiple hits in 37 of them. Simply put, that's Amazin'.
• Capuano was pinch-hit for in the 6th and put the game in the hands of Pedro Beato, who tossed 2 innings of no-hit ball in relief, allowing one run on a sac fly. From there, Fransisco Rodriguez rebounded from last night's debacle and sat down the remaining A's 1-2-3 in the 9th for his 20th save.
• The last item in Good Stuff comes from a managerial decision. Acknowledging that he pushed Jason Bay back into cleanup too early, Terry Collins moved him back to the 6-hole, where he had been performing as of late. Bay went 1-4, scored the first run, and didn't strike out, much better than his 0-5, 3-K showing last night. If Bay is going to finally get on a roll, he's got to do it in a spot with a lot less pressure. Good move.

The Bad Stuff:

• Angel Pagan had a difficult time at the plate today, going 0-4 and striking out twice, leaving 5 runners on base.
• Even this win isn't enough to keep the injury bug away. Turns out Capuano was pinch hit for in the 6th because of abdominal discomfort. Hopefully it's nothing too serious; if there's one thing we don't need right now, it's another injury.

Final Analysis:
The pitchers stood strong, and the hitters came through when it mattered. For once, everything went right for the Mets today. A series win is a series win, and even though it isn't a sweep, we'll take it.

In their past 6 series, the Mets are 4-1-1, and are once again 1 game under .500. New York takes their 37-38 mark on the road and into the toughest stretch of the season, starting out with 3 games against the Rangers in Arlington. The next two and a half weeks will likely decide the fate of the 2011 New York Mets. With a good showing, it will be tough for general manager Sandy Alderson to argue for a fire sale. With a bad showing, well, I try not to think about that.

MM

P.S. Finally some good news: David Wright has been cleared to resume baseball activities.