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| Jason Bay cracks two home runs to knock in a total of four runs. (NYDailyNews.com) |
Jason Bay hit two home runs and Carlos Beltran added one of his own, giving the Mets their 3rd straight win, a 6-0 triumph over the Dodgers.
The Good Stuff:
- Mike Pelfrey, usually horrendous on the road, brought his good side to the Hollywood crowd. Pelf pitched 6 innings of shutout ball, allowing 5 hits, walking 2, and striking out 2. He got into some trouble by loading the bases in the 4th and 5th, but dug deep and got out of both instances unscathed. All-in-all, LA's clutch numbers resemble ours from earlier in the season: 1-12 with RISP, 13 runners left on. And a lot of that was Pelf's doing.
- The Met offense stayed quiet for the first 4 innings as well, but woke up in time for a 5th-of-July fireworks show. With Angel Pagan on second and two out in the 5th, Carlos Beltran took a first pitch fastball from Ted Lilly and launched it into the left-center stands for his 13th blast of the season. The 2 runs make it 162 New York has scored with two outs, the most in the NL.
- Jason Bay came up first in the 6th inning, and the result was very much the same: a deep shot to left-center off a Ted Lilly fastball. Then after leadoff singles by Beltran and Ronny Paulino in the 8th, Bay decided twice was nice and slammed one over the right-center wall, doubling New York's total and settling the final score.
- I've been hesitant to say it, but I think now, without question, is the time: Jason Bay is back. Let's take a look at the numbers: in the past 18 games (since June 15th in Atlanta), Bay has hit .347 (currently on an 8-game hitting streak), collected 4 home runs and 17 RBIs (almost one per game), and has struck out just 13 times. (He also broke the team's 299 game-long grand slam drought and delivered the walk of hit to beat the Yankees.)
- You can't help but feel good for Jason; he's worked so hard to get out of this career-long slump, and it appears he finally has. Mets fans have wondered for a year and a half what the team would be like if Bay was close what the team paid for, and now they're getting an idea. And it's a beautiful thing. Welcome back, Jason Bay.
- The bullpen was all it needed to be tonight as well, with Pedro Beato, Jason Isringhausen, and DJ Carrasco combining for 3 shutout innings of relief to give Mike Pelfrey the well-deserved win.
- As attractive as the longball is, I kind of missed all the doubles and triples. No complaints, though.
Great pitching, timely hitting (this time with some more pop to it). That's the name of the game. Another solid win.
The W puts New York back at two games over .500, and all but erased last week's 3-game losing streak with a 3-game winning streak to boot. And this winning streak? All without Jose Reyes in the lineup. We'll welcome him when he gets back, but the way the Mets are playing, his absence is noticeably unnoticeable. Just the fact that I was able to write that last sentence means great things are happening for this team.
MM
Jason Bay - Yeah!
ReplyDeleteWe have liftoff, and I am hoping this is blastoff for him. I will finally be able to heal from all the lumps my baseball friends have given me every time I tell them I have faith that he would come around :). Thank you, gods!
And another win for the team!
Carlos and Pagan and the rest of the guys are stepping up and holding the fort and it's great to see. I know they can't hold it forever but this shows how we've gotten tough and refused to give up, and I love it. We're not pushovers anymore :)
As for Pelfrey, he was able to get himself out of the holes he dug, and listening to his interview after the game I was really surprised at the change in his attitude. I've been hard on him because I'd gotten tired of his wimpy mentality and putting us in a hole every time he pitches. If he digs in I'll really have to revise my opinion, and gladly.
All in all it was really worth it for me, sitting up to watch the game and the commentary afterwards. We're playing good baseball,and it's a pleasure to watch, anticipating something wonderful in every game. I love it!