 |
| Ruben Tejada follows through on a two-run double (NYDailyNews.com) |
The Mets strung together five doubles and scored all their runs with two outs, zooming past the Dodgers, 5-3, for a series victory.
The Good Stuff:
- Jon Niese pitched well enough to pick up his 8th win of the year, going 7 innings and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 6. If not for a bad call on a Matt Kemp fielder's choice (Kemp should've been out for the double play) in the 6th, it would have been 2 runs. But you can't go wrong with the win.
- Carlos Beltran picked 2 of the team's doubles, one each in the 4th and 6th (he leads the NL with 26). In the 4th, it was Lucas Duda who plated Carlos with a 2-bagger of his own. In the 6th, it was LA starter Hiroki Kuroda, whose league-leading 11th wild pitch gave New York the lead for good.
- The Mets kept at it in the 6th and added some insurance: after singles by Lucas Duda and Josh Thole, Ruben Tejada sliced a double of his own into right-center, scoring both runners and making it 4-1.
- The lead was down to 4-3 in the 9th, but a struggling Justin Turner once again came through when it mattered most. With Willie Harris on second after a double, Mr. RBI poked a single over the second baseman's head to make it 5-3. It was Turner's 34th RBI of the season, good for second on the team (behind Beltran's 57).
- After Niese's departure, Bobby Parnell and Fransisco Rodriguez put the final nails in the Dodger coffin. Parnell pitched a 1-2-3 8th, striking out 2 batters on blink-and-you-miss sliders. K-Rod put it away in the 9th for his 22nd save of the year.
- New York scored 5, but with 11 hits, they could have gotten more: they only hit 3-12 with RISP and left 7 men on.
- Jason Bay's hitting streak came to an end after an 0-4 performance. Daniel Murphy matched that line as the cleanup hitter.
Another day, another Amazin' win. And this win, their fourth straight without one Jose Reyes, puts the Mets at a season-best 3 games over .500 at 45-42.
Speaking of Reyes, the results of his MRI will be sent away for a second opinion, and it's looking more likely that he'll miss the rest of the week, and probably the All-Star Game. It's a shame that he might miss the ASG, but the priority is to get him back at short completely healthy, no matter how long that takes (though we're hoping it isn't longer than this week...you never know with Mets team doctors). Fortunately, the way we're playing right now, we don't miss him too much. I've said it before, I'll say it again: we got this, Jose. Take all the time you need.
MM
Gosh - when are the other two teams ahead of us in the NL east going to start losing a few so we can catch up them? For every game we win, the Braves and the Phillies also win. Rats!
ReplyDeleteThat said, we are doing really great. This is not the team of the last few years. Kudos to TC for that.
And yet another bad call by an ump, and the first time I've seen Niese a little irritated about it. The umps really need to take a second to reflect before making a decision before the play has ended. It's irritating to watch, and not just because it affects a play for my team.
I'm really hoping we take this last game here. We deserve that as a reward for the grit we've been showing at every game :)
Have you noticed that Carlos Beltran has been smiling and laughing a lot recently? Such a pleasure to see and something I have not seen from him since the days of the Delgado combo. He's healthy, apparently pain free, playing like his old self, and the chemistry within the team and with TC has been the contributing factors imo. Really wonderful to see!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Jose decided to have a second opinion on his hammy. Based on the history of this medical staff, I wouldn't trust their conclusions without verification from an outside source either.
ReplyDeleteBesides, a few days of extra rest can only be beneficial to the healing process.
I want him to come back healthy and do even better in the second half of the season. Wouldn't that be something to watch :)
Re Parnell and being our future closer -
ReplyDeleteGood job recently, but I need to see a lot more games with him being consistency capable before he has my unreserved thumbs up.
In the meantime for every game that he pitches well( and depending on how he blows an inning) I'll hope for him to show all the other attributes of a being our future closer.