Thursday, September 1, 2011

Game #135: Mets 7, Marlins 5

Miguel Batista throws six innings of two-run ball in his first start this season for the Mets. (NYDailyNews.com)
On the first day after September callups, New York went with 40-year-old Miguel Batista to start against Florida. Good decision? Oh, yes.

Batista earned his 100th career win and the Mets took advantage of 3 Marlins errors en route to a 7-5 victory.

The Good Stuff:
  • The first deviation from Pelfrey-Niese-Dickey-Capuano-Gee in 106 starts, Batista put on a good show, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings, walking 3 and striking out 3.
  • The Mets broke through with 4 runs in the 3rd inning: Lucas Duda drew a bases-loaded walk and David Wright sent 2 more home with a single. Duda then scored on a passed ball.
  • The offense was quiet until the 8th inning, when Duda and company plated 3 more. Lucas doubled home Ruben Tejada. After David Wright walked, Duda scored when an error was committed on Angel Pagan's sac bunt. One more run would score on a Mike Nickeas single.
  • The bullpen held together for the most part: Pedro Beato and Manny Acosta sailed through the 7th and 8th, and Bobby Parnell stopped the bleeding in the 9th to pick up the save.
  • Also, the good blue uniforms were back! Above, you can see Miguel Batista in the team's blue-with-orange lettering "Los Mets" jerseys. Aside from the "Los" part, making those part of the regular uniform rotation is a fantastic idea; they're certainly better than those ugly blue-with-black lettering jerseys from Monday night.
The Bad Stuff:
Final Analysis:
Another solid win. For once, the Mets did what they were supposed to do against a last-place team at home: win all but one (4 of 5 in this rare case). And with wins in 6 of their last 7 games, the Amazin's are back within striking distance of .500. Will they reach that mark again and finish there? If they keep playing like this in Washington this weekend and down in Miami next week (aren't you sick of them?), it seems more than likely.

MM

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