Game #144: Mets 7, Brewers 3

(NYDailyNews.com)

All the New York offense needed? A change of scenery. And sausage.

Lucas Duda's 6th inning home run put it away for Jon Niese, who helped the Mets cruise to a 7-3 series-opening victory over the Brewers.

The Good Stuff:

• After stalling at Citi Field all week, the Mets' bats got going right of the bat in Milwaukee, scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning on RBIs by Ike Davis and Lucas Duda. The 2nd inning brought further treasures as Daniel Murphy launched a bomb for his sixth home run of the year on the first pitch from Mike Fiers. 4-0 Amazin's.
• The Brewers cut the lead in half by scoring twice in the bottom of the 2nd, but Lucas Duda led a 3-run charge in the 6th with his 14th home run of 2012. Two batters later Andres Torres reached on an error and Josh Thole hit a rare double to score him. Thole came in on Ruben Tejada's fielder's choice, and the Mets had a should-be insurmountable 7-2 lead.
• Spoiler alert: it was insurmountable. Because Jon Niese pitched as well as he needed to, going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 3 and striking out 5.
• When he left, Josh Edgin, Jon Rauch, Bobby Parnell, and Ramon Ramirez took care of the rest, allowing just one throwaway run in the 9th to secure the victory.
• After scoring more runs than fans are used to seeing in a week, these men stand out from the box score:
• Daniel Murphy (2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)
• David Wright (2-5, 2 2B, 2 R) [his 2 doubles give him 40 two-baggers on the year]
• Lucas Duda (2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI)

The Bad Stuff:

• I was out tonight so I didn't get to see any of these runs being scored. I don't know when I'll ever see as many runs scored again!

Final Analysis:
There's a high school in my home state of Indiana, Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. They are one of the best football teams in the country, not just the state, and they play all their games on the road because they don't have a homefield. The Mets should take a page out of Cathedral's book; it certainly worked for them tonight as they broke a 6-game losing streak (all at home). For once, all three important factors showed up to the right ballpark: starting pitching, relief pitching, offense were all in sync as New York played spoiler for a Brewers team with a potential back-to-back MVP (although he won't get it - see Jayson Stark for why) looking to get back into the playoff race. This season is sunk; heck, it's so far sunk that Robert Ballard is about to discover it. But if the Mets can keep winning games, and keep winning like this, they'll give their fans a smile going into a crucial offseason. Keep it up, boys!

MM