Game #128: Tigers 11, Mets 3

Detroit may have only gotten two runs in the 1st, but the message was clear and the 9th inning foreshadowed.

(NYDailyNews.com)

Miguel Cabrera's moonshot set the scene for a thumping of the Mets, as the Tigers put seven across in the 9th to complete the sweep, 11-3.

The Bad Stuff:

• Dillon Gee was off his game against the vaunted Detroit bats, allowing four runs on 10 hits in six innings, walking two and striking out two on 108 pitches.
• All the scoring happened on home runs: the first inning saw Miguel Cabrera, a.k.a. still the best player on the planet, hit a two-run shot that may have been the longest in Citi Field history, flying through a tunnel in the second deck and settling somewhere in Maine; the second homer, while not as definitive, was a two-run line drive by Andy Dirks in the 6th to make it 4-3.
• Meanwhile, the Mets got to Tiger starter Rick Porcello for three runs but could do little else, managing four hits in the entire game, hitting a scant 1-4 with RISP and stranding three.
• The wheels came off in the top of the 9th, as LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Atchison combined to let in seven runs. Not much else to say about that, so we're going to move on.

The Good Stuff:

• Travis d'Arnaud hit the first of (hopefully) many home runs in his big-league career, hammering a 4th-inning Porcello fastball over the short fence in left center to put the Mets up 3-2.
• Daniel Murphy's RBI single in the 3rd put New York on the board.
• Juan Lagares went 2-4 and scored on d'Arnaud's homer.

Final Analysis:
(Insert obligatory "Miguel Cabrera is not human" comments here.) In all seriousness, we're witnessing something special in the major leagues. If Miggy keeps this up he will go down as one of the greatest hitters of all-time. The number 763 may even be in his future...for baseball's sake, we can only hope.

As for the Mets, this sweep against a top AL contender reaffirmed what we knew all along: starting pitching is set, one more bat is needed, and we're not quite there yet. The degree to which New York was beaten this weekend may discourage fans, but more than anything that was a team on the rise running head on into a train that keeps on rolling. Nothing to be ashamed of. We'll get our fair share of doing that in the coming years.

MM