The Mets home opener ended the same way they finished off last season. Losing to the Philadelphia Phillies. On April 8th, the Mets were defeated by the Phillies 5-2. The Mets were up 2-0, thanks to a home run by Carlos Delgado and a RBI by Ryan Church that sent in Carlos Beltran who doubled a few batters before. But later in the game the Phillies put some numbers on the board, scoring three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to give them the victory. Mets pitcher Oliver Perez pitched 5 very good scoreless innings and came away with the no decision, but it was reliever Scott Schoeneweis who ended up with the loss pitching in the seventh and givin up those three runs to lose the game. This was not a very good game for the Mets. They wanted to come in to Shea Stadium with a bang and they just didn’t make it happen. Second basemen Luis Castillo left after the fourth inning with soreness in his surgically repaired right knee and will most likely take a day off to rest and will probably help the soreness. He was replaced by Damion Easley he did not get a hit. The Mets look to come back tomorrow and hope to show the home fans what they’re really about.
On Wednesday May 9th, the Mets got their first win at Shea Stadium this season. Mike Pelfrey got his first win of the season pitching five solid innings and the Mets beat the Phillies 8-2. Surprisingly the Mets only had five hits compared to the eight hits that the Phillies accounted for. But the stat that stood out the most was the nine walks and four errors the Phillies gave up that led to six unearned runs by the Mets. This was quite a sloppy game on the offensive end for New York, but the bullpen was what held them in there only giving up three hits in four innings and not giving up any runs. Damion Easley started at second in place for injured Luis Castillo, going 1-3 with two RBI’s and one run. One key player wasn’t in the lineup for the Phillies… think his name is Jimmy Rollins. Oh yeah, the 2007 NL MVP. Without their star, Philadelphia looked completely lost in the game and clearly aren’t meshing well. This win for the Mets stopped a three game skid and ended a nine-game losing streak to Philadelphia. The Mets go for their second straight win against the Phillies tomorrow at home.
On April 10th, the Mets once again beat the Philadelphia Phillies- without Jimmy Rollins. Starting pitcher John Maine, pitched 5 good innings only giving up one run and the bullpen did there job to beat the Phillies 4-3, in a game that went to 12 innings. The Mets batters were much more productive getting nine hits but had only four runs. Funny how that works. Angel Pagan led the way going 3-5 with two runs and one RBI. With two outs in the 12th, Reyes doubled off Tom Gordon and Pagan grounded a single to center. Center fielder Jayson Werth’s made a good throw home and a very close play on the speedy Jose Reyes, who slid around catcher Chris Coste and appeared to touch the plate with his left hand just before Coste applied the tag. Rollins did get his chance to pinch hit in the ninth inning but Billy Wagner struck him out.
On the 11th, Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2. Long time hometown fan, Nelson Figueroa, was the starting pitcher for New York and had his first win of the season. Figueroa pitched six good innings and only gave up two runs. The Mets had eight hits and an RBI each from Angel Pagan, Carlos Delgado, Damion Easley, and Raul Casanova. Pagan and David Wright each had two hits and were the only Mets players that had more then one hit. Wright, Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and pinch hitter Endy Chavez provided the four run for the Mets. The bullpen was excellent in the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning, not giving up any hits, walks, or runs. This 5-4 team needs the bullpen to play like this to make a September run.
Johan Santana didn’t get the start at Shead Stadium he wanted. It was a showdown between Santana and Milwaukee Brewer’s ace pitcher Ben Sheets and Sheets took the W and defeated Santana in his home debut. Neither star pitched that well, but Sheets pitched well enough in his 7+ innings giving up five hits and three earned runs. Santana was pulled a little bit into the 7th inning after he gave up a home run to Gabe Kapler to make the score 5-2. He finished his day by giving up six hits and three home runs to go with his four earned runs. The final score, Milwaukee Brewers beat the New York Mets 5-3. The Mets didn’t get the bats needed to overcome Johan’s sub-par performance only getting five hits including David Wright’s home run that brought in two batters, but that seemed to be the only thing that went right for them. All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes missed the game after finding out he had a mild strain in his left hamstring and is listed as day-to-day; Damion Easley filled his place and went 0-4. It’s still the beginning of the season and the Mets are at .500 with a record of 5-5, but have yet to find a constant base for the pitchers and batters to mesh in the same games. The Mets play the Brewers again tomorrow at home and will try to prevent a two game skid.
The Mets finished off there home series against the Brewers on April 13th on a unfortunate note. In a game that totaled 25 hits, the Brewers once again defeated the Mets by a score of 7-9. This was a very exciting game and a game that both teams starting pitchers weren’t very happy about their outing. Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan only lasted four innings letting up nine hits and six earned runs, and Mets pitcher Oliver Perez gave up similar stats after pitching to three Brewers in the fifth and finished his day by giving up nine hits and six earned runs as well. The Mets took a good lead at the end of the third by a score of 6-2, but then the Brewers scored four runs in the 4th inning, two in the 6h, and one in the 7th, to secure the win. All of the starting players for the Mets had at least one hit besides first baseman Carlos Delgado. Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo, Ryan Church and Damion Easley, who filled in for Jose Reyes again, had two hits, and Brian Schneider provided three hits. David Wright got his second home run in two days. Like I said in my last game post, the Mets have yet to mesh their pitching with their hitting. Very Explosive on the bats, poor performance from the starting pitching and reliever Jorge Sosa who got the L, pitching 1+ innings letting up two hits and one home run to go with his two earned runs.
