Johan Santana was back to his regular form. The Mets were making big contact with men on base. And the Orioles made some silly decisions. All combined to put together a fine Mets win, as they beat Baltimore 5-0 for the 2nd straight day.
No, this Baltimore lineup isn't the Yankees. In fact, no lineup is like the Yankees. But Baltimore, though they may not walk much, aren't too shabby with the bats. If Johan had the same command against the Yankees as he had last night against the Orange Birds, he probably would have fared better. He was working the corners, setting up inside with his fastball then getting them with the low-outside corner change-up. Everything was down, and it was beautiful. Man, Johan Santana is a lot of fun to watch. We have two of the most fun pitchers in baseball headlining our rotation. If any 3 of the other starters get their act together (Jon Niese I'm talkin' you specifically) we'll have quite the 3 at the top. I believe Jon Niese is a better pitcher than 3.82. It's time for him to fuse with the other 2 to make a crazy, National League East 3-headed Met Monster.
Daniel Murphy has been slumping badly. His batting average, at it's height, was somewhere in the .330's. Now, it's .271. The thing is, while he took an 0-3 last night, he ripped a ball down the line in the 4th, and if it wasn't for Mark Reynolds' diving stop to the line, it would have been a 2-run (at least) double. Instead, it scored the 1st run of the game, (which is, as well, not too shabby.) Murph was upset, but he helped break through on a pitcher who, for the 1st 3 innings, kept the Mets at bay.
It is always a good sign when The Duda is turning on inside pitches and hitting them for home runs. While the pitch did not trail as inside as Tommy Hunter would have liked, it was still inside, and there it went to hit the net in the Brand New Mo's Zone in the 6th inning. I like that Mo's Zone much, much better than the original Mo's Zone. Remember when that home run used to be in play? That was silly.
What was Wilson Betemit thinking when he didn't go for the sure-fire double play in the 7th? The run you are now chasing down in Omar Quintanilla matters not if you turn 2. I mean...seriously? I appreciate Jordany Valdespin, who hasn't been the tightest out there in the infield, reiterating to him how dumb what he just did was with a single up the middle to plate 2.
Speaking of Jordany, his bad fielding was mainly due to those two errors in that 1 inning in Washington, but other than that, he hasn't been terrible. He tends to make the routine plays, and last night he tried out left field. His speed seems to get him to every ball, making what would be hard plays for other outfielders look routine. I like him in the outfield a lot with Ruben and Ronny, the shortstop duo, on their way back from injury. He's opening some eyes with his bat, finally getting into the .200's after a slow start. Murph should stay at 2nd and Jordany should stay up with the team, playing left field. He'll learn to be humbler quicker up here.
Dillon Gee goes for the sweep tonight against the southpaw Brian Matusz at 7:10PM. Might as well sweep another AL East team before we take on the Yanks.
Can anyone say...Scott Hairston?
LET'S.
GO. METS.
Thanks for reading! Converted Mets Fan
is now on Twitter. Follow me @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment