On Sunday, in the left field bleacher seats of Coors Field, we watched the Mets scare us a couple times over (including right in front of us on the warning track for the last out), only to squeak out a gutsy 6-5 win, taking the series and giving us a 2-0 Denver trip.
Johan Santana was fantastic, and as opposed to all his other starts this year, the Mets actually scored runs for him, and early. Before we were even in our seats, grabbing grub and drink, the Mets had scored 3 runs for Johan (on a David Wright double and a Scott Hairston single), eventually giving him a 4-0 lead. As we have learned this weekend (or have been reminded of) no lead is safe in that ballpark and against those Rockies. (Will Johan ever catch a break as a member of the New York Mets?!)
Jon Rauch was due to be off his game a little bit. He has pitched so well so far. How upset can we really be at his lack of control during this outing? And Byrdak, after a fantastic 8th inning the night before, just hung that slider up there for "Mr. Rockie" Todd Helton to crush, tying the game at 4. And while the bullpen did not hold a couple of leads (with Frank Francisco being very hittable right now), they would not have been the scapegoat if we had lost this game.
The offense was most certainly one of the heroes. They never quit when the going got tough near the end. They kept battling after every lead but the last one was given up. The Mets had, however, 22 base-runners in this game, and only plated 6 of those. They got the big hits when we needed them late in the game, but the LOB number has got to go down. It has plagued this Metropolitan franchise for way too long.
Nevermind when I said yesterday that Ike coming out of this slump might be thwarted by finesse pitcher Jamie Moyer. Ike had a fantastic day, going 3 for 6 and driving in the winning run. Clearly, Ike's resurgence the last few days has nothing to do with him shortening his swing and going with the pitch. It is not because he has a better approach at the plate than he had when he was reeling. It is because he met us Saturday night and signed my girlfriend's jersey. Obviously that is the only reason he went 3 for 6. Obviously...
Cap'n. Kirk.
Amazing catch. And great piece of hitting.
We travel back to the East in a couple of hours. All in all, it was an amazing Colorado trip. I look forward to recapping it for all of you.
The Mets head to the Lone Star State and take on the future American League team, the Houston Astros. Tonight, my man, RA Dickey, takes on the right-hander Bud Norris. Game time is 8:05 PM EST. Let's keep it rollin', Metropolitans.
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.
In my first visit to beautiful Coors Field for a Mets game, the Orange and Blue pulled off a solid 7-5 victory to tie the series at 1 game apiece.
The even cooler part of the night was the signature you see there on my girlfriend's jersey from a certain Ike Davis outside the ballpark. AWESOME!!!!!
Speaking of Ike, the man looked as if he might be on his way out of this massive slump. He went 1 for 4, but drove the ball with authority in every one of his at bats. That is a good sign he is seeing the ball better and, with luck, the baseballs will start dropping as soon as today. Buuuuuut....Jamie Moyer is not the pitcher you want to be facing as you try to break out of a slump.....I'm sure Ike will be fine, though. Especially now that he has met my girlfriend and myself.
Dillon Gee struggled throughout but also battled very nicely for a 7-inning, 4-run line. It perturbed me when he allowed the pitcher to hit a single on a 3-2 count, scoring the go-ahead run in the 4th inning, but other than that I was very impressed with how he handled himself in the mile-high city. On a night when we desperately needed length (and for the pitchers to not give up 18 runs) Dillon Gee delivered.
As did Tim Byrdak in the 8th. Carlos Gonzalez lined out to The Duda, Troy Tulowitzki grounded out to Ruben, and "Mr. Rockie" Todd Helton struck out swinging. Fantastic inning from The Byrd (do people call him that?)
Another solid night from the offense. David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda all had multi-hit games, with two others collecting one hit apiece. I was most impressed with the team's ability to rally with 2 outs. We plated 4 runs with 2 outs on the board. Pet Peeve of mine when it happens against my team, big fan when it's my team that does the hitting (I know that's an obvious statement, but still.) Also, after starting out slowly, Mike Baxter has been hitting the ball solidly off the bench lately, and the run he scored on a wild pitch was clearly needed, with what we saw Friday night and the fact that Frank Francisco is just a little off right now. His fastball is hittable, and even on that last out of the 9th, the Rockies drove the baseball with authority in his inning of work. But, hey, a save is a save and a win is a win, right? Still, it is a little concerning.
We will close out the Mets part of our Colorado trip today at 1:10 PM local time, 3:10 PM New York time. Johan is on the mound for the Metropolitans, and, as I mentioned earlier, the Freak of Nature Jamie Moyer will start for the Rockies. Let's head to Houston with a series win, guys.
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.
