Three up, three down. A combined score of 20-2. Dominating starts by Glavine, Duque and Maine. Flawless pitching out of the pen. Last night took on an "Everybody Plays" feel, as Aaron Sele and Ambiorix Burgos got the chance to get some work in against the defending World Series Champions.
Maine was on last night. I was unfortunately unable to watch the start of the game since my gym is run by Yankee fans apparently, as they show YES, but not SNY. So I was forced to live by looking at the ticker on ESPN News. I did get to hear the fan on the way to and from the gym, and caught the last few innings. What I missed was John Maine picking up where he left off in the NLCS, and improving upon it. Four hitless innings. Rolen leads off the 5th with a single, and John walks Edmonds. But Maine buckled down and retired the next three, on a strikeout, liner and fly ball.
In the sixth, PLD (who is playing for a contract) got another hit, and Beltran reminded the St. Louis fans why they hate him so much, as he took Looper yard. The bottom of the sixth was key for Maine, as his team had staked him to a 3-0 lead, and he needed to show he could hold it. He did of course, and did so in the 7th.
The bats are heating up a tad methinks. Green had a couple of hits and and RBI and Run scored. Alou had 2 hits, and a run. PLD was 3/4 with a walk (and a nice shot back up the box his first time up.) Delgado and 'Stache took collars, but they will be fine. Even old man Franco drove in a run, thanks to some more awful defense in right field, this time by Preston Wilson (who also had 2 k's), who is no Mookie.
Does the sweep take away the sting of October, no. Nothing can remove that. But it is a great way to start the season. It sends a message to everyone that Grapefruit League records be dammed, the Mets are ready to play, and they are going to bring it each and every night.
After an off day for travel to Atlanta today, three games starting tomorrow against the Braves. Oliver Perez makes his debut tomorrow against Mark Redman. Saturday, two old men duel as Glavine faces Smoltz. Sunday sees El Duque versus Kyle Davies. Taking 2 of three would be nice.
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4 comments:
Maine was really dealing. Working fast, throwing strikes. Great.
In the 5th he lost it, but some good defense helped him out. At least he threw strikes after putting the two guys on.
And in the 6th, after the Mets got the lead, he had a 5 pitch, 1-2-3 inning. That's what you wanna see.
(Glavine was taking notes.)
Forget 2 of 3...Let's bring the brooms to Atlanta! If the Phils had a bullpen they woul've taken the first two games of that series. Man, that Mcann kid can hit though...Anyway, great start to the new season. I liked seeing Pujols get frustrated for another night. Let him unleash his anger on someone else. Seriously though, when you can make Pujols go 1 for 10 in a series with only two walks, you have a good chance of beating the Cards.
PS - I don't know if you heard it but Ron was talking about David Eckstein being into wrestling. And over the winter he was involved in a wrestling match where he hit someone over the head with a folding chair (which are always lying around the ring, right). Well funny thing is that Keith suggested Eckstein should wrestle Andy Kaufman. Andy Kaufman, Keith? I love Keith but I sometimes wonder if he is perpetually stuck in the 1980's. Too funny...
Mookie - Keith is Keith.
Damon was involved with that wrestling thing too IIRC. So was AJ Piersinski (or however the hell you spell it, the guy on the WHite Sox).
Keith was funny as hell last night.
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