The Beat Goes On

So, after a dull game on Wednesday, back to work last night for the boys in Orange and Blue. El Duque took the hill, in his second start since his DL stay. In a continuation of the recent "let the other team score in the first inning" trend, El Duque gave up 2 runs in the first, on two hits. Then proceeded to shut the Giants down for the next 6 innings, allowing only a walk to Cain (in the third), who was quickly erased on a double play. The final line for El Duque:

7 IP, 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 k's.

Damn, he is good. I gotta admit, back in his Yankee days, I called him "El Fluque" mostly due to his injury issues. However, the guy was a winner. I was ecstatic when the Mets got him for a bag of balls last year, knowing his big game reputation. How different might things have been had he not gotten hurt? Perhaps Trachsel doesn't start against the Cardinals? All I know is this, the guy is a wonder. He changes speeds, arm angles, type of pitch, everything. When he is on, he is fantastic. Even when he doesn't have it, which is rare, he usually keeps the Mets in games. Another great trade by Omar.

The offense pounded out 10 hits last night against Matt Cain. Poor Russo, the Mets have now beaten both of his young arms this series. However, after scoring 4 runs over the first two innings, they couldn't push anything else across. Cain also got stronger as the game went on. He is quite impressive. The Giants have some good arms out there, too bad their lineup is for shit.

In the first, Reyes led off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a grounder by Endy. Beltran reached on an infield single, scoring Reyes (but hurting his knee in the process, more on that in a bit). Beltran would score from first on a long double by Wright to left center. In the second, Easley doubled, Ben Johnson walked, and El Duque bunted them over. Reyes remembered he is an RBI Machine, and singled, scoring Easley, and moving Johnson to third. Endy followed with a bunt, scoring Johnson. Cain, Molina and Feliz all converged on the bunt. Cain fielded it, and shoveled it home, except Molina wasn't there. Another run scoring bunt single for Endy. Nice.

The bad news from last night, Beltran getting hurt in a collision at first with Rich Aurillia. It looked somewhat benign, but apparently his knee swelled a little. He said after the game that with some treatment it felt better. He wound up leaving after the first inning, Carlos Gomez replacing him in center. Beltran will have an MRI today, just to be safe. Given the Mets luck of late with outfielders, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They can ill-afford to lose him.

The Diamondbacks visit Shea for 3 games starting tonight. Day games tomorrow and Sunday, which is nice. Have a nice weekend all. Let's Go Mets!