Mets 4 – Dodgers 1 Apirl 27, 2010 Game 1

New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana slaps hands with David Wright at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets completed their fifth straight win and fourth shutout of the season behind Johan Santana’s 6 innings. He didn’t have his best stuff and his velocity was down today. The fastball was in the upper 80’s. But he got through six innings giving up 4 hits and 3 walks and getting the win.

Fernando Nieve and Pedro Feliciano tacked on three more shutout innings after Santana left the game.

The Mets didn’t have a ton of offense, which has been the case often lately. But they had enough to get the win. They had only 8 hits as a team and left 13 runners on base. Luis Castillo had 2 RBI single in the 7th inning and Jason Bay hit his first homer of the year in the second inning.

Box score

Mets 1 – Braves 0 April 25, 2010

Colorado Rockies vs New York Mets at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets swept the Braves with a 1-0 win in a 6 inning rain shortened game. It was finally called just after 11:30 pm. That’s a rough night for the fans that were at Citi Field for this one. I’ve been to a few rain outs but a Sunday night game in April is a really tough one to sit through.

Mike Pelfrey went to 4-0 with the win and extended his scoreless inning streak to 24 innings. He definitely didn’t have his best stuff tonight giving up 5 hits and 5 walks. But he was able to navigate the base runners without giving up a run. It’s a real sign of maturity that he’s able to do that.

The only run of the game was scored when Jose Reyes singled in the first inning, stole second, and scored on a throwing error by Larry Jones. The Braves were kicking the ball around throughout the series. So it’s fitting that they get swept on a run scored on an error.

The Dodgers come to town tomorrow night with Oliver Perez on the mound.

Box score

Mets 3 – Braves 1 April 24, 2010

Mets batter Bay follows through as he drives in a run with a double against the Braves during MLB baesball game in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets took the second straight game from the Braves to win the series an open the chance for a sweep tomorrow night on ESPN. It was bring your dog to the park day today and the Braves defense has certainly gone to the dogs. They look completely lost in the field. Today Yunel Escobar added the basepaths to the locations causing problems when he didn’t tag up from third on a fly ball that turned into a double play.

Jon Niese wasn’t great in today’s start but limited the damage to only 1 run over 5.1 IP. The downside of the start was that he gave up 5 hits and 5 walks. But he did strike out 6. It’s not an easy way to make a living giving up that many base runners. He needs to work on throwing strikes, especially with his fastball.

The bullpen saved Niese by throwing 3.2 scoreless innings. Francisco Rodriguez got his third save in three days and that includes his five out save against the Cubs on Thursday.

Another encouraging sign for the Mets is that Jason Bay was the offensive hero of the day going 3 for 4 with an RBI double. He’s 4 for his last 7 at-bats. Maybe he’s starting to come out of the funk he’s been in for the last three weeks.

Ike Davis continues to contribute going 0 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. He has 20 at-bats this season and 5 runs scored. It’s all about scoring runs and Davis is doing it at a tremendous rate.

The Mets only had 5 hits today. What else would you expect against Jair Jurrgens? He destroyed the Mets last year for four wins. But so did everyone else in the league. The true test will be what he does this season.

Box score

Mets 5 – Cubs 2 April 22, 2010

New York Mets vs Washington Nationals

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe game was really defined by both starting pitchers going toe-to-toe for six innings. Then Tom Gorzelanny lost it in the sixth and gave up a couple of runs. Johan Santana had runners on much of his 6.1 IP as he gave up 8 hits. But he didn’t give up any walks and had 5 strikeouts and only allowed 1 run. It was a good battle of the starting pitchers.

The Mets only had 7 hits in the game but there was a key double by David Wright in the sixth that got the scoring started. He had been hearing the boo birds, deservedly so with a 3 strikeout night. But the RBI double was good to see and I’m hoping that he can get something going.

Jeff Francoeur broke out of his slump with a hit. And Ike Davis was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. It looks like he’s pretty comfortable.

Francisco Rodriguez came in for a 5-out save for the first time as a Met. He hasn’t been getting many opportunities and the Mets needed to take this series. That was a good call by Jerry Manuel.

The Mets finally win a series for the first time this season taking three of four from the Cubs before the Braves come to town for the weekend.

Box score

Cubs 9 – Mets 3 April 21, 2010

MLB: Nationals vs Mets APR 11

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThis was one of those games where the Mets ran into a buzz saw, Carlos Silva. He was really on tonight. He went 6 IP and only gave up a solo homer to Rod Barajas. The surprise was that Lou Piniella pulled him after only 87 pitches. He could have gotten at least one more inning out of him and the Cubs had a 3-1 lead at the time.

Oliver Perez went 5 IP giving up 3 runs and throwing 97 pitches. He still looks like he’s having trouble generating velocity consistently on his fastball. You never really expect him to have great control. But he needs velocity to have success. Dan Warthen will need to keep an eye on that in his bullpen sessions.

The Mets did nothing on offense. They only had 6 hits all night. And I thought they might be able to get something going when Silva came out against the Cubs shoddy bullpen. But they only managed to score a run in the eighth on an RBI triple by Luis Castillo.

If you look at the Mets starting lineup, nobody is hitting .300 right now. There’s a serious lack of hitting going on. I thought this was going to be an offense-heavy team this year but it isn’t happening right now.

The Mets need to take the last game of the series tomorrow against the Cubs to win the series, which they haven’t done yet this season.

Box score

Mets 4 – Cubs 0 April 20, 2010

New York Mets starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey throws a pitch to the Chicago Cubs in the second inning of their MLB National League baseball game in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsI have to admit that it’s surprising to see the Mets win two in a row and have a shot to finally win a series this season. This is how the Mets drew it up in the offseason. Mike Pelfrey had another dominant performance for his third win of the season. Pelfrey has been unbelievable and the split finger that he’s throwing now is completely working for him.

The offensive hero of the game was Jose Reyes going 4 for 5 with a 2-run triple in the second inning. Reyes finally looked like he was on the ball after appearing to be have no timing over the last couple of weeks.

Fernando Tatis chipped in with a nice pinch-hit 2-run homer in the eighth to tack some run onto the lead. That’s exactly what you need to win close games. And pinch hitting is where Tatis can be really valuable to the Mets. He’s just not an everyday player, especially at first base. He isn’t consistent enough on a daily basis, but really seems to have a knack for pinch hitting. At least he did in 2008. Maybe he can recapture some of that magic.

Box score

Mets 6 – Cubs 1 April 19, 2010

Chicago Cubs at New York Mets

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsIt wasn’t lost on us that the Mets won tonight, but it was all about Ike Davis tonight. He made his major league debut tonight and didn’t disappoint. The crowd gave him a huge ovation for his first at-bat and he singled over second base. He finished the night 2 for 4 with an RBI. Not a bad way to start a career.

Jon Niese also had a nice start. He went 5.2 IP giving up only 1 unearned run. The Cubs were hitting him but he kept the damage to a minimum. It was a very good recovery from his last bad start in Colorado.

The hero of the night was Angel Pagan, who hit a a long 2-run homer to left-center to put the Mets up for good in the bottom of the seventh.

On a positive note, Jason Bay went 2 for 3 tonight. Hopefully, that will get him out of his slump.

Box score