New York Mets (16-15) at Los Angeles Dodgers (19-14) 3:10pm
John Maine (3-2) vs. Brad Penny (5-2)
What to watch: The Mets need to take this game to avoid a sweep in LA. Brad Penny is a tough pitcher so it’ll be a challenge today. Getting swept in LA would give the Mets a losing West coast road trip and may cause the fans to be more bitter when they get back home against Cincinnati on Friday.
Sorry for the late post but I was too tired to start writing last night. These West coast night games are tough.
John Maine, once again, didn’t have a great game although his velocity was up from his previous starts. You never know if it’s the radar gun in the particular stadium though. The radar gun at Chase Park had Maine throwing his fastball as high as 95-96, which is unusually high for him. But he has had some “dead arm” periods over the last couple of years.
Jose Reyes put on a show offensively going 4 for 5 with 3 runs and a stolen base. He also had an incredible diving stop and throw at shortstop. He was on fire last night. Two of his hits were triples and one was a double. In one triple he was thrown out at home going for an inside the park homer. Reyes is the most exciting player in baseball right now… period!
David Wright looked good at the plate. He was right on the ball last night. He went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s, including one double. Even Carlos Delgado got in on the act going 2 for 4 with two singles.
It was great to see Moises Alou back in left field. He’s still turning on inside pitches and ripping line drives into the outfield. He adds a huge force in the middle of the lineup.
New York Mets (14-12) at Arizona Diamond Backs (20-8) 9:40pm
John Maine (2-2) vs. Micah Owings (4-0)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets are in Phoenix for a three game series this weekend that will be the best team they’ve faced this season. John Maine has been fair this season and hasn’t been able to capture the magic he had in spring training where he was unhittable. Micah Owings is a tough draw for the Mets to start the series. He’s in the Babe Ruth mold, a pitcher that’s probably more valuable as a hitter. The guy is a really dangerous hitter, as evidenced by his pinch hit two run homer to win the game for the D-Backs the other night. Oh by the way, he’s 4-0 as a pitcher as well. Tough game and series for the Mets.
John Maine went five innings and got the win today to go to 2-2 on the season. Five other pitchers from the bullpen combined to hold the Braves down over the last four innings. The only scare was Aaron Heilman giving up two hits and a run in the sixth. Heilman was heartily booed by the crowd of 51,000.
The Mets offense seemed to start waking up today too. Willie Randolph canceled batting practice this morning and told the players they could show up late at 11:30am. He’s pulling out all of the tricks in his book to try to get the Mets back on track. Yesterday he made the team take fielding practice before the game which is a rarity these days.
Reportedly Jeff Wilpon visited Willie in his office before the game. yesterday Maybe Willie is starting to get a little desperate and pushing every button he can think of. If it works, that’s great. If not, it comes across as grabbing at straws.
David Wright and Damion Easley both had two hits in the game. Ryan Church hit a triple off Tim Hudson, and Angel Pagan had a pinch hit triple off reliever Jeff Bennett.
Carlos Delgado took another “O-fer” and heard about it from the crowd in every at-bat. They’ve got to move him down to seventh or eighth in the lineup. He’s got nothing at the plate right now. He’s still hitting sixth on his reputation from a few years ago but it’s hurting the team. Willie needs to come to grips with that.
Atlanta Braves (12-11) at New York Mets (11-11) 1:10pm
Tim Hudson (3-1) vs. John Maine (1-2)
TV: CW11 Radio: WFAN
What to watch: After dropping the first game of the series to the Braves, the Mets need to win both Saturday and Sunday to win this home series against division rivals. The Mets don’t seem to have anything going for them right now except for Johan Santana and he can’t pitch every day unfortunately. Maine will have to be the stopper in this one. Carlos Delgado is scheduled to be back in the lineup after only making a pinch hitting appearance and striking out Friday night.
John Maine (1-2) had a pretty decent game. He pitched six innings only giving up two runs, five hits, two walks, and had six strikeouts. He deserved to lose the game only because Carlos Zambrano was really on tonight for the Cubs. He went seven innings giving up only one run. That can happen at times during the season.
Duaner Sanchez pitched a flawless seventh inning and looks like he’s getting back to his old form. He doesn’t have the blazing fastball that he had before the shoulder injury a year and a half ago. But it looks like what he’s got is good enough to get hitters out.
Now we get to the eighth inning, when the wheels came off for the Mets. Once again, Aaron Heilman was the goat of the game. That’s appropriate since they’re playing in the home of the curse of the goat. Heilman only got through two outs in the inning giving up two hits and hitting Aramas Ramirez. Four runs scored but Heilman’s ERA was bailed out by Jose Reyes making an error on a grounder. He was able to actually reduce his ERA to 4.97. Continue reading “Cubs Rip Heilman, Mets 7-1”
New York Mets (10-7) at Chicago Cubs (12-6) 7:05pm
John Maine (1-1) vs. Carlos Zambrano (2-0)
TV: ESPN Radio: WFAN
What to watch: Zambrano’s a great pitcher, so this could be a real pitchers duel. Maine looks like he’s getting his spring training form back. The Mets begin their two game series in Chicago with a national TV game and then head to Washington on Wednesday.
The Mets Report 