Tag: John Maine

Mets, Maine Beat Nats 5-2

New York- John Maine (1-1) got his first win of the season pitching 6.2 innings giving up five hits, four walks, and two earned runs to go along with four strikeouts. He wasn’t quite as sharp as we saw in spring training but it was good enough for a win tonight. Joe Smith finished off the seventh and the eighth innings. Billy Wagner closed out the ninth for his second save.

The Mets had an unusual power surge with home runs from Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and Ryan Church against his former team. Luis Castillo also had a quiet 3 for 4 night.

The Mets secured the series by taking the first two games of the three game set. They’ll finish the series tomorrow night at Shea Stadium with John Lannan (0-2) up against Nelson Figueroa (1-0).

Box score

ESPN Video Highlights 

MLB.com Video Highlights 

Mets Beat Phils 4-3 in 12th Inning To Win Series

New York- John Maine pitched a great game coming back from a poor first appearance. He went six innings giving up only one run. He did have five walks tonight but was able to work out of trouble.

Aaron Heilman blew the lead in the eighth inning giving up a monster lead-off home run to Ryan Howard to lead off the inning. He ended up giving up two runs in the inning that allowed the Phillies to tie the game at three.

Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless ninth, strangely throwing from the windup. Scott Schoenweiss had a nice rebound performance pitching 1.1 innings and working his ERA down to 3.00. Hopefully, he can keep that going.

Jose Reyes hit a double off Tom Gordon in the 12th inning and scored on a single by Angel Pagan. Pagan has been in the middle of everything the Mets have done offensively this young season hitting .370 over the first eight games.

The Mets win the series 2 games to 1 and  have the Brewers coming to town tomorrow night for a three game series.

Box Score 

Mets 8 – Phillies 2

We can all come off the ledge now… The Mets beat the Phillies behind a good effort by Mike Pelfrey. Maybe he needs to get 11 days between outings on a regular basis.

Fireworks

Creative Commons License photo credit: Blackangel?

 Although the Mets played a solid game offensively and defensively, with only one error by Jose Reyes, the game was decided by the Phillies playing horrible baseball. They had four errors including two by fill-in shortstop Eric Bruntlett. They’re a completely different team without reigning National League MVP Jimmy Rollins in the lineup. They really needed him in the field and at bat.

Carlos Delgado and Angel Pagan both had doubles in the game, the only extra base hits for the Mets. I’m starting to think that the Citi Field construction is making Shea even more of a pitchers park than it was before. It may just be the cold April weather but I think the wind patterns are impacting play. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as the season goes on.

The Mets needed to break the Phillies nine game win streak over them badly. The win tonight also gives the Mets a good chance to win the series with John Maine on the mound tomorrow night.

Box score

Braves, Johnson Slam Mets 11-5

Atlanta- Kelly Johnson’s grand slam off Jorge Sosa in the seventh inning capped an 11-5 win for the Atlanta Braves over the New York Mets. John Maine (0-1) took the loss after giving up four runs in four innings in his first start of the season. He had good velocity but lacked command in giving up eight hits and three walks to go along with five strikeouts.

Carlos Beltran went 2-4 with his sixth double of the young season but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Braves offensive barrage. Angel Pagan continued to hit well bringing his average to .385 and adding two more RBI’s today.

The Mets send ace Johan Santana to the mound tomorrow to  try to tie up the rain shortened series against John Smoltz.

See the full recap and box score at CBS Sportsline.

Revised Starting Pitching Order

The rainout in Atlanta last night caused the Mets to revise their starting pitching order. The new order is:

  • Sat. 4/5- John Maine vs. Tim Hudson
  • Sun. 4/6- Johan Santana vs. Tom Glavine
  • Tues. 4/8- Jamie Moyer vs. Oliver Perez
  • Wed. 4/9- Kyle Kendrick vs. Mike Pelfrey
  • Thur. 4/10- Adam Eaton vs. John Maine

After the Phillies series, the Brewers come to town next Friday. Everyone with tickets for opening day at Shea can breathe a sigh of relief that Oliver Perez is pitching instead of Mike Pelfrey. I agree with the decision to skip Pelfrey’s spot and keep Santana on his regular day tomorrow, and Perez for the home opener. It would’ve been too much pressure for Pelfrey to pitch the home opener. He needs to put in the least pressurized situations so he has the best chance of pitching successfully.

The rainout game yesterday will be played on May 20th as part of a double header. I’m sure it will be a dual entry double header, as most teams do now. The good old days of buying one ticket for a double header are gone.

Picture: Turner Field 

turner field
Creative Commons License photo credit: nate steiner

Upcoming Atlanta Braves Series

Atlanta BravesImage from WikipediaThe Mets road series with the Atlanta Braves gets started tomorrow night with John Maine going against Tim Hudson. The schedule for the series is:

  • 4/4- 7:30pm SNY
  • 4/5- 3:55pm Fox
  • 4/6- 1:30pm SNY

I’ve been surprised to see how many baseball analysts have been picking the Braves to have a strong season. I don’t agree. Despite their $102 million payroll, I believe they’re going to about a .500 team maybe a little below. The departures of Andruw Jones via free agency to the Dodgers and Edgar Renteria via trade to the Tigers will have a negative impact on the team. They’ve still got some good players there but not enough to challenge the Phillies and Mets this season.