That's Better!

So the Mets win last night in a way that was typical of their season. It was a match-up of two unproven pitchers, Oliver Perez with his 3-13 record and 6.00+ ERA against Anthony Reyes with his 5.06 ERA and 5-8 record.

Oliver Perez is yet another pitcher that the Mets were forced to use with the injuries they had and after the disappointments of the last two games I wasn't expecting much. Perez did not pitch great but did two things that John Maine and Steve Trascel was not able to do, and that was to pitch enough innings to give the bullpen rest.

However, it was the Mets hitting that had been in a coma the previous 14 innings of play. I look for signs of how the game was going to go, and for the Mets it did not look good at first. They were able to get two men on base in the first two innings without being able to score. The Cardinals scored first, and I thought here we go again, but the Mets got a break when Ronnie Belliard got thrown out at third by Endy Chavez after Yadler Molina hit a line drive to left field to score Scott Rolen. This limited the damage and Perez had enough poise to get out of the inning.

The Mets took the lead by scoring twice the next inning on two solo home runs by Carlos Beltran and David Wright. The Cardinals came back to tie the game by taking advantage of Shawn Green's timid fielding.

The Mets went into the series sporting the best relief pitching Corp but have been out classed by the Cardinals who had only given up one hit in the previous three games. This time Tony LaRussa's gamble to take out Anthony Reyes after only four innings didn't pay off. An error by the Cardinals and a single by Beltran brought Carlos Delgado to the plate. This is Delgado's first playoff run in his career and he was taking full advantage of it by smashing the ball relentlessly. The fun part is seeing how many of his key hits have been hit to the opposite field. This was a guy who played most of the season facing an infield that had three men covering the right side of the infield. Anyway, Delgado hits the ball over the leftfield fence for a three run homer.

This meant that Oliver Perez had a three run lead and would get another turn at bat which he took the opportunity to appear very foolish. He struck out at the plate as many times as he struck out Cardinals.

Anyway, LaRussa brought in Hancock to keep them in the game but he was dreadful as he gave up 5 runs without getting anyone out. By the end of the sixth inning the Mets had a 12 to 3 lead and won it 12 to 5.


Anyway, I can publish this cartoon without it being dated...Yet.