Friday, April 14, 2006
Mets clobber Nats; sweep series
The Mets rolled to their sixth straight victory in Washington, DC yesterday afternoon. Their "murderer's row" lit up Nats' ace Livan Hernandez with 4 HRs in the first 3 innings. David Wright and Cliff Floyd went back-to-back in the 1st, spotting Mets starter Victor Zambrano to a 4-run lead.
At 7-1, the Mets are one game shy of tying their record for best beginning of a season. They have the chance to do that tonight at home against the Brewers (6-3).
Omar Minaya is certainly looking like a genius. He inherited Wright and Jose Reyes when he took over GM responsibilities two winters ago. Floyd, Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel were also on the roster. Given a huge checkbook, he's signed free agents Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner and Paul Lo Duca, traded for Carlos Delgado, Xavier Nady and Duaner Sanchez, and promoted Victor Diaz, Anderson Hernandez and Brian Bannister from the minors. So far, he's made very few mistakes.
Hernandez, who in the past had dominated the Mets, was mistake-prone from the third batter on. Beltran crushed a fat pitch into RFK's upper deck, and one batter later Wright did the same. Wright added three more hits to his team-leading total (15). He's not only on an offensive tear, but is playing a perfect 3B. Right now the Mets can do little wrong.
Zambrano lasted only 5 innings, allowing 3 runs and walking 4 batters. Lefty Darren Oliver mopped up for two innings and Jorge Julio (perhaps Minaya's one misjudgment during the off-season; he was exchanged for Kris Benson) allowed a Nick Johnson HR. (Johnson's looking more and more like Todd Helton.)
Little-used Chris Woodward (filling in for Hernandez at 2nd) drove in three runs in the later innings as the Mets piled on the hapless Nats (2-7).
STATS: Wright (.469) and Delgado (.394) lead the team in BA; Wright's tied for 3rd-best BA in MLB; Beltran has 9 RBI and 8 walks; despite his stellar start, Delgado's struck out 9 times.
Next game: Friday, April 14 @ Shea, 7:10 pm start on SNY & WFAN, Tom Glavine (1-0) vs. Chris Capuano (1-1)
For more on the Mets: CLICK HERE
AROUND THE HORN
* Behind Randy Johnson, the Yankees (5-4) beat the Royals, 9-3, sweeping the series; Gary Sheffield, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi homered; they begin a 3-game series in Minnesota tonight with Mike Mussina (1-0) on the mound. Meanwhile, the Red Sox (6-5) lost to the Blue Jays (5-4), cutting their lead to 1 game over the Yanks and the Blue Jays.
* The Phillies (2-6) knocked off the Braves (4-5) for the second game in a row, leaving the Braves 3 games behind the Mets.
* Giants' Moises Alou reached the 300-HR milestone against the Astros in SF; still homer-less for the season, Barry Bonds remains stuck on 708. To read the game story my my brother Barry: CLICK HERE
At 7-1, the Mets are one game shy of tying their record for best beginning of a season. They have the chance to do that tonight at home against the Brewers (6-3).
Omar Minaya is certainly looking like a genius. He inherited Wright and Jose Reyes when he took over GM responsibilities two winters ago. Floyd, Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel were also on the roster. Given a huge checkbook, he's signed free agents Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner and Paul Lo Duca, traded for Carlos Delgado, Xavier Nady and Duaner Sanchez, and promoted Victor Diaz, Anderson Hernandez and Brian Bannister from the minors. So far, he's made very few mistakes.
Hernandez, who in the past had dominated the Mets, was mistake-prone from the third batter on. Beltran crushed a fat pitch into RFK's upper deck, and one batter later Wright did the same. Wright added three more hits to his team-leading total (15). He's not only on an offensive tear, but is playing a perfect 3B. Right now the Mets can do little wrong.
Zambrano lasted only 5 innings, allowing 3 runs and walking 4 batters. Lefty Darren Oliver mopped up for two innings and Jorge Julio (perhaps Minaya's one misjudgment during the off-season; he was exchanged for Kris Benson) allowed a Nick Johnson HR. (Johnson's looking more and more like Todd Helton.)
Little-used Chris Woodward (filling in for Hernandez at 2nd) drove in three runs in the later innings as the Mets piled on the hapless Nats (2-7).
STATS: Wright (.469) and Delgado (.394) lead the team in BA; Wright's tied for 3rd-best BA in MLB; Beltran has 9 RBI and 8 walks; despite his stellar start, Delgado's struck out 9 times.
Next game: Friday, April 14 @ Shea, 7:10 pm start on SNY & WFAN, Tom Glavine (1-0) vs. Chris Capuano (1-1)
For more on the Mets: CLICK HERE
AROUND THE HORN
* Behind Randy Johnson, the Yankees (5-4) beat the Royals, 9-3, sweeping the series; Gary Sheffield, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi homered; they begin a 3-game series in Minnesota tonight with Mike Mussina (1-0) on the mound. Meanwhile, the Red Sox (6-5) lost to the Blue Jays (5-4), cutting their lead to 1 game over the Yanks and the Blue Jays.
* The Phillies (2-6) knocked off the Braves (4-5) for the second game in a row, leaving the Braves 3 games behind the Mets.
* Giants' Moises Alou reached the 300-HR milestone against the Astros in SF; still homer-less for the season, Barry Bonds remains stuck on 708. To read the game story my my brother Barry: CLICK HERE
