Saturday, April 22, 2006
Mets rout Pads
Good hitting beats bad pitching, right? That was certainly the case last night when they Mets homered their way out a mini-batting slump against the Padres. Xavier Nady (his 5th) and Ramon Castro (his 1st) went back-to-back in the opening frame against rookie Chris Young, and - who else? - Carlos Delgado knocked his 8th in the 7th, his 3rd HR in as many games in San Diego. The Mets had 11 hits with Castro accounting for 3 of them.
It was a case of lucky 11s for the Mets, as Pedro Martinez struck out that many in 7 sharp innings. The Mets ace is now 4-0 (it was his 201st career win). Martinez and Jorge Julio (yes, him) combined for a 3-hitter. The final was 8-1.
Delgado's tied for 2nd-most HRs in the NL and 5th-most RBI with 18. He is, by far, the biggest improvement GM Omar Minaya made over the winter. Nady (5 HRs, 10 RBI, .344 BA) is the second-biggest.
On the negative side, Jose Reyes' hitting woes continued; he went 0 for 5 and is now batting .234. Que pasa, Jose? Carlos Beltran sat out again (strained right hamstring), but his MRI test was negative. He should be back in CF soon.
Ex-Met Mike Piazza clubbed his second HR of the season in the 2nd (it appeared that Martinez grooved one for the slugger) and ripped a single in the 9th. He's now 1 HR shy of career No. 400 and upped his BA to .224. However, the Mets stole 4 bases off the weak-armed catcher.
The Mets (12-5) picked up a half-game on the idle Braves (8-9), who were rained out in Washington. They lead the division by 4 games.
Next game: Sunday, April 23 in San Diego, 4:05 pm start on Ch. 11 & WFAN, Victor Zambrano (1-1, 9.00) vs. Chris Hensley (0-1, 6.00)
For more on the Mets: CLICK HERE
AROUND THE HORN
* It took Barry Bonds 14 games to get his 1st HR of the 2006 season. Career HR No. 709 came on Colorado start Aaron Cook's second pitch in Bonds' first at bat yesterday. The blast landed in Coors Field's left-field bleachers. Bonds is now 5 HRs away from tying Babe Ruth for second-best on the all-time HR list. To read my brother Barry Bloom's coverage at MLB.com: CLICK HERE
It was a case of lucky 11s for the Mets, as Pedro Martinez struck out that many in 7 sharp innings. The Mets ace is now 4-0 (it was his 201st career win). Martinez and Jorge Julio (yes, him) combined for a 3-hitter. The final was 8-1.
Delgado's tied for 2nd-most HRs in the NL and 5th-most RBI with 18. He is, by far, the biggest improvement GM Omar Minaya made over the winter. Nady (5 HRs, 10 RBI, .344 BA) is the second-biggest.
On the negative side, Jose Reyes' hitting woes continued; he went 0 for 5 and is now batting .234. Que pasa, Jose? Carlos Beltran sat out again (strained right hamstring), but his MRI test was negative. He should be back in CF soon.
Ex-Met Mike Piazza clubbed his second HR of the season in the 2nd (it appeared that Martinez grooved one for the slugger) and ripped a single in the 9th. He's now 1 HR shy of career No. 400 and upped his BA to .224. However, the Mets stole 4 bases off the weak-armed catcher.
The Mets (12-5) picked up a half-game on the idle Braves (8-9), who were rained out in Washington. They lead the division by 4 games.
Next game: Sunday, April 23 in San Diego, 4:05 pm start on Ch. 11 & WFAN, Victor Zambrano (1-1, 9.00) vs. Chris Hensley (0-1, 6.00)
For more on the Mets: CLICK HERE
AROUND THE HORN
* It took Barry Bonds 14 games to get his 1st HR of the 2006 season. Career HR No. 709 came on Colorado start Aaron Cook's second pitch in Bonds' first at bat yesterday. The blast landed in Coors Field's left-field bleachers. Bonds is now 5 HRs away from tying Babe Ruth for second-best on the all-time HR list. To read my brother Barry Bloom's coverage at MLB.com: CLICK HERE
