Mets 4, Expos 1 (6-7, 2.5 GB)

Monday, April 19, 2004

One down, three to go. The Mets did what they needed to do last night against Montreal. Tyler Yates (1-1) got his first major league win, and in my opinion, showed that last week against the Braves was more likely the exception than the rule. Of course, he pitched against the lowly Expos, but I think he is going to be a very good pitcher. At the very least, he's got his confidence back from the poor outing against Atlanta.
Braden Looper picked up the save despite a shaky ninth. That was a little stressful, although I never had the sense of impending doom that we all knew so well during the Franco/Benitez closer days. I kind of felt that Looper was going to get the outs.
Mike Piazza might be breaking out of his slump. I feel like as his bat gets going, so might the rest of the lineup. Piazza went 2-for-3 last night, and just missed the record-tying homer. The sooner he hits that home run, and the sooner he starts blistering the ball like he was in the opening series against Atlanta, the sooner things start going well for the Mets.

Notes: Karim Garcia continues to impress the hell out of me, with a home run last night...Ty Wigginton homered last night also, hopefully that gets him on track, because he's been hitting the ball hard, but making outs all year...The Daily News reported this morning that Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd are both targeting next Tuesday in Los Angeles as dates to return to the lineup. Against the L.A. pitching, that might be very important.