Dodgers 3, Mets 2 (8-13, 6 GB)

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

I'm not discouraged at all by last night's loss. I know I tend to be too positive when it comes to the Mets, but they didn't lose that game. The Dodgers beat them. There's a difference. Things are starting to come around for the Mets, and if they play like they did last night, they're going to win a bunch of games.

First of all, a few words about Milton Bradley's catch. (If you didn't see it, he robbed Mike Cameron of a home run leading off the sixth inning - probably the best play of the year so far.) What made this play so great was all of the ground Bradley covered to make the catch. Cameron crushed that ball, and it was headed out of the park in a hurry. But Bradley tracked it down, timed the leap perfectly, and made the catch look pretty easy. (As an aside, I was watching the game on California's broadcast - they only kept showing replays at the wall. I wanted to see the entire play develop again, because Bradley tracked that ball so well. Hope the New York station did a better job.) Cameron will make his share of those catches this year, but last night, he was on the other side of it. That play saved the game for L.A., especially considering what happened after that (oh, and also considering Bradley was playing on a bum ankle).

The Mets had plenty of chances in last night's game, and came through in some of them, just to see their efforts stymied by great defense by the Dodgers. First, a quick recap - Kaz Matsui led off the game with a homer to make it 1-0, Mets. The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead on a 2-run homer by Dave Roberts, then made it 3-1 after a solo shot by Adrian Beltre. Roberts homered off Steve Trachsel (2-3) at the end of an 11-pitch at-bat. Beltre just crushed a bad pitch. Otherwise, Trachsel was great.

So then comes the sixth inning. Cameron was robbed of a homer, but the Mets continued to hit Odalis Perez hard. Piazza rocketed one off the shortstop's glove, then Shane Spencer singled (he's been hitting the ball well). Todd Zeile followed with a liner towards right that the second baseman deflected. Piazza had to hold at second, thinking the ball would be caught...but when the ball trickled into right field, any other runner (except Jason Phillips) would have scored. With the bases loaded, Phillips flew out to center, scoring Piazza to make it 3-2. Then Karim Garcia struck out looking. Man, I hope the Mets trade him.

Fast forward a bit. John Franco struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh. Top 8, Spencer gets a one-out walk. Then he steals second! Zeile hit a hard grounder that Guillermo Mota snagged, so Spencer has to stay at second - otherwise, he might have scored. The Dodgers brought in Eric Gagne to face Phillips. Nice matchup, right? The struggling Phillips against a man who has converted a record 68-straight save opportunities. But you saw the johnnymets guarantee yesterday - Phillips is out of his slump. Unfortunately, like the Zeile groundout, luck just wasn't with the Mets last night. Phillips blasted one that was headed up the middle, until it hit Gagne in the thigh. Gagne recovered to throw Phillips out at first, and then gave up two 2-out singles in the ninth before finishing the game (and extending his record to 69 games).

This was a great game to watch, even though the Mets lost. It's up to Jae Seo tonight against Jeff Weaver for the Mets to get 2-out-of-3 against L.A., and make the series a success.

Other thoughts: The Dodgers are now 7-0 in one-run games, the Mets are 2-6...More aggressive play, which was good to see. In addition to Spencer stealing second in the 8th, pinch-runner Jeff Duncan stole second in the 7th when the Mets needed runners in scoring position. With their lack of speed, they need to make up for that by using the speed they have and by being aggressive...Trachsel's been the victim of the long ball this year - if he didn't give up homers, he'd pitch a shutout every game...Kaz Matsui and Ricky Gutierrez are starting to look good together turning double plays. It's a good thing, though, Gutierrez is heading back to the bench, because that means Jose Reyes is back. Gutierrez has been pretty good in the field (he committed just one error, and that came at third base), but awful at the plate (.161 BA, .242 OBP). The rumor before the Mets acquired him to sub for Reyes was that Gutierrez was swinging the bat well - that scout should be shot...Matsui's leadoff homer last night was the second one of his career. That puts him about 94 or so behind Rickey Henderson's record, right?

Wow, I wrote a lot today. Thanks for reading.