The Mets defeated the Nationals by a score of 13-10 tonight at Shea Stadium. Joe Smith got his fourth win in the last two weeks, after having only one for the first five months of the year.. Saul Rivera took the loss for the Nats. Luis Ayala saved it with a clean ninth for his seventh save.
Starter Mike Pelfrey struggled mightily tonight, allowing five runs in five innings. His sinker was not sinking, and he allowed a monstrous homer to Elijah Dukes, who took offense in his next at bat when Pelfrey threw inside on him. Dukes also acknowledged the crowds boos in his final AB.
Now you see why they have a babysitter watching him 24 hours a day.
The Mets offense was at it again, scoring double digit runs for the second straight game. Looks like Jerry Manuel’s pep talk worked, as David Wright went 4-4, with 3 RBI, including his 28th homer of the year. Wright went 6-8 total in the two games. Wright also made three sparkling defensive gems tonight, two barehand grounders and he leaped to snare a liner.
Hopefully Wright is back, we certainly could use him down the stretch.
Newsflash: Carlos Delgado did not homer. Bummer. But, the entire offense picked him up. Brian Schneider, Fernando Tatis, and Carlos Beltran had two RBI each.
The bullpen was bad tonight. Very bad. Aaron Heilman, who is still on this team for a reason I don’t know, and Brian Stokes combined to give up five runs. Each gave up a homer to the big power hitter Christian Guzman.
It was so nice not having to see Heilman blow games for the last week and a half or so. Ugh.
Never fear, as Mighty Joe Smith and Ayala did their jobs, pitching a scoreless inning each.
Great win, especially when we got bad starting pitching.
The Mets are off tomorrow, but welcome the Braves on Friday. The pitchers for each team have yet to be determined.
Pete Lappin (3)
