MVN - Most Valuable Network

Recap: Off Day is the Wright Move for David as Mets Romp Mariners

A night after Jerry Manuel gave David Wright his first off day all year, the third baseman made his manager look like a genious. Wright went 2-3 with 2 homeruns and 3 RBI, leading the Mets to a blowout 8-2 win.

David came up in the first inning with the Mets already leading 1-0 on an RBI groundout by Luis Castillo, and on the second pitch he saw he belted his 13th homerun to left center. But neither Wright nor Seattle starter Miguel Batista were close to done for the night.

DW came up again in the second with two outs and a runner on, and took Batista deep again, this time into the left field bleachers to make it 4-0.

In the third, Marlon Anderson’s sac fly made it 5-0, and the Mets were poised to put the nail in the coffin early. That nail came down three batters later, when Jose Reyes sent Miguel Batista to the showers with a 3-run bomb into the loge section in right field. For Reyes it was his 9th homerun, and at 8-0 the rout was on. Batista exited the game after another poor start, and was tagged for the 8 runs, 4 of which were earned, and more importantly his 10th loss.

John Maine pitched a solid 6 innings, giving up 2 runs and 5 hits for his 8th win. He cruised through the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. But by the time Maine started faltering the game was basically over.

Rizzi’s Rant:

This was kind of a weird game, as the Mets managed just 5 hits, and did not score after the 3rd inning, and yet the game was pretty much over by 8:00.

David Wright was clearly the hero of the night, breaking out of his big slump with two monster homeruns. It’s amazing what a little rest can do. Maybe having tomorrow off as well will help David smash the Yankees all weekend.

I wasn’t overly impressed with John Maine tonight, especially in the 5th and 6th innings. But he did roll through the lineup the first time around and did what he had to to earn the win. Maine may not quite be living up to the expectations he had in the Spring, but he is still having a fine season. He now has 8 wins before the All-Star break with a few starts to go, and his ERA is down to 3.73.

It obviously was not a pressure situation, but a goo djob by the bullpen tonight, as Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Duaner Sanchez all put up zeros to close the door. Sanchez is starting to pitch a lot better, and if the Mets are going to make a run they are going to need him to be productive.

Reyes continues his tear, as he ripped the 3-run homer. His average is now at .292, and he has looked like “Jose, Version 2006″ for quite some time now.

On a side note, tonight was the 36th birthday for one Carlos Delgado, but despite hitting a warning track fly ball, he went 0-2 with a walk. (Hmm, me thinks if this was his 32nd birthday that ball would have went over the fence.)

A bad series overall, but a nice way to end it. Now we get a day off, and face a crucial, difficult stretch of games against the Yankees, Cardinals, and Phillies. I think we will know for sure whether the Mets have it in them at the end of the next week.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under John Maine, Miguel Batista, Luis Castillo, Rizzi's Rant, Jerry Manuel, Duaner Sanchez, Marlon Anderson, David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, The Usual. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.