Out of the four games featured here, only game 18, Saturday's game, was the only blemish. The earned runs on the pitchers do not tell the whole story as the Mets made three key errors, (Delgado, Castillo, A Hern) that lead to unearned runs as well as earned runs. That being said here are some highlights from the box from this game:
Casanova 1-2, R, RBI, HR
Delgado 1-3, R, RBI, HR
Pagan, 1-3, R, SB
Clark 0-1
Santana 5.0, 5H, 4R, 3ER, BB, 5K, 4.50 ERA
Wagner 1.0, BB, 2K
Heilman 1.0, H, K
The rest of the box can be found here. There were some bright spots in this game as well. First off, some power out of Delgado was nice to see. As a team, the Mets also had 12 K's recorded by their pitchers this game. Smith added in two of his own, although he struggled in his inning giving up 2 runs. The amount of strikeouts the Mets had though is fantastic and when you look at their staff, its exciting to see that the Mets have a rotation and a bullpen that strikeout their opponents. The easiest way to prevent another team from scoring is not letting them hit the ball into play.
Game 19 was the B-squad away game for the Mets in their Sunday Split Squad bill. There's not much to talk about from this game so here are some box highlights, the rest of the box can be found here.
A Reyes 1-4, R, RBI, 3B, .481 BA
F Mart 1-3, 2 RBI, .310 BA
Pagan 0-4
Mendez 2-4, 2R, 2RBI, SB
Sosa 3.0 IP, H, 4K, .75 ERA
Those were Mendez's first AB's of the Spring, he was batting all the way down the order, and he delivered. With the Spring winding down, I doubt he will get more AB's, but its always nice to get a glimpse of someone else in the Mets organization. I feel like a broken record when I say this, but Sosa is really impressive. He just knocked in another 3 innings, allowed a hit, had four strikeouts and lowered his ERA to below 1. He is a reliable fall back plan for El Duque and Pelfry.
In the second game, the home game on Sunday, it was the long awaited debut of Pedro, and it was worth the wait. The boxscore can be found here.
Reyes 1-3, R, RBI, 3B
Delgado, 1-2, RBI, 2B
Anderson, 3-4, R
Pedro 4.0 IP, 4H, BB, 4K
Wise, 1.0, 2K
Schoenewies 1.0, H, 2K
Stokes 1.0, 6H, 4ER, BB, K
First off, another great day in the strikeout market for the Mets, with 9 K's as a team. Four key strikeouts came from Pedro, who used his whole arsenal of pitches. He looked good, and helped to show the world that the Mets rotation is more than one pitcher. I've been reading a lot of 2008 preview magazines, who rank the Mets 3rd if printed before the Santana trade, due to lack of depth of reliable starting pitchers. If they were published afterwards, it talks about how the Mets health overall is a question and how they just do not have the tools. An effective Pedro gives the Mets best one-two punch in the National League at the top of the rotation.
Wise and (I cannot believe I am about to say this) and Schoenewies, if they keep playing the way they have been playing, really help this bullpen that ran out of gas at the end of last year. Stokes got shelled in this game. He couldn't get outs.
In terms of offense yesterday, Marlon Anderson came back strong.
Yesterday had the best game out of the four here for offense notes.
Reyes 2-3, R, 2SB
Chavez 1-2, RBI, SB
Wright, 2-3, R, 2RBI, SB
FMart 2-4, 2R, .326 BA
Perez 5.0, 2H, R, 0ER, 0BB, 5K, ERA 4.61
From those lines listed, it might not look like the best offensive day, but Reyes and Wright haven't had many days this Spring when they are both dialed in, especially at the same time. Reyes stole 2 bases like we all expect of him, and the Mets were the normal Mets by stealing a total of four bases. FMart continued his current tear with two additional hits. The good Perez showed up today, and hopefully he will show up next time out.
