THEY'RE FIRED UP IN QUEENSTWO TRIPLES, A HELL OF A FIRST HOME RUN, A STEAL OF HOME, A ABSOLUTELY DOMINANT RELIEF APPEARANCE AND THE METS HAVE PERHAPS THEIR BEST WIN OF THE SEASON; BRAVES COLLAPSE
David Wright, who drove in two in the win wrote on his twitter after the game: "Mets fans always know how to pump us up. We were in complete control tonight". The Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night was eventful and complicated. After stumbling at the start of the season, the Mets have now won four of their last five games. They won with a revamped batting order as Manager Jerry Manuel received immediate results by moving Jose Reyes from first to third in the lineup. They got a strong and long relief performance from Hisanori Takahashi, who replaced the injured John Maine in the fourth inning and struck out 7 of the 12 Braves he faced. They got a clip for their highlight reel in the fifth inning when Ike Davis, their notable rookie, tied the score, 1-1, with the first home run of his career, a blast measured by the Mets at 450 feet over the fence in right-center field before 32,265 fans at Citi Field. And they scored a goofy run despite the invocation of the infield-fly rule when the Braves’ Chipper Jones, their longtime nemesis, dropped a pop-up in the seventh. The Braves picked up the loose ball but focused on Reyes, who had hit the ball but had already been ruled out even though he was standing on first. Taking advantage of this confusion was Angel Pagan, who had advanced from second to third on the error. He saw that the plate was uncovered and ran home before the Braves realized what was going on. It was the Braves’ fourth error of the game in a performance that resembled some of the Mets’ most inept play of recent years. Another heralded rookie, the Braves’ Jason Heyward, made his first New York appearance and struck out in his first three trips to the plate and grounded out in his fourth. Maine, a right-hander, left with muscle spasms and pain in his left elbow with two outs in the top of the fourth inning and the Mets trailing, 1-0. He had given up four hits. Maine, who has a history of right shoulder problems, showed no physical distress and had just surrendered a single to Omar Infante. Team trainers and Manuel walked quickly to the mound, and Manuel replaced Maine with Takahashi, a 35-year-old left-hander from Japan in his first season in the major leagues. Earlier, Manuel moved Reyes from his usual leadoff spot to third and also dropped the slumping David Wright and the slumping Jeff Francoeur to lower slots while leaving the slumping Jason Bay in the cleanup spot. The move paid off in the sixth when Reyes tripled and scored on a triple by Bay. The next batter, Wright, drove home Bay with a long sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. It was the first time in almost five years that Reyes had not hit first. Speaking of the move before the game, Manuel laughed softly and called it “one of them old, weird Jerry Manuel moves.” Reyes, a catalytic switch hitter and aggressive baserunner, said he was willing to move to help a team that was struggling to hit. The Mets’ team batting average of .229 before the game ranked 15th in the 16-team league. Reyes, who missed the first week of the season with a thyroid problem and most of last season with a hamstring injury, was batting .226. His two hits raised his average to .246. Manuel said he hoped moving Reyes would help Bay, who started the game with an average of .224. Manuel theorized that Reyes could get on base and threaten to steal, thereby distracting the attention of pitchers and, perhaps, inducing them to throw more fastballs to Bay. Manuel said he hoped the lineup moves would also help Wright, who batted fifth Friday night, and Francoeur, who batted seventh. “See if it has some effect on some of our big guys,” Manuel said. “The guys in the lower part might get some pitches to hit and drive in some runs.” Manuel said he cited Hanley Ramirez and Barry Larkin to Reyes as examples of similar players who had made the same move. “He seemed very excited about it,” Manuel said. “He had kind of bought into it.” Manuel said it would be important for Reyes to have some early success in his new slot to feel confident. “That is part of kind of the danger that you deal with,” Manuel said. “ If it doesn’t work out, we’ll switch him back. I like for him to be comfortable with it and he seemed to be.” According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Reyes had not started anywhere but the top spot in the batting order since July 5, 2005, when he batted seventh at Washington.
David Wright, who drove in two in the win wrote on his twitter after the game: "Mets fans always know how to pump us up. We were in complete control tonight". The Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night was eventful and complicated. After stumbling at the start of the season, the Mets have now won four of their last five games. They won with a revamped batting order as Manager Jerry Manuel received immediate results by moving Jose Reyes from first to third in the lineup. They got a strong and long relief performance from Hisanori Takahashi, who replaced the injured John Maine in the fourth inning and struck out 7 of the 12 Braves he faced. They got a clip for their highlight reel in the fifth inning when Ike Davis, their notable rookie, tied the score, 1-1, with the first home run of his career, a blast measured by the Mets at 450 feet over the fence in right-center field before 32,265 fans at Citi Field. And they scored a goofy run despite the invocation of the infield-fly rule when the Braves’ Chipper Jones, their longtime nemesis, dropped a pop-up in the seventh. The Braves picked up the loose ball but focused on Reyes, who had hit the ball but had already been ruled out even though he was standing on first. Taking advantage of this confusion was Angel Pagan, who had advanced from second to third on the error. He saw that the plate was uncovered and ran home before the Braves realized what was going on. It was the Braves’ fourth error of the game in a performance that resembled some of the Mets’ most inept play of recent years. Another heralded rookie, the Braves’ Jason Heyward, made his first New York appearance and struck out in his first three trips to the plate and grounded out in his fourth. Maine, a right-hander, left with muscle spasms and pain in his left elbow with two outs in the top of the fourth inning and the Mets trailing, 1-0. He had given up four hits. Maine, who has a history of right shoulder problems, showed no physical distress and had just surrendered a single to Omar Infante. Team trainers and Manuel walked quickly to the mound, and Manuel replaced Maine with Takahashi, a 35-year-old left-hander from Japan in his first season in the major leagues. Earlier, Manuel moved Reyes from his usual leadoff spot to third and also dropped the slumping David Wright and the slumping Jeff Francoeur to lower slots while leaving the slumping Jason Bay in the cleanup spot. The move paid off in the sixth when Reyes tripled and scored on a triple by Bay. The next batter, Wright, drove home Bay with a long sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. It was the first time in almost five years that Reyes had not hit first. Speaking of the move before the game, Manuel laughed softly and called it “one of them old, weird Jerry Manuel moves.” Reyes, a catalytic switch hitter and aggressive baserunner, said he was willing to move to help a team that was struggling to hit. The Mets’ team batting average of .229 before the game ranked 15th in the 16-team league. Reyes, who missed the first week of the season with a thyroid problem and most of last season with a hamstring injury, was batting .226. His two hits raised his average to .246. Manuel said he hoped moving Reyes would help Bay, who started the game with an average of .224. Manuel theorized that Reyes could get on base and threaten to steal, thereby distracting the attention of pitchers and, perhaps, inducing them to throw more fastballs to Bay. Manuel said he hoped the lineup moves would also help Wright, who batted fifth Friday night, and Francoeur, who batted seventh. “See if it has some effect on some of our big guys,” Manuel said. “The guys in the lower part might get some pitches to hit and drive in some runs.” Manuel said he cited Hanley Ramirez and Barry Larkin to Reyes as examples of similar players who had made the same move. “He seemed very excited about it,” Manuel said. “He had kind of bought into it.” Manuel said it would be important for Reyes to have some early success in his new slot to feel confident. “That is part of kind of the danger that you deal with,” Manuel said. “ If it doesn’t work out, we’ll switch him back. I like for him to be comfortable with it and he seemed to be.” According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Reyes had not started anywhere but the top spot in the batting order since July 5, 2005, when he batted seventh at Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment