OH BABY!
ABSOLUTELY UNSTOPPABLE ANOTHER SWEEP & NY EXTENDS WINNING STREAK
METS REMAIN HOTTEST TEAM IN BASEBALL, BY FAR
METS REMAIN HOTTEST TEAM IN BASEBALL, BY FAR
The hottest team in baseball won again on Thursday, sweeping the Indians with a 6-4 victory. Recognize these Mets? "We're doing a lot of good things right," manager Jerry Manuel said after his Mets won their seventh straight game and their 11th in 12 tries. "We feel good about the way we're playing. And I think that's important." This one was a victory, plain and simple. The Mets converted R.A. Dickey's quality start and Jose Reyes' three-hit, two-run performance into that much, allowing the Indians to draw close but never even.
Now the Mets are certifiably rolling, with one of their most difficult stretches of the season -- 10 straight against the Yankees, Tigers and Twins -- looming back in New York. Friday, for these Mets, cannot come soon enough. "Right now, we can play with anybody," Reyes said. "Right now, we're playing very good." Among the streaking Mets, Reyes is perhaps playing better than anyone. Thursday, with a three-inch gash in his right index finger, he turned in one of his best performances yet. Singling in the first inning, Reyes was nearly picked off second base on Jake Westbrook's snap turn-and-throw. As he tried to tag Reyes, Indians second baseman Luis Valbuena dropped the ball and stepped on his right hand, spiking open a large gash. Reyes, of course, stayed in the game, and scored. Then he doubled in the fourth inning. Then he scored again. Then he tripled and drove in a run in the eighth. Batting .211 as recently as May 21, Reyes is now up to .270, with all three of his homers, and eight of his 17 stolen bases, coming since that time. And the Mets are playing .806 ball when he scores a run. Further evidence that Reyes is back to his old self: In the eighth inning, he ranged to his right and threw off his back foot to nab Jhonny Peralta on a grounder to short, before making a leaping catch of Shelley Duncan's liner. "That's the player that we know we have in Jose," Manuel said. "Jose is arguably one of the best shortstops in the game. Tonight was a night that you saw the real Jose Reyes." It was a night in which the Mets also saw a different Dickey. Unable to find a consistent release point with his knuckleball, Dickey accepted the advice of pitching coach Dan Warthen, who told him to stick with the harder, low-80s knuckleball that he seemed better able to command and control. For his final two innings, Dickey did just that, retiring the final six batters he faced -- three of them on strikeouts. And Dickey did something else remarkable at Progressive Field, becoming the first pitcher in Mets history to win at least five games without a loss in his first six starts with the team. "But I'm much more interested in how we fare collectively," Dickey said. He's in luck -- the Mets are faring well. Remarkably well, actually. Rapping out six hits, the Mets scored three runs off Westbrook in the first, before tacking on two more in the fourth. Ike Davis contributed to both rallies, punching RBI singles to opposite directions. Angel Pagan singled and scored in the first, crossing home plate for the fourth straight game. Even Henry Blanco singled home a run off Westbrook -- a potential trade target -- in the first. The Mets then exercised their new end-game formula: Elmer Dessens for the eighth, Francisco Rodriguez for the ninth. Though the Indians drew within one run on Travis Hafner's RBI groundout against Pedro Feliciano in the seventh inning, Reyes tacked on an insurance run with his triple in the eighth. And Dessens and Rodriguez ensured that it would remain a two-run game. Now the Mets are rolling, heading into the Bronx with only one noticeable flaw: they have yet to prove that they can consistently win against the best teams in baseball. This week, however, will afford them the chance. And the Mets plan to embrace it. "We're seeing now the team that we want to see," Pagan said. "The last couple weeks," David Wright said, "it's been fun to just watch this lineup go." After Thursday's game had ended, designated hitter Chris Carter grabbed a plate of food and slid between Wright and Davis on a clubhouse couch. "Six in a row? Seven?" Carter said, grabbing a forkful and turning to Wright. "Feelin' good right now."
Now the Mets are certifiably rolling, with one of their most difficult stretches of the season -- 10 straight against the Yankees, Tigers and Twins -- looming back in New York. Friday, for these Mets, cannot come soon enough. "Right now, we can play with anybody," Reyes said. "Right now, we're playing very good." Among the streaking Mets, Reyes is perhaps playing better than anyone. Thursday, with a three-inch gash in his right index finger, he turned in one of his best performances yet. Singling in the first inning, Reyes was nearly picked off second base on Jake Westbrook's snap turn-and-throw. As he tried to tag Reyes, Indians second baseman Luis Valbuena dropped the ball and stepped on his right hand, spiking open a large gash. Reyes, of course, stayed in the game, and scored. Then he doubled in the fourth inning. Then he scored again. Then he tripled and drove in a run in the eighth. Batting .211 as recently as May 21, Reyes is now up to .270, with all three of his homers, and eight of his 17 stolen bases, coming since that time. And the Mets are playing .806 ball when he scores a run. Further evidence that Reyes is back to his old self: In the eighth inning, he ranged to his right and threw off his back foot to nab Jhonny Peralta on a grounder to short, before making a leaping catch of Shelley Duncan's liner. "That's the player that we know we have in Jose," Manuel said. "Jose is arguably one of the best shortstops in the game. Tonight was a night that you saw the real Jose Reyes." It was a night in which the Mets also saw a different Dickey. Unable to find a consistent release point with his knuckleball, Dickey accepted the advice of pitching coach Dan Warthen, who told him to stick with the harder, low-80s knuckleball that he seemed better able to command and control. For his final two innings, Dickey did just that, retiring the final six batters he faced -- three of them on strikeouts. And Dickey did something else remarkable at Progressive Field, becoming the first pitcher in Mets history to win at least five games without a loss in his first six starts with the team. "But I'm much more interested in how we fare collectively," Dickey said. He's in luck -- the Mets are faring well. Remarkably well, actually. Rapping out six hits, the Mets scored three runs off Westbrook in the first, before tacking on two more in the fourth. Ike Davis contributed to both rallies, punching RBI singles to opposite directions. Angel Pagan singled and scored in the first, crossing home plate for the fourth straight game. Even Henry Blanco singled home a run off Westbrook -- a potential trade target -- in the first. The Mets then exercised their new end-game formula: Elmer Dessens for the eighth, Francisco Rodriguez for the ninth. Though the Indians drew within one run on Travis Hafner's RBI groundout against Pedro Feliciano in the seventh inning, Reyes tacked on an insurance run with his triple in the eighth. And Dessens and Rodriguez ensured that it would remain a two-run game. Now the Mets are rolling, heading into the Bronx with only one noticeable flaw: they have yet to prove that they can consistently win against the best teams in baseball. This week, however, will afford them the chance. And the Mets plan to embrace it. "We're seeing now the team that we want to see," Pagan said. "The last couple weeks," David Wright said, "it's been fun to just watch this lineup go." After Thursday's game had ended, designated hitter Chris Carter grabbed a plate of food and slid between Wright and Davis on a clubhouse couch. "Six in a row? Seven?" Carter said, grabbing a forkful and turning to Wright. "Feelin' good right now."
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