Pregame chatter
Mets (16-15) at Los Angeles Dodgers (19-14), 3:10 p.m.
Starters: John Maine (3-2, 3.48) for the Mets and Brad Penny (5-2, 3.19) for the Dodgers.
A Penny a win: Penny goes for his fifth straight winning start today. Penny hasn't lost since April 11. BUT Penny is just 5-11 with a 5.66 ERA in 19 career starts against the Mets.
Maine stats: Maine has never beaten the Dodgers. But he's won his last two starts this season. Maine pitched six innings, allowing just two runs and six hits in Arizona on Friday. He also had six strikeouts against the Diamondbacks.
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Top of 1st: Quick 1-2-3 inning for Penny. Maine's up against L.A.
Bottom of 1st: Leftfielder Angel Pagan made a nice running catch on a flyball in foul territory by Andre Ethier. Pagan caught the ball near the left-field line before tumbling over the short wall and falling into the seats. He disappeared for a bit as his concerned teammates gathered around. But it looks like Pagan is OK. Great play. 1-2-3 inning for Maine.
Top of 2nd: Ryan Church gets the first hit of the day for the Mets, a one-out single to centerfield. Pagan singles to left to put runners at first and second. Marlon Anderson doubles to deep center, scoring Church. Ball bounced on the warning track and over the wall. Raul Casanova singles to right to score Pagan and Anderson. Maine sacrifices Casanova to second on a bunt. Jose Reyes walked. Single by Luis Castillo to centerfield and Casanova scores. David Wright strikes out. Big inning for Mets. Mets 4, Dodgers 0.
Bottom of 2nd: Another 1-2-3 inning for Maine, including an inning-ending strikeout of Russell Martin. Maine looks sharp today.
Top of 3rd: Carlos Beltran starts with a single. Church singles to right on a hit-and-run. First and third with no outs. Pagan grounds into a fielder's choice. Church out at second. Anderson flies out deep to right, scoring Beltran. Pagan steals second on a pitch-out. But the inning ends with just the one run. Mets 5, Dodgers 0.
Bottom of 3rd: Apparently, Pagan hurt his shoulder on the slide into second last inning. He was frustrated in the dugout, throwing his equipment. Endy Chavez replaces him in left. Chin-lung Hu got the Dodgers' first hit, a double down the first-base line. But that was all for the Dodgers. Still 5-0.
Top of 4th: Castillo gets a two-out double. FYI: Pagan left the game with right shoulder "tightness." Still 5-0.
Bottom of 4th: Maine continues to look strong with another 1-2-3 inning. He's been efficient and has kept his pitch count down (45 pitches). Maine had two strikeouts that inning.
Top of 5th: Ryan Church got hit by a pitch, prompting the umps to warn both teams. Maine knocked down a Dodger earlier, but didn't hit him. Anderson reached on an infield single. Casanova walked to load the bases. Maine gets a two-run single to centerfield. Reyes walked to load the bases again. That's all for Brad Penny. Scott Proctor enters the game and walks Castillo on four pitches. Wright then hits a ground-rule double to leftfield. Wild pitch by Proctor and another run scores. Mets bat around and lead: Mets 11, Dodgers 0. Pagan Update: Pagan apparently hurt his shoulder making that catch when he fell over the left-field foul-line wall. It stiffened up on him later.
Bottom of 5th: Second hit of the game for the Dodgers, a double by James Loney to leadoff the inning. Russell Martin walks. Maine is in his first real trouble of the game. Maine strikes out Blake DeWitt. Big out. Then a big double play. Hu grounded to Castillo who threw to Anderson at first to get Hu. Anderson threw to Castillo to get Martin and a short rundown ensued. Castillo threw back to Anderson, who threw to Reyes and tagged out Martin.
Top of 6th: Church hits a solo home run to right. Casanova hit a two-out double to left-center. But that's it. Mets 12, Dodgers 0.
Bottom of 6th: Quick 1-2-3 inning for Maine, who has thrown just 76 pitches thus far. Still 12-0.
Top of 7th: Chan Ho Park in for the Dodgers. Mets go quietly against Park. Brad Penny gave up 10 earned runs, Proctor two earned runs. Actually, Penny had 10 earned runs on 10 hits, two strikeouts, three walks in 4.2 innings.
Bottom of 7th: Three up, three down for Maine.
Top of 8th: BTW, Nice running catch to end the bottom of the seventh by Endy Chavez. Similar play to the Pagan catch earlier. But this time Chavez stayed on the playing field. Quiet inning for the Mets -- and Park.
Bottom of 8th: Maine is still cruising along. Still 12-0.
Top of 9th: Another strong inning for Park, 1-2-3. He's been the one bright spot for the Dodgers today, holding the Mets scoreless for three innings.
Bottom of 9th: Andruw Jones dumps a blooper into short right and gets a double. Juan Pierre walks. A visit to the mound from pitching coach Rick Peterson. Ethier flies out to left. Matt Kemp singles to center to score Jones. Shutout is over. Maine comes out of the game, but a great performance: 8.1 innings, four hits, one earned run, two walks and four strikeouts. Duaner Sanchez is in for the Mets. Delwyn Young grounds into a fielder's choice. Loney strikes out to end the game. FINAL: Mets 12, Dodgers 1.
Comments (4)
The Met's season is beginning to look an awful lot like Hillary Clinton's campaign.
It is so nice to win a laugher like this once in a while!!!
http://www.myteamrivals.typepad.com/mr_mets_daily
Adam, foolish attempt at snark. We are 20% thru the season, at this point in the campaign Hillary was "inevitable." If you check the intrade charts it is the equivalent of the mets holding a 10+ game lead.
espn has a rumor that the mets are interested in Derrick Turnbow ... he has a 15 era and 13 walks in 6 innings no thanks .. he was good 3 years ago and now he is terrible ..... When matt wise comes back if they send down Smith they are out of their mind .... sosa is doing worse than him and smith has an era just above 3. But i heard willie say he would keep all the pitchers and maybe send down a bat .....