Mets 1 Dodgers 0
Championship teams get breaks like the one the Mets got in the ninth inning yesterday when Adrian Beltre couldn’t find third base.
Championship teams hit balls that bounce off the tip of the pitcher’s glove, as Matt Franco’s chopper did in the ninth off Dodger reliever Terry Adams’ mitt.
The infield hit brought home Jon Nunnally with the bases full to give the Mets their eighth-straight win, 1-0 over the Dodgers in front of 37,987 who enjoyed the sun at Shea.
But, most of all, championship teams get pitching performances from guys like Pat Mahomes, who is the leading candidate for the sixth man of the year award. Mahomes, starting for the injured Rick Reed, made yesterday’s win possible by throwing his second impressive substitute start of the season, going 52/3 innings and allowing no runs and two hits.
He is the Mets’ version of Ramiro Mendoza. He throws long relief and is a spot starter and, in the words of pitching coach Dave Wallace, “He is invaluable.”
And you know what else is Yankee-like at Shea today – the Mets (13-7) have won eight in a row, moving within percentage points of the division-leading Braves (12-6) in the NL East. The teams are tied in the games behind column.
The Mets swept the Cubs this past weekend by scoring 30 runs in three games. Yesterday, thanks to Mahomes and relievers Dennis Cook, Turk Wendell and Armando Benitez – who picked up the win – they needed just the ninth-inning run.
“I just like the fact that we are not wasting our good pitching and we’re not wasting our good hitting,” said manager Bobby Valentine, whose team has won 10 of 11. “It’s a sign of a good team.”
The Mets couldn’t score off L.A. starter Darren Dreifort (six innings, five hits), but they didn’t waste Mahomes’ effectiveness thanks to fortunate bounces against Adams in the ninth. Robin Ventura did lead off with a solid hit, drilling a double to right-center. With Melvin Mora pinch-running for Ventura, Nunnally walked to put men at first and second.
Then came the play that got Los Angeles manager Davey Johnson thrown out of the game. Jay Payton hit a grounder to short. The Dodgers’ Kevin Elster fielded and threw meekly to Beltre, who had Mora bearing down on him. Beltre didn’t have his foot on the base. Mora slid, Beltre tagged him late and the runner was called safe by umpire Gerry Davis.
Mora said he thought Beltre was “scared” of being spiked. Johnson thought Mora was out, argued, and was ejected. The Mets had the bases loaded and no outs.
After Rey Ordonez didn’t come through, grounding into a 6-2 forceout, Franco hit his chopper back at Adams. When the ball landed behind the mound after hitting Adams’ glove, Nunnally scored but Franco didn’t go wild.
“It was more just relief,” said Franco, who thought he might have hit into a double play to end the inning.
So give Franco credit, but he too knew that Mahomes deserved the headlines.
“Without a doubt,” Franco agreed. “To come in and throw shutout innings against that team with the way they’ve been swinging the bat the last three or four days, it is just phenomenal. He won the game for us today.”
The 29-year-old Mahomes is a different pitcher than the one the Mets first signed before last season. Al Leiter taught him the cutter and now Mahomes can get lefties out.
“I could get the right-handers out, but the left-handers always killed me,” Mahomes said.
In putting up a 1-0 record with a 1.66 ERA this season, Mahomes has made two starts. You remember the first against these same Dodgers when he filled in for Leiter on sunny Saturday afternoon in April and threw 52/3 of one-run ball, but the Mets lost when John Franco and Benitez gave up the lead.
He has also pitched in long relief, earning his win in Pittsburgh when he replaced the injured Fresno Bobby Jones in the first inning.
Mahomes said that earlier in his career he couldn’t excel in such a role. Well, he wouldn’t call it a role, exactly.
“Whenever [Valentine] rings that phone and says ‘Mahomes,’ I’ve got to be ready to go in and pitch,” he said.
“He’s been a staff saver,” Valentine said.
