PHILADELPHIA – Just call them the Meaningful Mets. Team Wilpon will play Meaningful Games. Sure, it doesn’t take much to be a contender these days, but tonight the Mets can move into a first-place tie with another win over Larry Bowa’s Lost Boys.
It takes hitting and the Mets got tons of that last night, smashing four home runs in a rain-delayed 10-1 pounding of the Phils at Citizens Bank Park before 37,681 stunned fans. Most of all though, it takes pitching and that’s what the Mets are getting under the guidance of new pitching CEO Rick Peterson as Steve Trachsel picked up his ninth win.
“The pitching is the glue that has held us together,” said Mike Cameron, who slammed two of the Mets four home runs on the night. Asked about the chance to be in first place at the All-Star break, Cameron added, “It would be nice to come from where we’ve been to this particular point in the season to show the character of this baseball club.”
These Mets have shown character, there is no doubt about that.
With the All-Star break right around the corner, the Mets’ pitching looks a lot better than the Yankees’ arms. The Mets are first in the majors with a 3.67 ERA while the Yankees are 20th with a 4.54 mark and it is getting uglier by the inning.
“We haven’t changed the pitching staff all that much from last year,” GM Jim Duquette said, “and yet we’re improved. It’s not an accident. The major difference is having Rick on board and the preparation he does before every series and before each game.
“That gives the pitching staff confidence to attack hitters,” added Duquette, who is now trying to find the Richard Hildago of pitchers in a trade. “They have a tremendous plan and are sticking to that plan and making the pitches.”
The Mets are executing their pitches, the Yankees aren’t. Even if you have a $180 million payroll you still have to execute from 60 feet, six inches.
The Mets are coming off two of their better-pitched games of the year, a 4-1 gem Tuesday by Al Leiter & Co. and last night’s blowout win as Trachsel allowed only one run over seven innings. Holding the slugging Phils to two runs over two games in comfy Citizens Bank Park is not an easy task. “It’s remarkable,” said Art Howe.
The Marlins lost and remain two out. Don’t look now, but the Braves, who always seem to win this division, won again and are only 1½ games back. This is a four-team race.
The Mets seem to have everything working right now, a solid lineup and solid pitching. Peterson doesn’t look at numbers like ERA, though. He looks at efficiency rating, which is a formula essentially based on keeping runners off base. The Mets are doing a much better job at that this year because the pitchers are getting ahead of the hitters. Advantage pitcher.
Peterson is quick to credit his pitchers for making the adjustments and for allowing him to do his work, especially veterans like Leiter, who leads the majors with a 2.05 ERA and Tom Glavine, who is fourth in the majors with a 2.49 ERA. It’s all a matter of trust.
“I’m just so thankful for the opportunity,” Peterson said. “To have their support is tremendous. It’s kind of like them giving me the keys to their home and saying, ‘Make yourself at home. The refrigerator is over there, help yourself. Put your feet up on the furniture.’ They’ve just been totally receptive. My sense is that everybody is comfortable with what we’re doing, pitchers and catchers alike.”
Success breeds comfort . . . and Meaningful Games.
