GAME 1: Mets 4 – Braves 1
GAME 2: Mets 8 – Braves 0
Right after the trade, it wasn’t a problem.
Shawn Green was sent to the Mets on Aug. 22 and enjoyed a strong first week.
Green then went 1-for-20 over six games heading into yesterday. But in the Mets’ doubleheader against the Braves yesterday, he re-emerged.
The right fielder cracked three hits and a homer in each game, as the Mets took both ends, 4-1 and 8-0.
In Game 1, Green had a single, a double and a solo home run – his first longball as a Met. In Game 2, he had two singles and a two-run homer – earning a curtain call – and also made a diving catch in the second inning to rob Matt Diaz of a hit.
“It felt good to get kind of the monkey off my back with the home run,” Green said, “and then to get a second one and get the curtain call made it that much more special.” Until yesterday, the Mets hadn’t swept an Atlanta twinbill in more than 18 years (July 22, 1988). In the first game, the Mets got their fourth straight fine performance from Dave Williams, who gave up one run on five hits in six innings. In Game 2, their starter was even stronger, as Oliver Perez tossed a complete-game, five-hit shutout, fanning six.
Perez, whom the Mets got from Pittsburgh in the Xavier Nady-Roberto Hernandez deal, had thrown one other shutout in his career, in April 2004.
Williams, the lefty the Mets got from Cincinnati in late May, has a 3.24 ERA in four starts with the Mets and a 15-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, compared to 16-to16 numbers with the Reds.
“He’s been attacking the zone, using all of his pitches. I like the way he’s used his control to go in and out, up and down,” Willie Randolph said. “So it’s only four games, but it’s nice to see him take the opportunity and run with it and right now he’s throwing the ball real well.” Green’s former teammate and current teammate, Carlos Delgado, had the gameturning hit in Game 1, crushing a two-run homer off John Smoltz in the sixth inning with the game tied 1-1. Delgado has 100 RBIs on the season, giving the Mets three players with 100 (Carlos Beltran and David Wright are the others) for the second time in the club’s history (1999 was the other year with Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura and Edgardo Alfonzo).
Guillermo Mota, instead of Aaron Heilman, pitched the eighth inning in Game 1 with a two-run lead. Mota pitched a scoreless inning despite yielding a two-out double.
He has given up one run on four hits in nine innings as a Met.
Randolph said he was not auditioning Mota for an eighth-inning role.
“He’s done that many times. He set up for [Eric] Gagne for many, many years, so it’s not foreign to him,” Randolph said. “We have a doubleheader, so I figured I’d get him in there so he can pitch well for us and then save Aaron for the next game if I can.” In the second game, Jose Reyes led off the first inning with a homer, setting a Mets mark with his sixth such blast this season.
Chris Woodward later added a two-run double and Endy Chavez a two-run triple.
MAGIC No. 8
