Mets 10 Astros 3
HOUSTON – Can you hear it? Listen closely. It’s the tomahawk chop. The Braves are in sight.
The Mets are creeping up the standings. This is what happens after a road trip where you win five of seven games, finishing off with a 10-3 domination of the worst team in baseball, the Astros, at Enron yesterday.
It pulled the Mets within 2 ½ games of the Braves in the NL East. The Mets are already controlling the wild card race with a 41/2-game lead over the Diamondbacks, who are in disarray with some in Arizona saying the D’backs would be better without manager Buck Showalter.
Last weekend, the Mets showed that the Diamondbacks can’t play with them, taking two of three at the BOB. This weekend, the west leading Giants – who swept four heated games from the Mets by the Bay in May – are in next for four at Shea.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wake up and look at [the standings],” said Pat Mahomes. “I don’t think anybody is really concentrating on that. We’re just concentrating on going out and giving a solid effort.”
Are they ever? Yesterday was the latest ho-hum drubbing of the Astros, the only team in baseball below .400.
Led by Mike Piazza’s 4-for-4, 4-RBI day and Bobby Jones’ sixth win since his return from the Norfolk miracle cure in June, the Mets again dismantled the Astros, whomthey beat 12-5 Wednesday.
As has been his custom, Piazza has returned from an injury – a left knee strain, which forced him out of three games – with tremendous success.
“I think it’s because he’s rested,” Bobby Valentine said of Piazza, who was 6-for-9 with seven runs batted in his first two games back.
Astros manager Larry Dierker, meanwhile, got so sick of being beaten down by Piazza that in the seventh, with one out and Darryl Hamilton on third, Dierker had reliever Joe Slusarski intentionally walk Piazza to bring up Robin Ventura.
“It’s the obvious move,” said Ventura of the free pass, which occurred with the Mets up 4-2. “Mike’s hitting like .380 and the guy is hitting .230 behind him and you hope for a double play.”
This didn’t work either as Ventura – whose bat is the next vital sign the Mets need to make catching the Braves a reality – sent a double into the right-field corner to score Hamilton and Piazza.
Next, Jay Payton, who hit a solo homer for the second consecutive game, knocked an RBI single to make it 7-2 Mets.
The 30-year-old Jones’ improvement is reason No. 1 – Rick Reed is reason No. 1A – why the Mets can think seriously about the Braves. The only runs in eight innings Jones allowed yesterday were on two solo shots by Jeff Bagwell.
Jones (7-5) gave up some hits, 10 of them to be exact, but took advantage of four double plays. He has regained his stuff and feels better in the locker room about it.
“Guys are saying, ‘Geez, can this guy pitch?'” Jones said of what some of the new guys might have thought when he started the season 1-3 with a 10.19 ERA. “It’s a lot more fun to come to the park.”
For everyone in blue and orange, wherever you look there is a positive sign. The Mets are healthy. Hamilton just missed hitting a homer (the ball was really out, but ump Al Clark missed it) in the seventh, but he settled for a triple. In his first start since April 6, Hamilton played right field and scored four runs.
“When you have a rested bullpen and the lineup is healthy, we usually look pretty good,” Valentine said. “When you get Bobby Jones, who has been as good a pitcher as we have for a couple of handfuls of starts and [Rick] Reed’s coming on strong.”
It also pretty important to have Piazza back healthy. Take the third inning for example, when Piazza put up a run basically by himself.
With one out, Piazza knocked a double near the top corner of the 19-foot wall located 315-feet in left. Sliding in feet first, he just beat a Daryle Ward’s throw. Piazza moved over on a wild pitch and scored on a routine groundout to second by Ventura.
“You are not right where you need to be until October one rolls around and you look at the standings and it says ‘New York Mets’ and it has a little ‘X’ beside it,” Payton said.
The Mets are putting themselves in position. Listen closely, you can hear it. They’re moving in on the tomahawk choppers.
