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After stumbling through the last two games of the series against the rival Braves, the Mets must have had a long flight to San Diego Wednesday afternoon. For a while, it looked like Thursday night's 7-2 win over the Padres would feel long also. The Mets could only manage a Kaz Matsui inside-the-park home run (which could have been caught by Padre rightfielder Brian Giles) off Jake Peavy. Once Peavy left in the 8th, the Mets woke up. Julio Franco became the oldest player to hit a home run. His two run shot put the Mets up 3-2, and they cruised.
Not all is well with the Mets, though. Carlos Beltran, limited by an injury last year, removed himself with a tight hamstring in the fifth. Even an underachieving Beltran is worlds better than Endy Chavez, his replacement so far this year. Gothamist can only hope this rocks some sense into manager Willy Randolph for his batting order. David Wright might be an MVP if he didn't hit fifth. Slot him in the three-spot, and Beltran in the two, bumping Paul LoDuca to the bottom part of the order, where he belongs. Since Beltran will stay off the DL for now, any lineup shuffle will ilkely be temporary.
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what i can't believe is that matsui has homered in his first at bat in the last three seasons!
that and he actually helped on defense with a double play!
Julio will be the difference-maker this year; Atlanta had him as their lucky charm for the past few years, but now we've got 'im. He provides senior leadership in a player/coach role who clicks especially well with hispanic players, and he's a role player who can fill in or provide moster pinch hits. Overall, he's the best new acquisition aside from Delgado. On top of which, he's a ripped 47-year old.
I think Kaz read our comments yesterday and hustled to get us off his back!
Couldn't agree more with your take on Julio.
Lo Duca's been doing pretty well in the 2-spot. .385 OBP, although that is lower right now than both Wright or Beltran (and Lo Duca's career OBP is lower than both Wright and Beltran). I just wonder what Willie's thinking is on this.
I almost forgot Lo Duca! I miss Piazza sometimes because of nostalgia, but I'm glad they went and got Delgado and Lo Duca, which essentially left no place for Piazza to hang around except in a Julio Franco type position or backup catcher (neither of which interested Piazza anyway).
If Pedro and Glavine can keep up their current pace and Zambrano and Traschel can hold up as best as possible, this could be a breakthrough year for the Mets. On top of which Banniter could be a huge X-factor and the bllpen is much improved this year.
The Mets are such a perfect combination of youth and experience, but some of the best players are in the twilight years, so the Mets only have this year and maybe one or two more to get things done with this combo.
Let's hope it's this year. And by the way, Omar Minaya really deserves super-kudos - he really has turned out to be a super GM building a team with apparently good chemistry.