Results tagged “kazishii”

Martinez is not the only Met pitcher throwing well. Prior to taking the loss on Friday, Victor Zambrano had been suprisingly effective, with an ERA in the mid-3s. Tom Glavine has pitched his best since the first half of 2004, and even Kaz Ishii threw six shutout innings on Thursday. With Steve Trachsel expected back in early August, the Mets should have few complaints about their pitching staff.

With the sweep, the Mets are now a whopping three games above .500, 3rd in the NL East, and 4.5 games behind the Braves, who moved into a tie for first with the Nationals last night. They Mets are also 4.5 games out of the wild card.

In game two, it was a different story. Kris Benson shut down the Giants and the Mets added four home runs on their way to winning, 12-1. Like Tomko in the first game, Benson helped his own cause, picking up a double and an RBI on a bases loaded walk in the 4th inning. Two of the four home runs were by Cliff Floyd who has 14 on the season, putting him in a 5-way tie for second in the National League.

David Wright, who had an error in Sunday's game against the Yankees, potentially cost the Mets with an errant take-out slide in the 8th inning last night. With the bases loaded and Wright at first, Doug Mientkiewicz hit a potential double play ball to first. When the ball was thrown to Furcal, Wright slid wide of the base in an attempt to disrupt the throw back to first base. He succeeded and two runs crossed the plate but the 2nd base umpire ruled that Wright interfered with the throw and ruled it a double play. Potential rally over.

No opponent cures poor play like the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets pounded them 9-2 at Shea Stadium on Monday, getting to former Met Paul Wilson for seven runs. There are two items of good news for the Mets: Kris Benson pitched like he did down the stretch last season and they get to play the Reds two more times this week. The Reds and their non-existent pitching staff are now 10 games under .500, their season-opening sweep of the Mets a distant memory.

Since starting the season 0-5, the Mets have been on fire, winning 10 of 13 games. Their play has lifted them to two games over .500, which generally isn't very good, but when was the last time the Mets were in this position? One area of concern pops up for the Mets despite their record, the starting pitching. Three starting pitchers - Kris Benson, Steve Trachsel, Kaz Ishii - for the Mets are currently on the disabled list, but somehow the Mets are still winning.

Clemens was welcomed with a chorus of boos that lasted the whole game, but again pitched well. The 42 year old, and reigning Cy Young award winner, pitched 7 innings, giving up only 2 hits and 1 walk, surrendering no runs and striking out 9. His Mets counterpart, Kaz Ishii, also pitched well. Ishii also went 7 innings and allowed 2 hits, 3 walks and had 5 K's. Control problems, Ishii? Nah.

In yesterday afternoon's 6-1 loss, Kaz Ishii issued four walks and allowed five earned runs in 6.2 innings. The first two walks were to the first batters he faced in the game. Those, combined with Kaz Matsui's error, helped put the Mets in an early two run hole. With some offense, they might have been able to come close, but there was none to be had. The Mets didn't score or get their 2nd hit until the 8th inning. Given a chance to rally in the 9th, Mike Piazza pinch hit to end the game on a pop-up.

Despite his lack of control, his coaches have called him clutch. Jim Colborn, his pitching coach with the Dodgers said, "He does stuff that is self-destructive, but he still winds up being successful. That's one of his strengths. He's unbelievable in the clutch. He seems to need his back against the wall to pitch his best." With all those walks, Gothamist is hoping that he's clutch and the change in location helps, or that the Mets hitters are able to get him out of early holes, because if those don't happen, the Mets will be looking for another 5th starter.

The Mets also parted with Joe McEwing, their long-time utility player this week. Despite his poor play last year, Gothamist will miss McEwing who seems to have played hard every time he was given an opportunity. With five years on the team when he was released, McEwing was the 2nd most senior member of the Mets and the only player besides Mike Piazza that was on the 2000 World Series team.