Results tagged “krisbenson”

Maine improved to 11-4 Tuesday with seven solid innings of pitching and a home run while batting. Lastings Milledge went 3-for-3 with a home run as well and every Met except David Wright had a hit. (Maybe Wright was tired from filming commercials?)

-Mets 7, Astros 0: As WIllie Randolph's Mets cruise through the second half of the season to the playoffs, pundits will say their postseason success will rest on their pitching. John Maine, part of the deal that sent Kris Benson to Baltimore, threw a four-hit shutout in the Mets' victory over the Astros on Friday. Maine's performance -- on short notice, no less -- will allow for optimistic Mets fans and management to see him in the third or fourth rotation spot come October. But a shutout against the Astros doesn't make a dominant starter, and, as impressive as it was, the Mets should wait to see more.

-Washington 11 Yankees 9: If the Yankees miss the playoffs by one game, this is the one to remember. Fifteen hits and a seven-run lead weren’t enough for the pathetic Yankee pitching as they collapsed down the stretch and gave the Nationals an improbable victory.

Two months after the Mets traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles, Benson and his wife Anna are heading to splittsville. Anna filed for divorce in Atlanta saying that her marriage was "irretrievably broken." The Daily News reports that Kris was cheating on his wife with one of her friends. Anna Benson's spokesperson told the News, ""She's completely crushed; she didn't see this coming." At the time of Kris Benson's trade, it was rumored that one reason the Mets wanted to trade the 31 year-old righty was because of Anna's antics.

After much talk, the Mets finally got together with the Orioles and made a deal yesterday, sending Kris Benson to Baltimore for Jorge Julio and John Maine. Benson, who just completed the first year of a three-year $22.5 million contract finished 10-8 with a 4.13 ERA last season, his first winning season since 2002. With the hard-throwing Julio, the Mets now have even more back-end bullpen help for Billy Wagner. Julio, Baltimore's former closer, was 3-5 with a 5.90 ERA in 67 games last year and will setup Wagner with Duaner Sanchez who the Mets acquired earlier in the Jae Seo trade.

With their homestand over, the Mets now play 17 of the next 20 games away from Shea Stadium. With a 23-35 record on the road this season, the Mets (40-25 at home) are potentially in a make or break point of the season. After six games out west against Arizona and San Francisco, the Mets play 13 games in a row against playoff contenders, Philadelphia, Florida, Atlanta and St. Louis. The way the Mets have performed on the road this season, Gothamist will be surprised if they come out of those games with 7 wins.

Despite Benson's performance, it was Wright that stole the show for the 2nd night in a row. With Pedro Martinez having his worst outing of the season last night, Wright made one of the best plays all season with a bare-handed over the shoulder diving-catch in short left field. Last night, it was all bat.

Kris Benson threw a season-high 125 pitches for his 7th win of the season. He allowed only 4 hits and 1 walk in 8 innings of work. Benson was aided by #6 hitter Mike Piazza, who was 3-3 with 3 RBI including a two-run a 425-foot home run into the Pepsi Picnic Area in left field.

Tuesday's win wasn't as uneventful as the Mets' season promises to be. Mike Piazza was finally dropped in the order, and David Wright, who has been the best hitter in Queens this season, moved into his fifth spot. Willie Randolph still thinks that Jose Reyes and his .280s OBP should be hitting leadoff, but Gothamist has to assume he's not one of our readers, or he would have changed that by now. The Mets would have been better off with Kris Benson, Tuesday's starting pitcher, batting first. Benson's arm has been better than his bat, but it is the tepid Mets' lineup that will keep them from gaining any ground in the mediocre NL East. That and their magnetic attraction to even records.

Mike Piazza's eleventh-inning RBI single gave the Mets a 3-2 win at Washington, and the Mets took a four-game series from the front-running Nationals. Despite Willie Randolph's best efforts to ruin the Mets' production with his increasingly-crazy lineups, his team has gotten enough runs to win of late.

Two hundred million dollars can buy a lot of things, but apparently it cannot buy a baseball team with heart. The day after being stymied by Pedro Martinez, the Yankee bats took another game off, this time against Tom Glavine who came into his start on Saturday with an ERA over 5. When the dust had settled, the Mets had won the contest 10-3 and chants of “Let’s Go Mets!” had filled Yankee Stadium.

The Mets head to Yankee Stadium having rebounded from a disastrous start to their current road trip. After dropping five of six, the Mets took two out of three from the Phillies and have to be feeling pretty good about themselves as they head to the Bronx. Pedro Martinez will get the series started for the Mets. Martinez has exceeded the Mets’ expectations going 7-2 with a 2.76ERA, but has struggled against the Yankees in the past. Tom Glavine and Kris Benson will pitch Saturday and Sunday.

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.

Koo wasn’t the only hero for the Mets. Kris Benson was brilliant over six innings allowing only three hits, before tiring and giving way to Koo with a runner on in the seventh. Former Yankee, Miguel Cairo, also homered for the Mets whose fans suffered a nervous moment when Carlos Beltran left the game with a groin injury. Beltran wasn’t the only injured superstar, as Derek Jeter also had to be removed from the game after being hit on the elbow. Luckily, both Jeter and Beltran escaped serious injurt and are day-to-day.

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.

While he didn't make his season debut yesterday, it certainly seems like Mike Piazza has been missing all season. Entering yesterday's game Piazza was hitting below the Mendoza Line, but that all changed with a 4-5 performance. One of Piazza's hits was a 3-run home run in the 8th inning, which gave the Mets a healthy cushion they would later need.

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.

Heilman, who was the 18th pick in the 2001 draft for the Mets and has had limited success in the Majors, is 3-11 with a 6.50 ERA in his 19 starts prior to last night. If it weren't for an injury to Kris Benson, Heilman might not have even been with the team. Even Gothamist has been down on Heilman (as recently as yesterday), but we'll gladly eat our words if he pitches like this.

The offer, if accepted, would be the first splash for GM Omar Minaya (we're not counting the Kris Benson signing), who has dabbled in trading for Sammy Sosa and trading Mike Piazza. Is this the right move for the Mets? Martinez, who would surely hear more "Who's your daddy?" chants or shirts, has signs that his abilities may be on the decline - he lost 5 mph off his fast ball last season. If he signs with the Mets, Martinez will become the rotation's ace, joining Kris Benson, Tom Glavine, Victor Zambrano and Steve Trachsel. Al Leiter, a mainstay of the Mets is unlikely to return in 2005 and may sign with the Yankees.

Anna Benson, pictured above and featured in this month's FHM Magazine is thought to like New York, as it affords her more opportunities to act and model. Always frank about the couple's sex life, Anna told FHM that she and Kris have yet to have sex at Shea Stadium. She also says that he hasn't worn her panties like Tim Robbins did in Bull Durham.

And in a move to please the crowds in Atlanta, the Mets dropped another game to the Braves. The 6-3 loss gave Bobby Cox his 2000th career win. He is the 9th manager to reach that mark and joins Tony LaRussa as the only other active manager on the list. The Mets lost two of the three games in the series and return home to face the Expos.

Todd Zeile certainly had a memorable weekend. In game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader, he picked up the 2,000th hit of his career. The hit came in the 9th inning and off of Pirates closer Jose Mesa. In Saturday's game, Zeile played catcher for the first time since 1990. It's possible that Zeile is a bit rusty, as his batterymate, Tom Glavine, pitched poorly, giving up six runs in less than six innings of work.

Russ Ortiz, the starter for the Braves, had not lost on the road since April 28th and he didn't finish the 5th inning in last night's game. The complete game shutout by Benson was the first one for the Mets this season, which should help in his contract talks with the organization.

The runs for the Mets came from Eric Valent, David Wright, Mike Cameron, and Jason Phillips. The shutout by the Mets was courtesy of Kris Benson, who pitched six strong innings, Bartolome Fortunato, and Braden Looper. Guess Benson's shoulder is now well rested.

A statistic that is uglier than their losing streak, the Mets have not had a lead in 58 innings - more than six games. The 11 game losing streak is the worst for the Mets since 2002 when they lost 12 straight. The Marlins look to hand the Mets their 12th consecutive loss tomorrow when Kris Benson finally makes another start.

In yesterday's game, Tom Glavine pitched five innings, giving up six runs including a 3 run home run to Andruw Jones in a 6-5 loss (box score). Not exactly the way you want your ace pitcher to play. Newsday gives readers some great Mets numbers: "After closing to within one game of the first-place Phillies on July 7, the Mets have lost 15 of 21 and now are closer to the last-place Expos than the surging Braves, who have won five straight, 15 of 19 and 25 of 32."

If your favorite team was 55-31, 7 games ahead in their division and had the best record in baseball, would you be worried? Or would you be enjoying a great season? That is the huge difference between the Yankee fan and the rest of the baseball world. Yankees fans are worried, even though right now they are the best team in baseball.

Freddy Garcia, once a player named in trade speculation, is gone. The Mariners said that Dioner Navarro and Robinson Chano were just not enough for him, so they traded him to the White Sox. Who does that leave for the Yankees to go after? Kris Benson, Russ Ortiz, Ted Lilly and Jamie Moyer are some of the names that rumored to be available. The big name out there is Randy Johnson. With Arizona falling further and further behind in the race in NL, all eyes are on the Big Unit.