3
2009
Francoeur Rockets Mets Past Astros 7-1
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The Mets finally played some solid baseball and beat the Houston Astros 7-1 Friday night in the opener of their final series of the season.
John Maine (7-6) made his final start of the season and delivered one of his best performances in two years. He pitched seven solid innings and allowed just one run on five hits, and he didn’t walk a batter while striking out seven. It was just what the Mets needed at a time when there are so many questions about next season’s rotation. The start also marked the first time in 15 starts this season, that Maine was able to last through the seventh inning.
“It gives us a lot of hope,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “I haven’t seen his slider that good since he’s come back, and his fastball had late life. Very encouraging for all of us.”
Bobby Parnell and Sean Green finished the game in relief of Maine with two scoreless innings.
Offensively, Jeff Francoeur led the attack with three hits including a towering two run homer that broke the 1-1 tie and put the Mets in front for good in the sixth inning. For Francoeur, it was his 15th homerun of the season which leads all Mets batters.
Daniel Murphy also delivered a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning, and David Wright had an RBI double among his three hits on the evening. For Murphy, it was his team leading 12th homer.
Omir Santos, Fernando Tatis and Angel Pagan each had two of the Mets’ 14 hits against the ‘Stros and Nick Evans hit New York’s 47th triple of the season in the seventh inning, tying the franchise record set in 1978 and equaled in 1996.
With only two games left to the season, the Mets will send Pat Misch to the mound this afternoon who will be searching for his second consecutive solid outing. You may remember that Misch pitched a complete game shutout against the Marlins his last time out.
Here’s to the Mets finishing strong…
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationals | 26 | 18 | .591 | - |
| Braves | 26 | 20 | .565 | 1.0 |
| Mets | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Marlins | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 23 | 23 | .500 | 4.0 |
Last updated: 05/25/2012
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WOW, will we able to sweep at the close? We should given Houston has 2 hacks pitching the rest of the way.
Finally we have a game with actual promise. Perhaps Maine IS on the road back. Continuing contributions on the offense from Francoeur and Murphy, with David providing 3 hits (however all against a lefty and his big double was an opposite field drive consistent with his training to avoid HR’s in Citi.)
But for me the BIG item was Jerry actually gave an at bat to Evans who DELIVERED with a three base hit. The rest of the lineup left him stranded even though there was no outs when he was standing on 3rd.
But it was a good game and we have to wonder whether the offensive outburst and solid pitching was a result of Jerry’s upheaval speech. Sometimes there is a time and a place for a loose cannon. This could have been one of them just to give Jerry just a smidgeon of credit.
Finally a game without a GOAT huh mask?
Those GOAT reports kept me busy. I wound up watching more games than I would have otherwise because I wanted to get it right. The final wrap-up will be given as a post to the final game recap. Hopefully the team performs at least respectably in 2010 and we can all forget about GOATS.
I’ll be looking forward to the Golden Goat award!
Good show for Maine last night. Hopefully next season he can get his velocity up a little, I noticed he didn’t above 92 last night, he was around 90-92, needs to get up there to 92-94.