May
24
2012

3 Up & 3 Down: Powered by Pitching in Pittsburgh Edition

An article by Gregg Hopps

The Mets hooked up with new and, dare we say improved Pittsburgh Pirates for a three game set this week. The hallmark of these three games was just outstanding pitching by both teams. The Mets win the series taking two of three, and here are the 3 & 3.

3 Up:

R.A. Dickey: R.A. Dickey pitched a gem on Tuesday night, going 7 innings giving up only one run, and striking out eleven Bucs. A really nice job by Dickey, who is having an All Star type season.
Jon Niese: Thankfully 3 & 3 was on vacation during the Mets trip to Toronto. Last Friday night Niese got shelled by the Blue Jays. On Wednesday, Niese was on top of his game going 7.2 innings and allowing only one run. Nice rebound.
Nieuwenhuis-Baxter: On Tuesday night we got a glimpse of young guys playing some good old fashioned small ball. In the 8th inning Mike Baxter scored the go ahead on a Lucas Duda RBI single. A short while later Captain Kirk scored an insurance run thanks to an error by the Pirate’s third baseman. These guys, Duda included, keyed the victory for the Mets.

3 Down:

Nieuwenhuis-Baxter: It’s rare enough when we have one player who is both an “up” and a “down”, but a two player tandem, is rare indeed. 8th inning Monday night, Pirate’s second baseman Neil Walker hits an easy fly ball to the outfield. Baxter doesn’t hear Nieuwenhuis calling him off, Nieuwenhuis misplays the ball, and Walker winds up at third, and score the eventual game winning run. A plus here, SNY did a great job showing Terry Collins with his arm around Baxter after the play.
James McDonald: Tuesday night’s starter for the Pirates was outstanding, giving up only one run in 7.1 innings. As Met fans, that’s a “down” for us.
Johan’s Wasted Effort: Another nice outing by Santana went to waste on Monday night, when the Mets allowed 5 unanswered runs. Johan has been pitching into tough luck so far this season.

The Mets return home for a four game weekend series with the Padres. They’ll also be giving away baseball caps, and Rusty Staub bobble head dolls this weekend. LGM!!

About the Author: Gregg Hopps

Gregg lives on Long Island, and has been a Mets fan since Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose slugged it out in the 1973 playoffs. "Keith Hernandez is the best defensive first baseman to ever have played baseball."

6 Comments + Add Comment

Alex68 May 24, 2012 at 11:58 am

The hallmark of these three games was just outstanding pitching by both teams”

Uhhh, the pirates SUCK offensively, they are on pace to be the worst offensive team in the history of baseball, So to say the mets pitch outstanding against the pirates is a bit of an understatement don’t you think? If anything it proves how good of a pitching THEY HAVE or how our offense is not as good as some thought it was going to be…

ohhh, and gregg, i concur with your “Keith Hernandez is the best defensive first baseman to ever have played baseball.”
There was a guy in boston in the late 60′s early 70′s, boomer scott, who was a broom at 1B… Great footwork and instics..
- Gregga May 24, 2012 at 12:51 pm
  
  Alex, are you referring to George Scott, the first baseman for the Brewers? He was good no doubt, but Keith turned that 3-6-3 double play better than anyone.Keith was an all around great player, good bat, great on defense, and a leader. I’ve yet to see anyone come close to Keith.
  - stick May 24, 2012 at 12:54 pm
    
    That’s Boomer, but he played more seasons for Boston (before and after Mill.)
    
    I can’t recall seeing him play, but he did have 8 GGs, so he must have been pretty good at one point!
- Joey D. May 24, 2012 at 12:58 pm
  
  Hi Alex,
  
  Right now the Pirates find themselves sandwiched between the 1963 Mets (.219 team batting average) and the 1968 Yankees (.214 team batting). They still have a slighlty bit more to go (backwards, of course) to eclipse the modern day record held by the 1910 Chicago White Sox when the figure matched the area code used for Manhattan.
- Alex68 May 24, 2012 at 1:03 pm
  
  Greg,
  
  Yes. that was the first guy (because i thought his name was cool) i liked when i started watching and following baseball, he was a great 1B, Although i do agree, keith was just on a different world…
Metsie May 24, 2012 at 12:39 pm

I don’t know if it is really fair to give them a down for one rookie mistake…
Yes it cost us a game but you have to expect those things to happen when you are playing two rookies and one of them was forced out of position from what he was used to to make room to play a sub .200 hitter.

Baxter deserves the goat more tyhan Kirk does on that play. The CF always gets the call and the ball when two OFs can get to it.
It was the charging Baxter that distracted Kirk and while you can blame Kirk for losing concentration it was baxter who should have deferred to his CF.

Small potatoes really. Rookie Mistake that I bet will not happen again!

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