17
2012
Harvey Paints The Town Red In Amazins’ 8-4 Win
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The Mets avoided the sweep tonight thanks to an all-around solid performance by rookie Matt Harvey as they defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 8-4.
Harvey was sensational on the mound as he held Reds batters to just one run on four hits in 7.2 impressive innings of work. His control was spot-on as he walked just one batter in the game while striking out eight. He shutdown one of the top offenses in the league and at times looked absolutely dominating. Harvey even helped himself at the plate with a big two-run double in the fourth inning. This kid is 3-for-9 so far at the plate.
“What you saw tonight was a little taste of what this guy’s going to be able to do,” manager Terry Collins said. “When he’s got the command going like he did tonight, everything working, he’s going to be tough to hit.”
In other news, the Mets scored some runs…
Ike Davis had a solid night at the plate going 2-for-4 with a solo home run, a double, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. The bad news is that he’s still only batting .216 for the season which is quickly running out of weeks.
Strike up the band as Jason Bay chipped in with two hits including a home run, his sixth of the season. He’s now batting .159 and it still appears he won’t be hitting his weight this season. I always thought that was just an old baseball adage. I never really believed there were actual major league ballplayers who couldn’t hit their weight, especially one that gets paid $18 million dollars a year.
Frank Francisco did his best to blow the win for the Mets. The Mets closer came in to pitch the ninth and was quickly greeted by a Ryan Ludwick home run. Two more runs would score on a walk and a trio of hits before Terry Collins finally replaced him with Jon Rauch who mercifully got the final out of the inning. Francisco has been a train wreck this season and I shudder to think that he’s coming back next season for the tidy sum of $6.5 million dollars. Psst… That’s more than what Luis Castillo was making annually… remember him?
Anyway, it was a much needed win for the Amazins. As the season winds down into nothingness all we have lett is the sprinkling of a few highlights like the one we got from Matt Harvey. Small favors.
Tomorrow, the Mets begin a three-game series against the NL East powerhouse- Washington Nationals. Johan Santana (6-8, 4.58 ERA) takes the mound against LHP Ross Detwiler (6-5, 3.18) at 7:10 PM.
LGM
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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Gotta love our game blowin’ bullpen. What a treat. SA strikes again.
What you saw tonight was a little taste of what this guy’s going to be able to do,”
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, we share the same sentiment TC. And at this point, every win is good, so i am not even gonna stress the bullpen and its culprits. I am done talking about the bullpen and the architec of it, no matter how obvious things are his fault, he’d have his cult of followers in here who’d go hella bent for the man so… Move on to the next game
Why do I think Harvey is a better hitter than some of our position players?
LOL. We should teach HIM to play left fl
Kudos to Harvey. Our FUTURE no. 1 starter. Could last night’s game be a comeback game for Bay. That would be nice if he can build on it or am I in dreamland. Well it could happen.
Love the sprinkles of humor Joe… keeps the mood light and focused enough to appreciate the “highlights.”
Harvey is fun and should twist SA’s arm into bring up McHugh and Mejia to give us something else to cheer. Don’t know what the former’s stuff is really like, but it would be less painful to watch him fail than Johan.
Last ….. and I know Shoppach has limitations and I’m not saying he’s going to be the next MVP …. but he looked so much better than Josh Thole behind the plate.
Speaking of the LH portion of our lametoon, isn’t there a connection between him as our starting catcher and having abysmal bullpens? Parnell looked much more comfortable last night and I could see Shoppach’s steady presence helping. Of course, Frank sort of blows that theory, but then again FF has pretty much blown everything of late.
Fun to watch Harvey pitch…and hit! I think he’s bona fide.
Has Bay turned a corner (joke)?
Gotta love that Francisco signing!
Harvey was just brilliant tonight. Nothing like watching a young prospect come up to the Bigs just bringing heat it to get a fan all excited abut his possibilities.
Also while Francisco is stinking up the joint since being called back Rauch has continued to pitch well and deserves some recognition.
Rauch last 28 games (June 8 – August 17)
0-2, 2 Saves, 7 Holds
20.2/IP, 8/H, 7/R, 3/ER, 4/BB, 16/SO 1.31/ERA, .113/BAA
12/Inherited Runners
0/Inherited Runners Scored
MNJ,
You are bang on to give props to Rauch. I have really warmed to him, and his performance since ASB really has been very good. Like to see the grit and determination he brings to the mound. He’ll hit a rough patch now and then, but I think he is one solid piece in the pen right now.
Outside of a horrid 13 game stretch Russell Rauch has had a solid season for the Mets. His health concerns me but barring injury I would not be opposed to him coming back next season.
I’ve been saying that the Mets have been doing a great injustice to Bay this year. Every time Bay looks like he’s starting to hit, he’s gotten injured. Bad luck for Bay because the injuries can from him hustling in the OF. The injustice is how they handled Bay after the injuries.
Both times, they rushed him back into the lineup long before he was ready. You can’t take a player, especially one who’s been struggling, and throw him up vs MLB pitching after spending a month on the DL with only a couple of AB’s in the minors. It doesn’t work.
They basically said, we know you’ve been struggling and your confidence is low, and even though you’re coming back from injury and have had no time to get your timing back, we need you to come up and save our lineup that’s been sucking up the place and oh, btw you have only a couple of weeks to prove yourself ready to go or you’ll get benched.
At the end of the road trip, Bay looked like he was just starting to get close to getting his timing down…but by then it was too late…his BA has plummeted, his confidence was shot and the team feel in the tank. Now Bay is benched and has to get lucky to find ABs.
I thought the biggest job of a manager is putting guys in the best position to succeed and someone has really Eff’ed up the Bay situation this year.
Maybe when Sandy Alderson revamps the bullpen again this offseason we will finally get rid of him. This is baseball. Three strikes and you’re out!