The Mets donned their throwback jerseys and defeated the San Francisco Giants by a score of 3-0 tonight at Citi Field. The Mets combined some solid pitching and timely hitting to win their second straight game. It was a nice way to start their longest homestand of the year.
Bobby Parnell delivered an electrifying performance tonight as he held the Giants to just three hits, all singles, in six scoreless innings. Parnell threw 61 of his 86 pitches for strikes, and walked none while striking out seven batters. Wow. Now that’s more like it. At one point in the game, Parnell retired eleven straight batters including four strikeouts in a row. His fastball was smoking and frequently hit 96 mph even in his final inning of work. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this was just the start of something big by the young righty. He’ll have at least seven more starts before the season ends, and it should give us a good read on him.
Angel Pagan got the Mets on the board, leading off the game with a homerun to give Parnell a small cushion to work with. The Mets got their second run thanks to a long double by Jeff Francoeur in the fourth inning to score Luis Castillo who led off the inning with a single. Castillo scored again in the sixth courtesy of a line drive double off the bat of David Wright that moved him to third, followed by a sac fly from Gary Sheffield.
Brian Stokes started the seventh inning and pitched perfectly, but walked the first batter on four pitches to start the eight and was replaced by Pedro Feliciano who wrapped it up with no problem. Frankie Rodriguez treated the fans to a rare 1-2-3 inning to pick up his 26th save of the season.
It was a well played game that may have given us a glimpse of the future of our rotation in Bobby Parnell.
The Mets got some good news on Carlos Beltran who shagged some flies before the game. The plan is for more of the same on Saturday and barring a setback, he may soon play in some rehab games.
A big Happy Birthday to longtime Mets icon Jay Horwitz!
The Mets will have their ace Johan Santana face the Giants’ Matt Cain in a marquis matchup that will be televised on FOX at 4:00 PM. Lets play spoiler!
