The Mets shutout the Giants by the score of 3-0 on Monday night in San Francisco. Here are my takeaways from the win…
A quickie.
The first five innings took less than an hour to play. There were very few deep counts, a lot of quick roundball outs, and a whole lot of nothing for most of the evening. For the folks back in New York, you got a rare treat of being able to watch most of a weeknight west coast game.
Of course, it came at the expense of a lot of offense, but none the less, this was an enjoyable and very efficient ballgame, with the Mets scratching just enough runs across to win their third game on the road trip.
Brilliance from Jon Niese.
What a night for Niese. He was a groundball machine tonight, issued just a couple of walks and allowed a couple of lightly hit singles. It’s too bad the Mets couldn’t do anything with Chris Heston, who might as well had thrown another no-hitter against them tonight considering the Mets couldn’t get anything done against him.
He has really put things together over the last month, and it’s come at a good time for both he and the Mets as the trade deadline approaches. He’s done all he can do to put the team in position to win as of late, but unfortunately the Mets have done next to nothing to support his effort.
Second time’s a charm.
The Giants essentially handed the game to the Mets in the eighth inning. Heston hit Juan Lagares, and then Curtis Granderson blooped what should have been a single to left. But, for some reason Lagares was tagging instead of half way, and he was forced out at second.
But then, Heston walked Tejada, which gave the Mets first and second and one out and ended Heston’s night. Javier Lopez entered the game and induced a weak ground ball from Daniel Murphy to Matt Duffy at third, who hesitated and settled for the out at first. Then, Bochy handed the ball to Sergio Romo, who got Wilmer Flores to ground out to end the threat.
But then in the ninth, the Giants handed the game to the Mets, again. And this time, they took it.
Michael Cuddyer led off with a single, and then Kirk Nieuwenhuis set the table with a double into the right field corner. Then, Johnny Monell came through with a big two-run double into the right field corner to plate two. Then, Juan Lagares put icing on the cake with a single to plate Monell.
The Mets offense stinks, but perhaps they hit rock bottom against the Cubs, because they’ve been able to find a way to score just enough runs lately. It’s really all they need to support this immaculate pitching staff – if they can do that, they have a chance to make some serious noise down the stretch of the second half.
Other notes from Monday:
After his eight brilliant innings, Niese has a 2.41 ERA over his last six starts. He won for the first time since May 9.
Michael Cuddyer broke out of a 6-for-56 skid with two hits on Monday.
Jeurys Familia recorded his 23rd save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.
After striking out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning, Lucas Duda is 9-for-his-last-66 with 26 strikeouts.
Just Mets 