Shades Of Last Year

What a great victory for the Mets yesterday, and by looking around the web at other blogs, I am clearly not the only person who feels this way. This was a team that played very well yesterday against a team that could well be there in post season, and the Mets did it at home. Even more exciting is, Carlos Beltran, who has not performed as well at Shea as he has on the road, had a monster game yesterday.

This game was shades of last year. First the Mets jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. They did this against the pitcher who has the lowest ERA in the National League. The Met pitching could not hold them, but the offense kept producing. A run off of Heath Bell to tie and two runs in the ninth off of Trevor Hoffman, the all-time save leader. This team did not care who was pitching, they did what they needed to do and you almost had a feeling watching it that they would pull it out.

What I really enjoyed about this is the Mets combined small ball with the long ball. The first five runs was more long ball than anything else. After that, they showed they can play small ball as well. To tie it off of Bell, Reyes walked, stole second and moved to third on an infield out by Luis Castillo. While a hit brought him home, the Mets were in great shape to score a run, and tie the game, even without a hit.

The ninth inning was more small ball, that let them win the game. A shot by Milledge went for a single and a sacrifice by DiFelice moved him to second. Anderson blooped a single to tie it, Reyes singled and Castillo drove in the game winner. It was great to see Castillo so pumped when he drove in the winning run. The Mets need players like that. Yesterday’s game was a great sign and hopefully they can add to it today.

On a side note, I am offering a note of praise to Heath Bell. Often times we as Met fans do not like to see players do well when they leave our team. Bell was up and down last year and never seemed to complain, but never really was given a chance. He seems, to me, like a class act. I do not want to see him hurt the Mets, but other than that, I would like to see him do well. He can resume again after this series.

Let’s Go Mets!