Mets Win Unexpected Pitcher's Duel in 9th, 2-1

Chavez's excitement is too palatable for words.

When you think pitcher's duel you tend to think something along the lines of Pedro against John Smoltz, or Pedro v Livian or whomever. You don't tend to think any sentence with the world "pitcher's duel" will also contain the name Victor Zambrano in it.

It would have been hard to foresee a pitcher's duel emerging out of a matchup between Russ Ortiz and Victor Zambrano yesterday, but a pitching duel it was with Ortiz, winless in five starts, throwing 6 innings of nearly scoreless ball save for Carlos Delgado's homer into left field in the 6th which tied the game at 1 and Zambrano, pointless in his first three starts, pitching with uncharacteristic verve.


For one start at least, no longer a piñata...

Zambrano lasted longer (six innings) and allowed fewer hits (five singles) than he had in his first three starts of the season. He surrendered one run, struck out four and walked two before leaving for a pinch-hitter.

Of course, the die hards will be happy to point out that only the day before, Scott Kazmir pitched seven innings of five-hit ball against the Boston Red Sox, striking out 10 on the way to his third victory of the season. It's all rather pointless however - no amount of moaning will reverse the trade and who knows, perhaps Zambrano's crap beginning to the season really was attributable to flu-like symptoms, blablabla - yeah, we'll all begin to believe that fairy tale after Zambrano has reeled off a half dozen victories in a row.

The folly of another trade, the one that sent Mr Benson packing to the Orioles, will get further scrutiny as well beginning tomorrow when John Maine gets the call and starts tonight against the Washington Nationals in place of Brian Bannister.

No doubt you will remember that Maine was acquired in January along with another stiff, Jorge Julio, for Benson, who is now rolling along with a 3-2 record and a 3.45 ERA in five starts for the O's. Maine was 1-3 with a 2.63 E.R.A. at Triple AAA Norfolk this season.

In the interim, we can thank Nat reliever Gary Majewski for throwing Paul Lo Duca's certain doubleplay grounder into centerfield in the bottom of the ninth inning at Shea Stadium last night, allowing pinch runner Endy Chavez to score and give the Mets a 2-1 win, the 100th victory of manager Willie Randolph's 187-game managerial career.


Pow! From the stock file, Delgado boosts another.

Carlos Delgado's homer was the 379th of his career, tying him with Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez for 54th on the career list.

Xavier Nady, back to home cooking, had two hits in three at-bats at Shea last night, raising his batting average at Shea to .452 at home. It's quite a massive stat when you consider Lo Duca is the only other Met regular topping .300 at home and that Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran are both well under .200 at Shea. (Well, Cliffie is under .200 everywhere at the moment but that's beside the point...)

And let's hear for another solid effort from the bullpen, the real key to this early season dominance from the Mets. Pedro Feliciano joined Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner to throw three innings of hitless and scoreless relief, keeping the game well in reach for Majewski's errant throw.

The victory also highlights that the road to an early NL East title was through Washington, the franchise, not the city, as the Mets increased their record against the Nats to 6-1 this season and without the Nats, the Mets would be a far less impressive 11-7 instead of 17-8, still good enough to top a weak NL East but hardly setting the league on fire.