Armandogeddon To The Rescue!

Oh, so many games Armando Benitez, (coined many seasons past as Armandogeddon), has blown for the Mets it's nice to see him blow one in favour of the Mets for a change.


No worries, hermano, I gonna blow eet righ' pass dees mudderfunkkah.

The guru of gross misconduct, primarily in the 9th inning, has, according to rumour, seen 106 moments of bases-loaded pitching potential prior to last night and in those 106 moments he has allowed 10 singles, four doubles, a triple, nine sacrifice flies, hit a batter, 11 walks, six grand slams and broken innumerable hearts.


Oh but for a month of Armandogeddons

So when skinhead David Wright strolled to the plate with the bases juiced, even with his sort of anemic start to the season he had to believe, we all had to believe, this was a rally just waiting to happen.

And lo and behold after Armando had predictably rattled his way to a 3-0 count, Wright smacked that bases-loaded pitch from Benitez into the left-field corner for a two-run double that led to not only one victory, but the Mets' 5th victory of their 7 game road trip.

And so the road trip ended with a familiar goat being fêted for his predictable lack of late-inning-bases-loaded success, the Three Billy Goats Gruff who had the most miserable beginnings for the Mets this season, namely, Carlos Delgado, Aaron Heilman and Wright, all had a huge hand in this victory.

In addition to Wright's clutch hit, Delgado had a mini-satori of his own with a 4th-inning homerun in addition to a run-scoring single in the 8th which was turned into a run-scoring double by poor outfield positioning.

Heilman, the anti-hero of the bullpen all season managed to get two key outs in the 8th replacing Scott Schoneweis and thus earned the victory, his third this season against two losses, or if you counting at home, the same number of victories as Barry Zero.

Let it not be forgotten that not only did Billy Wagner appear in the 9th to earn a surprisingly simple 1-2-3, 2 K and 8th save of the season thereby reminding us all not only that he is NOT Armandogeddon but a pretty damned good closer in his own right but at the other end of the spectrum, John Maine was able to keep his unblemished record intact although his ERA skyrocketed to 1.79 on the season and well, let's face it, SIX WALKS, a wild pitch and five hits allowed over the course of 6 innings does not usually end in this kind of happiness. (Personally, I say it was the newly shaved head but hell, it might have just been the 15 mph wind...)

*****

So now that the 7 game road trip has concluded, here are some good things to remember about them:

1. The Mets won 5 of them thereby maintaining their tie with the Braves for first place in the NL East.
2. Barry Bonds was limited to only one homer against Met pitching, his only hit in seven official at-bats in the series although he was walked a telling 5 times.
3. During this trip John Maine started games in which the Mets defeated Randy Johnson, a man with 280 career victories and Matt Morris, a man with 115 career victories. That's 395 career victories stacked up against Maine's 13 career victories. Almost ace material.
4. Carlos Delgado went 7 for 24, (.292) which raised his batting average all the way up to .214 on the season and perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel. After going hitless in Arizona, David Wright had 5 hits in 13 at-bats against Giant pitching and may also have found his groove.
5. Paul Lo Duca hit .455 and scored 6 runs on the road trip, no matter where he was in the batting order.
6. Jose Reyes had more strikeouts (4) than the combination of walks and stolen bases (3) but hit .375 and had an OBP of .394.
7. Heilman, believe it or not, was the only Met pitcher to notch two victories on this road trip. Glavine, Maine and Sosa got the other three. To his credit, Heilman did not allow a run in 4 appearances.

Don't Say We Didn't Say So

After Monday's meltdown in Arizona, Phillies relievers are now a combined 2-7 and have blown four out of 11 save opportunities.

By comparison, the Mets' bullpen was 5-2 with seven saves in nine chances, and the Braves' bullpen is 9-2 with 12 saves in 15 opportunities.