Beatdown: Mets 10, Pirates 1

by Eric Simon on May 10, 2009 1:08 AM EDT

I don't really have much to add to this. Sam already covered the important part: Brian Stokes made an appearance, even though it took a complete blowout and a Jerry Manuel suspension to make it happen.

The Mets won their sixth straight game, and even though they should beat teams like the Pirates, they haven't always done so. Besides, even though the Pittsburgh has a lot of trouble scoring runs, Paul Maholm is a fine pitcher who has historically thrown very well against the Mets, so it's a good sign for the Mets' offense that they managed to do so much damage against him. Every starter except Ramon Castro notched at least two hits on Saturday, so the hitting department is finally starting to come together.

And finally, for all of the bellyaching and alarmism that blanketed the first three weeks of the season, the Mets are in first place in the NL East. How'd they do it? Grission. Oh, and actually playing well.

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Bucs Dugout Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: John Maine, +23.5% WPA, Jose Reyes, +10.3% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Delgado, -9.3% WPA, Ramon Castro, -1.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright RBI single in fourth, +11.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Delgado strikeout in fourth, -5.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +24.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +25.1% WPA
GWRBI!: David Wright

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by future; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Num	Name	# of Posts
1	future	85
2	squid92	81
3	DevonEdwards	75
4	aparkermarshall	72
5	JohnPeterson	50
6	Meddler	49
7	Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright	41
8	supermets	29
9	Greenpoint Ian	28
10	metsman07	27

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Comments

Funny thing about these WPAs

If you’re on an awesome rockin’ team, your WPA should come out average, since everybody’s whipping such ass that eventually, nothing you do will have that much of an effect, positive or negative.

If your team sucks, otoh, you could have a flukey great WPA. Your pitching could always give up leads and you could hit 5 go-ahead RBIs in any given week.

I will not allow the denigration of the life essence

by GenJackRipper on May 10, 2009 3:40 AM EDT reply actions

And look at these WPAs

Pitching and hitting contributed almost equally to victory. Any time both your pitchers and your hitters are contributing at least 20% each, you know your team was playing well.

Oh, and remember when everyone was ready to run Minaya out of town because of a slow start and ready to blame Oli Perez for everything up to and including the JFK assassination? Did I not say that it was too soon? Well, guess what, boys!

…erm, it’s still too soon. Yeah. Moving on.

by WWORDuke on May 10, 2009 8:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

I think most of this group was pretty reasonable about it. The bigger worry around here was always more with the SP than the “OMFG THE CORE IS THE SUX0R, OMAR’S FAIL MUST BE RECTIFIED BY TRADING DAVID WRIGHT FOR RYAN FREEL” mentality that was beginning to become pervasive again. And, obviously, the SP has stepped up.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 10, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm still ready to run Minaya out of town.

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on May 10, 2009 8:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Met Grit

Yes, they are actually playing well because they actually have showed some life. Manuel getting run was good to see, but he’s always had some life in him. I’m not optimistic about Delgado’s ability to stay healthy the rest of this year, but he’s been tagging the ball, so hopefully that means something good.

If not, Murphy at 1st isn’t a bad second option. Oakland is 11-17, so throw Holliday in Left Field and bring Murphy to 1st…see? :-)

The 2009 NY Mets: WE GOT K-ROD! OMG, Putz, too! Sign Lowe! Lowe's a Brave. Sign Manny! Tim Redding, WTF? Sign Manny! Sheets or Perez? SHEETS! Perez?? Oh, Sheets is hurt -- good job, Minaya! WTF?! SIGN MANNY!

by ZaBlanc on May 10, 2009 8:35 AM EDT reply actions

Or

because they’re winning, fans/media lazily declare that they’re showing grission? Grission follows wins, not the other way around. Broken record here.

by James Kannengieser on May 10, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I told him to stop

but I got scolded at. Just leave him and his platitudes be. Grission4eva~!

by jasondg on May 10, 2009 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

It's just that

you telling him to stop is just as pointless as his platitudes. He’s shown that he isn’t going to stop, so why bother?

by SQUAD on May 10, 2009 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions

To be fair

I think Maholm actually pitched pretty well for the most part; the Mets just used the combined force of their grustle and grission to will themselves to something like 10 bloop singles. But, hey, no complaints from this guy; I’m always happy to see a 10-1 win.

Go sweep!

"The definition of edge is going out there and getting a few wins, and then all of a sudden you don’t have to worry about anyone talking about edge anymore," Wright said. "That's a thing in the past. Go ask Omar about that."

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on May 10, 2009 9:50 AM EDT reply actions