The Mets continued to exact their revenge on the Reds for their opening-series sweep six weeks ago. It was Asian Night at Shea, with two-thirds of the Mets' Asian population coming up with big games.
Kaz Ishii made his first start coming back from the DL, and threw a very nice game (GameScore of 63), pitching 6.1 innings, walking only two, striking out two, and allowing only three hits and one run. He didn't factor in the decision, but kept the Mets in the game long enough for...
Kaz Matsui. Yes, that Kaz Matsui, fought back the boos for one at-bat by cranking a two-run homerun that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead (out of a 1-0 hole), and would eventually be the game winner.
The Mets' other Asian roster member, Dae-Sung Koo, was not so good. After retiring the Reds' Big Three Lefties in order on Monday night, Koo was only able to get Sean Casey out on a grounder before allowing a single to Junior Griffey and a walk to Donkey Dunn (sidebar: I have a new Mets Bullpen Report up at MetsGeek.com on this past week's bullpen performance).
Fortunately for Koo (and the Mets and my fragile psyche), the new-old-new Braden Looper came in and got Joe "F'in" Randa on a flyout and Austin Kearns on a backwards-K to end the ballgame.
Notes
Jose Reyes continues to be an automatic out. He's hitting just .250/.276/.363, though he does have five walks in his last 13 games (that would extrapolate to 62 over the course of a season, which would be outstanding). He simply does not have much polish as a Major League hitter right now, and even average pitchers are able to take advantage of that.
Carlos Beltran needs a day off, and I think he might get one soon, possibly even today so that he's nice and fresh for the Yankees series this weekend.
From the "Why Strikeouts Don't Matter" Department, Adam "Donkey" Dunn is hitting .256/.430/.636 on the season now, with 23 XBH and 33 walks in 158 plate appearances. He is on pace for a reasonable (for him) 166 strikeouts, 137 walks, 46 homeruns, 46 doubles, the aforementioned rate stats, and even 12 (out of 16) stolen bases. The guy is only 25 (won't turn 26 until November), though it doesn't look like he'll be a free agent until after 2007. Shea Stadium is an outstanding park for left-handed power hitters (seriously!), so the Mets should seriously consider taking a run at this guy, or even look to trade for him, since he's likely to make ~$20 over the next two seasons in arbitration, and the Reds might not want to swing for that kind of salary.