Game 2: Mets 13, Phillies 4
(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)
Tom Glavine's line from last night's game:
IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST GS 7.0 4 3 3 3 4 2 118-73 58As fun as it may be to watch the Mets whoop up on the Phillies as they did last night, you wonder why they saved all of those runs for Tom Glavine instead of leaving a few behind for Pedro Martinez. Obviously baseball doesn't work that way, and if anyone had a boatload of runs coming to him it was Glavine, who entered the game with the second-best ERA in the National League but just a 4-2 record, thanks to the worst run support in the league.
The Mets led this game from the outset, producting a rather lackluster WPA graphs. The game was over by the third inning, as the Mets' offense teed off against Corey Lidle and Aaron Fultz. Every starter for the Mets reached base at least twice with the exception of Cliff Floyd, who went 1-for-5 to raise his average to .191. Even Glavine reached base three times on a single, a double and a walk, and now has six hits in twelve at-bats this season plus three walks to only two strikeouts.
Heath Bell, the official reliever of Amazin' Avenue, made his first apperance of the season and produced mixed results. Bell struck out two in the eighth inning, including Ryan Howard, but also surrendered three hits and a run. To this point, Bell has shown the ability to strike out big league hitters but he has given up a ton of hits. Here's what he did with the Mets last year:
IP SO BB HR H 47.2 43 13 3 56His strikeout, walk and homerun rates are all good-to-great, but his hit rate was pretty bad. His BABIP (batting average on balls in play) in 2005 was a ludicrous .374, well above the league average of ~.300. Some pitchers just get hit harder than others, but Bell has good stuff and good control, so I expect his BABIP to even out a bit if Willie Randolph gives him enough tether.