Mets 5, Phillies 3
(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)
Tom Glavine's pitching line:
IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST GS 6.0 4 3 3 3 4 2 103-59 53It was mentioned ad infinitum last night, but the juxtaposition of Tom Glavine's start with Oliver Perez's from the night before offers a stark contrast in pitching acumen. Both pitchers began their respective starts with serious command issues. One, Perez, failed to adapt to overcome those issues, and was subsequently out of the game before completing three innings. The other, Glavine, adapted, made adjustments, and kept his team in the game through six innings. He also contributed two sacrifice bunts, and the Mets rewarded him with career win number 292. It's not really fair to compare Perez to Glavine in the guile department but, as the guys in the booth implied, it was probably a good game for Perez to see following his meltdown on Wednesday night.
It's easy to overstate the importance of an April series, but after the way the Mets fell apart at the tail end of their road trip in Atlanta, it was nice for them to get back on track at home in taking two from Philadelphia. The bullpen turned in a nice effort -- aside from Scott Schoeneweis's leadoff walk -- and kept the Phillies off the scoreboard for the final three innings. Willie Randolph really seems to be leaning on Joe Smith in the early going; he has already appeared in six of the Mets' nine games thus far, and he has been every bit the groundball machine we were told he would be: eleven grounders to just two flyballs, for a 5.50 G/F ratio. If he can keep the ball on the ground, he'll be limiting the homeruns, limiting the extra-base hits, inducing double-plays, and keeping his pitch counts down. He has actually stepped into the role that Chad Bradford vacated when he left for parts unknown after last season and, to this point at least, has out-Bradforded Bradford.
Following the game, Lastings Milledge was sent down to New Orleans to make room for Mike Pelfrey, who will start tonight against the Nationals. Said Milledge:
"I'm going to go and work on what I'm going to be for the Mets for the next 15 years"Mr. Met:
- Hitting: Jose Reyes, 17.9% WPA
- Pitching: Joe Smith, 9.8% WPA
- Hitting: Carlos Delgado, -10.7% WPA
- Pitching: none