Mets 4, Cardinals 1
(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)
Orlando Hernandez's pitching line:
IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST GS 7.0 5 1 1 2 0 1 104-62 61Even without striking out a batter, El Duque was masterful against the Cardinals. He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes, and was especially effective throwing his curveball early in the count to get ahead of batters. His only mistake was a meatball to Scott Rolen in the seventh as Hernandez was clearly running out of gas. Amazingly, he dominated the Cardinals without recording a single strikeout, becoming just the sixteenth Mets pitcher to throw as many as seven innings and strike out none while picking up the victory (Kris Benson was the last to do so in 2005).
As if pitching lights out for seven innings on the road against the defending World Series champions weren't enough, El Duque was also the offensive star of the game, knocking in two runs with a bases-loaded double in the sixth that widened the Mets' lead from two runs to four.
The Mets collected just seven hits -- plus five walks -- but they got hits when they counted and turned three more double plays to beat the Cardinals for the second straight game, even though they didn't really dominate play. The Mets have no homeruns and two wins in their first two games, a feat they accomplished far less often in 2006 than one might have thought. In fact, the Mets failed to hit a homerun in just 22 of their 97 wins last year, or less than 23% of the time. Conversely, they didn't homer in 32 of their 65 losses, or 49% of the time.
Mr. Met:
- Hitting: Orlando Hernandez, 11.5% WPA
- Pitching: Orlando Hernandez, 34.4% WPA
- Hitting: Moises Alou, -13.2% WPA
- Pitching: Scott Schoeneweis, -0.01% WPA