Eight in a row and the Mets are officially the hottest team in baseball.
All they did was combine for the 33rd 1-hitter in club history and set a major league record in the process by allowing 3 or fewer hits in 5 consecutive ballgames.
The Mets are now just a half game back of the Phils in the NL East, and only 1.5 games back of the Cards in the NL Wild Card race.
It's as if Jerry Manuel snapped his fingers and said, "I want to get my guys to the top and let the second half decide the best team." Right now, the Cubs and Mets look like the cream of the NL crop.
| National League East | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road | East | Cent. | West | L10 | Strk | ||||||||||
| Philadelphia | 51 | 44 | .537 | - | 26-23 | 25-21 | 17-14 | 17-12 | 13-7 | 5-5 | L 1 | ||||||||||
| N.Y. Mets | 50 | 44 | .532 | ½ | 27-18 | 23-26 | 18-16 | 6-8 | 17-14 | 9-1 | W 8 | ||||||||||
| Florida | 49 | 44 | .527 | 1 | 26-20 | 23-24 | 19-14 | 11-10 | 14-10 | 6-4 | W 3 | ||||||||||
| Atlanta | 43 | 50 | .462 | 7 | 30-18 | 13-32 | 16-19 | 9-16 | 10-8 | 3-7 | L 2 | ||||||||||
| Washington | 36 | 59 | .379 | 15 | 20-29 | 16-30 | 14-21 | 11-18 | 3-10 | 2-8 | L 1 | ||||||||||
How did they get it done today? Pitching, pitching, pitching, and just a smattering of timely hitting.
Pedro Martinez was masterful early, surrendering only 1 hit through 4 before being taken out for precaution. His shoulder stiffened up on him a little, and Jerry Manuel quickly made the move to the Mets stellar bullpen.
"He wanted to go back in the game," Manuel said. "He fought, fought, fought, fought to go back out there and pitch, but I said, 'No."'
“My shoulder kind of locked up, so I had to pop it back,” Martinez said. “The flexibility is there. The strength is there. There’s nothing bothering me. I was fine, except my groin is a little sore. We’re going to rest it now during the All-Star break. … It’s not anything uncommon. It’s scar tissue and stuff like that. The doctor already checked me. My shoulder is perfectly fine. I’ve got nine days.”
Jose Reyes, you know, the guy who is not an All-Star, hit his 43rd extra-base hit of the season, his 10th homerun...Reyes also walked to lift his OBP to .366.
Jose's projected stats for the year are phenomenal:
| SPLITS | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Season | 92 | 391 | 68 | 118 | 23 | 10 | 10 | 42 | 41 | 48 | 32 | 10 | .302 | .366 | .488 | .854 |
| Career | 687 | 2905 | 487 | 832 | 141 | 62 | 54 | 283 | 215 | 352 | 266 | 68 | .286 | .335 | .433 | .769 |
| Last 7 | 7 | 31 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .419 | .486 | .516 | 1.002 |
| Projected | 160 | 680 | 118 | 205 | 40 | 17 | 17 | 73 | 71 | 83 | 56 | 17 | .302 | .366 | .488 | .854 |
Jose is definitely happy. "It feels good," Reyes said. "We're playing together as a team, we've got a lot of communication. That's why we've been successful."
Brian Schneider is another player who is hot, though you don't hear much about it. He has a .424 OBP in JUly, and I believe he is benefitting from the "near-platoon" he has with Ramon Castro.
Schneider had 3 leadoff walks on the day and called a terrific game behind the plate.
But the real "Player of the Game" was the bullpen. They have pitched 18 2/3 scoreless innings on this homestand and held the Rockies hitless over 5 innings.
Muniz, Schoeneweis, Heilman and Wagner...it was a symphony orchestrated masterfully by the Mets skipper.
Carlos Muniz has pitched 3.1 innings of no-hit baseball during this 5 game run and got the win.
Scott Schoeneweis sports a 2.65 ERA on the season hasn't given up a run in his last 6 outings. His July ERA is 0.00 with 4 hits allowed in 4.2 innings.
Aaron Heilman is on fire....REALLY on fire. In June and July he has pitched 21.2 innings, allowed 4 runs, struck out 25, and walked only 6. I wrote last month that he was still our best bridge to Wags, and he is proving that more and more every day.
Speaking of Billy Wagner, how happy was he to get out of Philly? All he's done the last 3 games in pitch no-hit baseball to close out all three wins with just 32 pitches. He also leads the team in ERA.
There's still one more game left before the break....Mike Pelfrey on the ESPN Sunday night game. Big Pelf is another hot pitcher, and I like our chances here...it's a game the Mets can make a statement with.
So enjoy your Sunday Morning coffee my friends....it sure feels good to be a Mets fan right now.
| Scoreboard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Colorado (39-56) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| N.Y. Mets (50-44) « | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 3 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Players of the Game |
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| New York Mets | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Jose Reyes, SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .302 |
| Argenis Reyes, 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .278 |
| David Wright, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .285 |
| Carlos Beltran, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .262 |
| Fernando Tatis, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .293 |
| Carlos Delgado, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .248 |
| Endy Chavez, RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .269 |
| Brian Schneider, C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .254 |
| Pedro Martinez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
| a- Nick Evans, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .179 |
| Carlos Muniz, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b- Marlon Anderson, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .192 |
| Aaron Heilman, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Scott Schoeneweis, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| c- Robinson Cancel, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
| Billy Wagner, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 30 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 9 | ||
| a-struck out for P. Martinez in the 4th | ||||||||
| b-struck out for Muniz in the 6th | ||||||||
| c-grounded out for Schoeneweis in the 8th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Carlos Beltran (23, Jimenez), Brian Schneider (5, Jimenez) | ||||||||
| HR - Jose Reyes (10, Jimenez) | ||||||||
| SH - Endy Chavez (8), Pedro Martinez (3) | ||||||||
| RBI - Jose Reyes (42), Fernando Tatis (19), Brian Schneider (20) | ||||||||
| SB - Argenis Reyes (1, 2nd base off Jimenez/Iannetta), David Wright (11, 2nd base off Speier/Iannetta), Carlos Beltran (15, 3rd base off Jimenez/Iannetta), Fernando Tatis (3, 2nd base off Jimenez/Iannetta) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 11 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Reyes-Delgado | ||||||||
| New York Mets | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Pedro Martinez | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Carlos Muniz (W,1-1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.80 |
| Aaron Heilman (H,11) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 |
| Scott Schoeneweis (H,10) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.65 |
| Billy Wagner (S,22) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.31 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Pedro Martinez 66-36, Carlos Muniz 31-20, Aaron Heilman 12-7, Scott Schoeneweis 7-6, Billy Wagner 14-10 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Pedro Martinez 2-6, Carlos Muniz 1-3, Aaron Heilman 2-0, Scott Schoeneweis 1-1, Billy Wagner 1-1 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Pedro Martinez 15, Carlos Muniz 7, Aaron Heilman 3, Scott Schoeneweis 3, Billy Wagner 3 | ||||||||
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