Schwei's Mets Notebook: Grandy Leads Off, 40-Year-Old Club & More
By John Schweibacher
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After going 3-3 on their homestand, the Mets go back on the road this week to face the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins.
The Mets beat the Padres, 3-1, Sunday at Citi Field. Carlos Torres came out of the bullpen in the second inning to relieve an ailing Daisuke Matsuzaka and pitched four scoreless innings to get the win.
The last time a Mets relief pitcher got a victory with four or more innings pitched was back on May 20, 2010 when Raul Valdes went five in a 10-7 win against the Nationals in Washington.
Valdes allowed three runs in relief of John Maine, who left the game after facing just one batter. Maine never appeared in a game for the Mets again.
On Saturday, four San Diego Padres pitchers combined on a two-hitter to shut out the Mets, 5-0. The Padres have never had a no-hitter in franchise history, but have now held the Mets to two hits or less 11 times since joining the National League in 1969:
· 7/6/1972: SD 1 at NYM 0 (14 innings)
· 7/14/1972: NYM 3 at SD 2
· 5/9/1976: SD 4 at NYM 0
· 5/27/1983: NYM 0 at SD 4
· 7/14/1991: SD 2 at NYM 1
· 5/18/1992: NYM 0 at SD 3
· 7/7/1993: SD 2 at NYM 0
· 7/3/1994: NYM 0 at SD 7
· 8/15/2001: NYM 1 at SD 2
· 6/10/2010: SD 4 at NYM 2
· 6/14/2014: SD 5 NYM 0
41-year-old Bartolo Colon earned the win and 40-year-old Bobby Abreu went 4-for-4 in the Mets' victory over the Padres last Friday night.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was only the third time since 1900 that a pitcher aged 40 or older won a game in which a teammate aged 40 or older recorded four or more hits. The other instances were by the Phillies on September 19, 1983 vs. Chicago (Ron Reed and Joe Morgan) and the Mets on August 14, 1999 at San Francisco (Orel Hershiser and Rickey Henderson).
Jonathan Lucroy's two-run, 13th-inning homer gave the Brewers the lead, and Milwaukee added two insurance runs in their 5-1 win over the Mets last Thursday night.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team had scored four or more runs in an inning that late against the Mets since the Cardinals scored four in the 14th of a come-from-behind 4-3 win in St. Louis on September 24, 1992.
That night, the Mets broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 14th on Jeff Kent's three-run home run off of Bryn Smith. St. Louis rallied in the bottom of the inning, scoring four times against Mark Dewey and Wally Whitehurst, capped off by Todd Zeile's game-winning single that scored Chuck Carr.
Jacob deGrom's hard-luck continued as the Brewers scored three runs and defeated the Mets, 3-1, last Wednesday night. DeGrom is winless in six career starts despite not allowing more than four runs in any of his appearances.
Only two other pitchers in club history have made as many or more career starts as deGrom without getting a win:
· Bob Moorehead (1962): seven starts, 0-1 with three no-decisions
· Jacob deGrom (2014): six starts, 0-3 with three no-decisions
· Chris Schwinden (2011-12): six starts, 0-3 with three no-decisions
· Collin McHugh (2012-13): five starts, 0-4 with one no-decision
· Brent Strom (1972): five starts, 0-3 with two no-decisions
· Mike Birkbeck (1992 & 95): five starts, 0-2 with three no-decisions
Taylor Teagarden hit a grand slam in his Mets debut last Tuesday night in their 6-2 win over the Brewers. Teagarden became just the third player in club history to drive in four runs in his first game for the Mets. Here are the players who knocked in at least three runs in their Mets debuts:
· 6/10/2014 vs. Mil: Taylor Teagarden (4)
· 4/1/2013 vs. SD: Collin Cowgill (4)
· 4/5/1979 at Chi: Richie Hebner (4)
· 8/21/2005 vs. Was: Mike Jacobs (3)
· 4/4/2005 at Cin: Carlos Beltran (3)
· 4/6/2004 at Atl: Kaz Matzui (3)
· 7/30/2000 vs. Stl: Bubba Trammell (3)
· 7/4/1997 vs. Fla: Todd Pratt (3)
· 4/6/1992 at Stl: Bobby Bonilla (3)
· 4/12/1986 at Phi: Tim Teufel (3)
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Bartolo Colon -- He's gone 4-0 in his last five starts, allowing two earned runs or less in each of them.
Hits: Curtis Granderson -- He hit a leadoff home run in Sunday's win over the Padres in his first game atop the order for the Mets. It was Granderson's 25th career leadoff homer and the first by the Mets since Mike Baxter at Philadelphia on August 30th, 2012.
Errors: Marathons -- The Mets' 5-1, 13-inning loss to the Brewers last Thursday night was their eighth game to last four hours or more this season.
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