Thursday afternoon at Nationals Stadium, Matt Harvey took
the mound for the first time in the regular season since his Tommy John surgery
and was spectacular, as the Mets beat the Nationals 6-3. Harvey never looked better going 6 amazing
innings allowing just 4 hits and no runs while walking 1 and striking out
9. The Mets pounded out 10 hits on the day,
roughing up Nats starter Stephen Strasburg with 4 runs in the top of the 3rd.
Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI single to right to make it 1-0 Mets. Daniel Murphy
chopped an infield single scoring David Wright and it was 2-0. Travis d’Arnaud hit a 2 run single to make it
4-0 New York. The Mets made it 6-0 in the top of the 6th when David
Wright came through with a 2 run single with the bases loaded. The Nats scored
a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th getting to lefty Alex Torres
in his Mets debut as Michael Taylors 2 run double made it 6-2 Mets. Wright, Cuddyer and d’Arnaud each had 2 hits
apiece. Buddy Carlyle and Carlos Torres
added scoreless appearances out of the pen for the Mets. Jeurys Familia allowed
a run on 2 hits in the 9th hanging on to clinch the win. Harvey is now 1-0, Strasburg
is 0-1. The Mets take this opening road series 2 games to 1 and are 2-1 on the
year. Next up the Mets are off to
Atlanta to play a 3 game weekend series against the Braves. Friday night
Jonathon Niese toes the rubber for the Mets, fellow lefty Eric Stults goes for
the Braves.
Mack’s Mets – the premier site for information on the New York Mets talent pipeline and dialogue on Mets prospects, Mets news, and Mets opinions.
4/9/15
April 9th 2015 -- Mets 6, Nats 3
Thursday afternoon at Nationals Stadium, Matt Harvey took
the mound for the first time in the regular season since his Tommy John surgery
and was spectacular, as the Mets beat the Nationals 6-3. Harvey never looked better going 6 amazing
innings allowing just 4 hits and no runs while walking 1 and striking out
9. The Mets pounded out 10 hits on the day,
roughing up Nats starter Stephen Strasburg with 4 runs in the top of the 3rd.
Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI single to right to make it 1-0 Mets. Daniel Murphy
chopped an infield single scoring David Wright and it was 2-0. Travis d’Arnaud hit a 2 run single to make it
4-0 New York. The Mets made it 6-0 in the top of the 6th when David
Wright came through with a 2 run single with the bases loaded. The Nats scored
a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th getting to lefty Alex Torres
in his Mets debut as Michael Taylors 2 run double made it 6-2 Mets. Wright, Cuddyer and d’Arnaud each had 2 hits
apiece. Buddy Carlyle and Carlos Torres
added scoreless appearances out of the pen for the Mets. Jeurys Familia allowed
a run on 2 hits in the 9th hanging on to clinch the win. Harvey is now 1-0, Strasburg
is 0-1. The Mets take this opening road series 2 games to 1 and are 2-1 on the
year. Next up the Mets are off to
Atlanta to play a 3 game weekend series against the Braves. Friday night
Jonathon Niese toes the rubber for the Mets, fellow lefty Eric Stults goes for
the Braves.
This turned out to be an outstanding series even though the Mets bats were almost silent the first two games.
ReplyDeleteMatt Harvey was clinical today. I didn’t really think he was that overpowering, but his changeup control was outstanding and the Nats were obviously looking for the 96-98 fastball when Harvey hooked them. My guess is had had a little less confidence in his fastball today because of the cold weather in Washington.
As I’ve said many times before… it’s a lot easier to win if your starters give up no runs in the first six innings. So far this season, the three Mets starters have given up three runs in 18 innings (1.50).
Positives: Travis d’Arnaud will probably end the day one of the top five hitters in the NL… multi hits by David Wright and Michael Cuddyer… Curtis Granderson’s ability to make a starter give up 30+ pitchers… double digit team hits.
Negatives: Wilmer Flores throwing error (should have had another one yesterday but was saved by Lucas Duda)… no extra base hits.
Negative has to include Alex Torres walking two hitters that eventually came around to score with a 6-0 lead. Big no no
ReplyDeleteAnon Joe F
Joe F -
ReplyDeleteTrue - he looked completely out of focus and lost out there.
Nats manager Matt Williams: "Right now we’re chasing the Mets, so I’ll tell you that. They’re 2-1, we’re 1-2. They’re a really good team."
ReplyDeleteRemember when Colon, TDA and Duda we having a terrible spring.
ReplyDeleteSo many good things in series, including smart move to let Montero go a second inning even with a million arms in the pen.
Mets still now have fresh arms never used yet on the season to play with as needed in Braves series.
Ernest -
ReplyDeleteSpring stats are never for real. You just don't know what they are working on or concentrating on.
I remember (I think it was) Lgan Verrett told me one time when we were both sitting in the Savannah dugout that the Sand Gnats pitching coach told him that he wanted him to "throw his changeup around 20%" that day...
first, I found it strange that he was talking to me because he was starting that day and the general rule is to not talk to starters the day they are going to pitch
I asked him what was wrong with that and he said "I don't throw a changeup".
There is no practice other than the minors or spring training and you have to work these things out without worrying about your individual stats.