As described in Part 1 of this post, the Wild Card Los Angeles Dodgers were the darlings of the baseball pundits going into the 2006 NLDS vs. the New York Mets. Almost all of them picked the Dodgers to win the series, ignoring the 9 win advantage the Mets had amassed in the regular season. With Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez done for the season, the Mets' starting rotation was seen as their Achilles heel. However, despite having to replace El Duque with rookie John Maine in game 1 against the Dodgers' ace Derek Lowe, the Mets drew first blood with a stirring 6-5 victory in front of their home fans.
Game 2 would also be played at Shea, a night game on Thursday, October 5 with an 8:20 pm start time. Tom Glavine would be starting for the Mets, a future Hall of Famer who had aged into a slightly above average mid-rotation starter. Still, he was the best the Mets had left that was still healthy enough to pitch. Glavine was opposed by Dodgers rookie Hong-Chih Kuo, a 24-year-old southpaw from Taiwan who had pitched mostly out of the bullpen, making only 5 regular season starts. He had struggled with his control as a reliever, was sent down to the minors, and came back to the bigs in September as a starter, enjoying success.
Both pitchers retired the side in order in the first. Glavine worked around a 2-out walk in the second, while Kuo shut the Mets down after allowing Carlos Delgado's leadoff single in the bottom of the frame. Glavine enjoyed a 1-2-3 inning in the third, and it looked like a pitcher's duel was developing.
The Mets scratched a run in the bottom of the third when Endy Chavez bunted his way on, went to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Glavine's ground out and scored on Jose Reyes' ground out.
Glavine went out to protect the lead in the top of the fourth and immediately got into a jam. After retiring Kenny Lofton on a flyball for the first out, Glavine gave up back to back singles to Nomar Garciaparra and Jeff Kent. Glavine escaped unscathed by striking out J.D. Drew and getting Russell Martin to fly out to Beltran in center.
The Mets went quietly in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a Cliff Floyd blast that looked like a sure home run being blown back into play by the infamous Shea winds. The Dodgers threatened again in the fifth with a couple of men on, but Glavine got Kenny Lofton to ground out to end that threat.
The Mets threatened to blow the game open in the bottom of the fifth. A walk to Jose Valentin and a single by Endy Chavez put runners on first and second, no outs. Glavine bunted both runners over, then Kuo issued an intentional walk to Jose Reyes. That was all for Kuo, as Dodgers manager Grady Little brought Brett Tomko into the game. Paul Lo Duca's sac fly brought home Valentin, but that was all the Mets would get.
Glavine kept the Dodgers off the board in the top of the sixth, and the Mets struck again in the bottom of the frame. David Wright and Cliff Floyd led off with singles. Jose Valentin bunted them over, and reached first on Tomko's errant throw. Little brought in Mark Hendrickson to face Endy Chavez, who forced Wright at home for the first out. Pinch hitting for Glavine, Julio Franco grounded into a force play, bringing home Cliff Floyd, and Reyes singled home Valentin. The Mets were up 4-0, with the game in the hands of the bullpen the rest of the way.
Pedro Feliciano was first man in. He pitched around a 1 out walk to keep the Dodgers off the board in the seventh. Aaron Heilman came in for the eighth and allowed a solo home run to Wilson Betemit, but retired Kent and Drew to keep it 4-1. Billy Wagner avoided any drama in the ninth by coaxing groundouts from Russell Martin, Marlon Anderson, and Julio Lugo. The Mets now had a commanding 2 games to none lead on the Dodgers, having outplayed them in every facet of the game, leaving the pundits scratching their heads.
The series moved to Los Angeles for Game 3. Steve Trachsel was facing off against Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, and most experts were picking the Dodgers to at least prolong the series with a victory.
Glavine kept the Dodgers off the board in the top of the sixth, and the Mets struck again in the bottom of the frame. David Wright and Cliff Floyd led off with singles. Jose Valentin bunted them over, and reached first on Tomko's errant throw. Little brought in Mark Hendrickson to face Endy Chavez, who forced Wright at home for the first out. Pinch hitting for Glavine, Julio Franco grounded into a force play, bringing home Cliff Floyd, and Reyes singled home Valentin. The Mets were up 4-0, with the game in the hands of the bullpen the rest of the way.
Pedro Feliciano was first man in. He pitched around a 1 out walk to keep the Dodgers off the board in the seventh. Aaron Heilman came in for the eighth and allowed a solo home run to Wilson Betemit, but retired Kent and Drew to keep it 4-1. Billy Wagner avoided any drama in the ninth by coaxing groundouts from Russell Martin, Marlon Anderson, and Julio Lugo. The Mets now had a commanding 2 games to none lead on the Dodgers, having outplayed them in every facet of the game, leaving the pundits scratching their heads.
The series moved to Los Angeles for Game 3. Steve Trachsel was facing off against Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, and most experts were picking the Dodgers to at least prolong the series with a victory.
2 comments:
Mike
You write some great stuff.
A real baseball writer.
Thanks, Mack
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