The Mets once again started off the scoring in this game. It began in the top of the third with a great at bat by Ruben Tejada, who stayed within himself and drove a liner into left for a single. After a Reyes base hit through the right side, moving Tejada to third, Angel Pagan came up and laced a double down the left field line to score Tejada and move Reyes to third. Wright continued to do what Wright does and ripped a two-run double off the left field wall to drive in Reyes and Pagan to make it 3-0. The next batter, Ike Davis, served up a double to left of his own to drive in Wright and make it 4-0. Shelley Duncan really should have caught the ball, though. Wouldn't you know, Jason Bay came up next and ripped, you guessed it, a double to left to make it 5-0. Duncan would redeem himself by ending the inning on a nifty sliding catch in foul territory.
Let me just take a moment to say that C.B. Bucknor did not call a good game behind the plate. His strike zone was about the size of a tennis ball.
Shelley Duncan would further redeem himself by launching a blast to right with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to plate two and cut the lead to 5-2. Sorry Shelley, but I have to point this out. Does anyone notice how much he looks like Quasimodo? It's uncanny if you ask me.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jason Donald lead it off with a double. Anyone want to guess what part of the field it went to? Niese then retired the next two batters and appeared to be on his way to working around it. Carlos Santana had other ideas, though, as he hit a single to left that would have been yet another double if he hadn't made one of the worst slides I've ever seen. It looked like second base was covered in bees and Santana just didn't want to touch it. So Ruben Tejada gladly tagged him out.
In the top of the sixth the Mets tacked on more. The Animal lead it off with a double to left-center. You'd swear I'm making this up. Barajas followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no one out and then Frenchy hit a single of his own to score Carter. In a somewhat debatable move, Manuel had Tejada sacrifice Barajas to third and Frenchy to second. But it paid off two batters later when Angel Pagan singled up the middle to score both runners, extending the lead to 8-3. I think the Mets have a new motto, "If you're going to score you better score in bunches."
Cleveland would end up adding a meaningless sac fly in the bottom of the eighth after Mejia and Dessens combined to walk the bases loaded. Dessens did a nice job skating out of the jam, inducing a double play to prevent further damage.
Have to tip your cap to Niese tonight for battling through despite not having his best stuff. More importantly, he went seven innings, which keeps the bullpen fresh. It's nice to see Jerry not having to abuse the bullpen the first half of the season. That will surely pay off later in the season.
Five straight wins on the road, six straight overall and ten of eleven. Impressive, very impressive.
Post Game 6/16/10 Mets 8 - Cleveland 4
