NewsMets hope to put a winning streak together
New York (43-47) at Atlanta (45-46), 6 p.m. ET
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
07/18/09 10:47 PM ET
ATLANTA -- They speak of it, not as the Holy Grail, but as an inevitability. Even now when winning is such a strain and their margin for error is Pat Zachry thin, the Mets are certain they will produce a winning streak at some point in their remaining schedule.No one has ventured a guess as to its length, but it will exceed three games, they say, and perhaps approach the seven successive victories they achieved in early May against the Braves, Phillies and Pirates.
Now is as good a time as any and probably better than most. No matter what length the streak turns out to be, the Mets already have taken one step toward it with their 5-1 victory Saturday. It was the one game they had to be sure to win in this four-game series in the South with Johan Santana starting.
But now that the 90th game has been made into a victory, why not do the same to No. 91? That is their thinking. When Fernando Nieve pitches Sunday, the Mets will try to create yet another two-game winning streak. They won their last two games before the break, beating the Reds at Citi Field. And there were the successive road victories against the Brewers and Pirates July 1 and 2. Before that, they won two successive from the Cardinals in late June ... etcetera.
But these Mets haven't won three straight games since they won four straight games against the Nationals (three games) and Marlins (one) from May 25-29. That sequence of success put their record at 27-20 and had them one-half game ahead of the pack in the National League East.
Now, after their ESPN game Sunday, the Mets play three times in Washington. That makes the game Sunday evening important -- not critical -- to their quest for a steak. Moreover, winning the series finale would mean they had won four times in six games. And that is a more realistic objective than an extended winning streak.
"Ten out of 12, eight out of 10 -- that's what we're looking for," Jerry Manuel said last week. "That's what we need to do to get this turned around."
Pitching matchupNYM: RHP Fernando Nieve (3-3, 3.03 ERA)
Nieve has lost his three most recent starts, but his performance has improved in each of the past two. He surrendered two home runs against the Reds on Friday night. Home runs once were a bugaboo for him -- 20 in 107 innings before this season. He has started once against the Braves, in 2006, and he won, pitching into the eighth inning. He has three other appearances against them, all in '06. Nieve's ERA on the road, 4.08, is more than twice his ERA at Citi Field. Left-handed hitters are batting merely .205 in 78 at-bats against him; their right-handed-hitting brethren are batting .357 in 56 at-bats. ATL: RHP Javier Vazquez (6-7, 2.95 ERA)
Vazquez was the victim of bad luck and little run support in the first half, witness the inconsistency between his ERA and record. That inconsistency is greater in his most recent eight starts. He produced a 1.96 ERA but only a 2-3 record. And the Braves have won merely three of the eight games. Vazquez missed his final start of the first half against the Rockies with a strained lower abdominal muscle. The injury had caused him discomfort for about a month, but he pitched brilliantly regardless. The low point of his season came against the Mets at Turner Field on May 4. Vazquez pitched five scoreless innings before allowing two home runs to Carlos Beltran and one to David Wright in two innings. He allowed a season-high six runs in 6 2/3 innings. Luis Castillo and Alex Cora have a composite .352 batting average in 88 at-bats against Vazquez.
Tidbits
The Braves intentionally walked David Wright three times, with Jeff Francoeur on deck. Francoeur said he was somewhat surprised. ... Wright has been walked three times intentionally in two games in his career. ... The Mets seemingly have offset their 11-0 loss to the Braves on Friday in a musical manner. One day after Sir Paul McCartney performed at Citi Field, Turner Field was the site of a postgame concert by a semi-shirtless, semi-talented collection of males named The All-American Rejects.
Almon and McReynolds are two in a distinct group in franchise history: players who have had two tours of duty with the big league team separated by time with another club. The two-timers could field a formidable team -- McReynolds in left field, Lee Mazzilli in center, Rusty Staub in right, Dave Kingman at first base, Almon at second, Bobby Bonilla at third, Hubie Brooks at shortstop and Alex Tevino catching.
It would be defensively deficient -- imagine the throws from third to first -- but with with left-handed/right-handed balance, power and Staub with a level of protection he never had with the Mets, it would score.
The rotation -- with Tom Seaver, David Cone, Al Jackson, Ray Sadecki and Bill Pulsipher -- would be backed up by a thin bullpen that included Roberto Hernandez, Bob L. Miller, Greg McMichael, Pete Walker and Josias Manzanillo and no left-handed pitcher. But Seaver, Cone and Jackson would pitch complete games in this fantasy.
And the bench would include Todd Zeile, Lenny Harris, Mike Jorgensen, Tim Foli, Jeromy Burnitz, Clint Hurdle and Roger Cedeno and have speed, power, pinch-hitting expertise and probably two of the team's three best defensive players in Jorgensen and Foli.
The Opening Day lineup would be: Mazzilli, Almon, Bonilla, Staub, McReynolds, Brooks, Kingman, Trevino and Seaver.
This team seems to have more talent than most of the Mets teams for which these players played.
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• WFAN 660, WADO 1280 (Español) Up next
• Monday: Mets (Livan Hernandez, 5-5, 5.10) at Nationals (Scott Olsen, 2-4, 6.03), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Tuesday: Mets (Oliver Perez, 2-2, 7.99) at Nationals (John Lannan, 6-7, 3.64), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Wednesday: Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 7-5, 5.07) at Nationals (Craig Stammen, 2-5, 4.46), 7:05 p.m. ET
Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
