The Mets bounced back a little bit from their 8-0 loss yesterday to a 10-6 lost today. Really the lost today can be pinned on a struggling Perez and a struggling Villone. The two combined for all 10 earned runs in about 4.2 innings of work. The hitting came back mostly in the form of some of starters slashing the ball around. Here are the highlights:
The Good:
Reyes 2-3, R, 2B
Schnieder 1-2, 2RBI
Beltran 2-3, R, RBI, 2B
Reed 2-2
Malo 2-5, R, RBI
Tatis 3-3, R, RBI, 2B
Parnell 1.0 IP, H, K
Stokes 2.0 IP, 2K
The Bad:
Perez 3.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 6 BB, 4 K
Villone 1.0 IP, 4H, 4 ER, BB
Cora 0-2
Kielty 0-4
Evans 0-2
Eventhough it is Spring Training, it is always disconcerning when on back to back days the starting pitchers struggle. Here, Perez's demise was his walks. Hopefully this is a slight mechanical issue and he will get it back together soon, especiallly because he was pretty good in his last start. I also think that this outing by Villone, might be the one that takes him out of the pen picture, especially with Parnell and Stokes doing so well today. Both of their outings are worthy of getting to the major league club (which is pretty much certain for Stokes since he is out of options).
Beltran returned and had some nice hitting today, so did Reyes. That was also helped by Reed and Tatis having good days. As each day goes by, it is becoming more clear that Reed will make it on the team, he is having a terrific Spring. Tatis jsut continues to prove that he will be that go to guy for PH situations. On the Phillies last year, Jenkins made a huge impact for the team in that role, if Tatis carries this through the season, then the Mets will also have that pop on the bench. In other Mets news today, Krod and Putz both had good outings in a Mets minor league game today.
