The Mets proved they could beat up the rotten Reds this weekend. Now let’s see how they fare against the varsity.
The Mets left Shea Stadium feeling good yesterday after a 5-2 victory gave them three out of four in the series with Cincinnati. Now they head west to play seven games with the Padres and Dodgers, the two top teams in the NL West, for their first stiff test of the second half of the season.
“It’s going to be a tough road trip,” center fielder Carlos Beltran said. “They’ve got good pitchers in San Diego, good pitchers in LA. Our main goal is trying to continue to win series like we did here with Cincinnati. We’ve got to continue to play the game hard and find a way to win ballgames.”
Yesterday, the Mets got a promising performance from Oliver Perez in his first start since coming off the disabled list. The left-hander gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out six. Perez (8-6) had not pitched since June 26 against St. Louis. After that start, he complained of back stiffness that landed him on the 15-day DL.
“That’s what the doctor ordered,” manager Willie Randolph said. “That was perfect, man. (That was a) great game, coming back and picking us up. He didn’t look like he missed much of a beat. He came in there and got the job done for us. That’s what we needed – three out of four. Now we’re looking forward to going on the trip.”
The Mets’ offense did nothing to squelch the doubts that surround it, but it did enough to beat up Reds starter Kyle Lohse (5-11). RBI doubles by Ramon Castro and Lastings Milledge in the second inning gave Perez a 3-0 lead to work with.
“We’re getting back to what we did last year when we ran away with it,” said Milledge, who has five RBIs since getting called up Thursday.
Perez coasted for most of the day with the exception of a monster home run from Adam Dunn in the fourth inning that hit about a third of the way up the Mets scoreboard in right field.
Perez led off the fifth inning with a single and scored when Jose Reyes hit a two-run home run to right to make it 5-1. The Reds cut the lead to three runs on Brandon Phillips’ single in the sixth before Perez turned it over to the bullpen, which shut the door.
Despite the victories, the Mets know they still have not played to their potential. This weekend’s wins were like a Band-Aid. They only temporarily covered the problems, they didn’t make them go away.
“The most important thing for us is winning,” Beltran said. “It doesn’t matter how we win. Our goal is to try to win ballgames. I think we did a great job here against Cincinnati. We all feel like we can do better than what we’re doing right now but we did a good job. We won three out of four. You’ve got to take it.”
The Reds have the worst record in the National League and are a mess as an organization. They had 41-year-old Jeff Conine batting third yesterday in a lineup that featured no one with a batting average over .300 and two position players with averages below .200.
Now, the competition gets cranked up. The Padres and Dodgers rank 1-2 in ERA in the National League and they are battling it out for the lead in the NL West. This will be the Mets’ first meeting with San Diego this season. They were swept in Los Angeles in June during their wretched stretch.
The Mets head west knowing they can’t afford a slip. The Braves have won four straight and sit just 1½ games behind the Mets in the standings.
“All we have to do is look at the scoreboard and see that we don’t have a 10½ game lead,” said Billy Wagner, who saved his 20th game yesterday. “We have a 11/2, and we have to continue to grind games out and find ways to win games.”