Sunday, June 12, 2005 |
All Not Wright With David: Angels 4, Mets 3
The Mets' slogan this year is "Next Year Is Now", but it's only a good one if their aim is to be "competitive", the dubious accomplishment they've rung up ever since 2000. In fact, they haven't won their division since 1988, squeaked into the World Series on a Wild Card berth in 2000, and finished third or lower in the NL East with only one winning season since. The plus, of course, is that the Steve Phillips era is now long gone. Phillips, the east coast analogue to Kevin Malone, was behind the disastrous Mo Vaughn trade. With a less-than-credible farm system (ranked 19th in the majors by Baseball America in their latest ranking, the Mets had a lot of splainin' to do to their fans going into last year's offseason. Buying Beltran and tiring but still vital Pedro Martinez got them a fair amount of cred, but it's still no substitute for a truly productive farm system.
Ironically, the only useful part to come from the Mets farm lately, David Wright, provided the key error in the game, as Darin Erstad hit what should have been an inning-ending groundout to third. Instead, Wright juggled the ball and Robb Quinlan scored. It was just one of those games for Wright; as an Angel fan watching McPherson (yesterday's botched fielding attempt of a pop fly into shallow left cost the team the game every bit as much as Finley's booted double), I sympathize.
Otherwise: Lackey continued his progression; if he wasn't great, at least he was competent, which is more than we could have said earlier in the season. A well-rested Shields held off the Mets for two, and Frankie retired the side in order in the ninth. Almost like it was planned or something.
With the win, the Angels are two and a half games over the Rangers.
Update: How annoying is it for Frankie to keep hearing that he blew yesterday's save, when in fact the real blow-er was Finley?
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