Mo Vaughn recieves a standing ovation from St. Louis Cardinals fans after crushing a 466 foot home run into the upper deck of Busch Stadium in the ninth inning.April 30, 2003 - Mets starter Pedro Astacio lasted four inninngs. His final line was nine hits and nine runs, seeing his ERA jump to 9.90.
Astacio surrendered four home runs, including two from the Cardinals Albert Pujols.
The Cardinals made 13-2 in the 6th inning, pounding Mets reliever Jason Middlebrook for four more runs after coming in for Astacio in the 5th.
Mets 1B Mo Vaughn returned from a stomach virus and crushed a 466 foot home run into the upper deck of Busch Stadium in the ninth inning.
Vaughn recieved a standing ovation from St. Louis Cardinals fans. Vaughn cut the Cardinals lead to 13-4.
Mets keep stumbling along
April 29, 2003 - The New York Mets hit the road and kept stumbling along.
Matt Morris pitched six solid innings and Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria each drove in four runs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the struggling Mets 13-3 Tuesday night.
Beginning a six-game trip, the Mets looked just as awful as they did Sunday at Shea Stadium, when they made eight errors and struck out a record 27 times in a doubleheader sweep by Arizona.
Morris (2-2) gave up two runs and five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He retired 11 consecutive batters before the Mets scored twice in the sixth on Mike Piazza’s RBI double and Ty Wigginton’s run-scoring triple—which bounced out of the glove of center fielder Jim Edmonds at the wall.
Piazza had three hits for New York, which made two more errors. The Mets have lost three in a row and are in last place in the NL East at 11-15.
Piazza made a highlight reel sliding catch at the screen behind the plate of Mike Matheny’s foul pop to end the first.
Mets 1B Mo Vaughn left with a stomach virus after striking out with the bases loaded in the first.
Morris is 4-2 with a 2.71 ERA against the Mets.
1B Tony Clark and 2B Roberto Alomar committed errors on successive plays in the third,giving the Mets 30 in 26 games. That includes nine multi-error games.
Mets swept in desert
April 27, 2003 - With Randy Johnson back throwing strikes, the Arizona Diamondbacks are starting to look a winning team again.
Johnson came off the disabled list to strike out 12 and earn his first win of the season, leading Arizona to a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets and a sweep of a doubleheader Sunday.
Brandon Webb struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings of his first major league start and Craig Counsell tied his career high with four RBIs as the Diamondbacks won the opener 6-1.
The Diamondbacks matched their longest winning streak of the season (two games) with the sweep and finished their road trip 5-4. The two-time defending NL West champions still headed home tied for last place at 10-15, but things are looking up now that the Big Unit is back.
Johnson (1-2), the winner of the last four NL Cy Young Awards, missed his previous two starts with inflammation in his right knee and had an 8.31 ERA in his first three games of the season.
Webb (1-0) got Arizona started, making the most of his brief stay in the majors. He allowed three hits, one walk and only four balls to reach the outfield.
The Mets committed eight errors and struck out a major league-record 27 times on the day. They were swept by the Diamondbacks in a doubleheader at home for the second straight year.
The previous record for strikeouts in an 18-inning doubleheader was 26, accomplished three times. Houston was thelast team to do it, striking out 26 against San Francisco on Sept. 5, 1971.
Mark Grace drove in four runs in the second game, including a two-run homer off closer Armando Benitez in the ninth.
Cone injured in loss
April 22, 2003 - Tim Redding got the support he needed to end his long winless streak.Redding allowed one run in six innings to win for the first in nearly 11 months and Richard Hidalgo homered to help the slumping Houston Astros beat the New York Mets 6-2 Tuesday night.
Redding, who hadn’t won since last May 29, when he beat St. Louis in relief, pitched well in two of his three starts this season.
But he had nothing to show for it because the Astros scored just four runs for him in those three games.
Nothing went right for the Mets, who lost outfielder Jeromy Burnitz for four-to-six weeks with a broken bone in his left hand. Burnitz was hit by a pitch from Houston closer Billy Wagner in the ninth inning.
New York starter David Cone left after two innings with a sore left hip and the Mets managed only three hits until the ninth inning.
Cone is day to day, but the 40-year-old’s spot in the rotation—and comeback—could be in jeopardy with Pedro Astacio expected to come off the disabled list this week.
The fans booed Cedeno every time he batted and cheered when he was replaced in the eighth inning by Shinjo. Cedeno went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, dropping his average to .177.
Another Armando meltdown
April 19, 2003 - The New York Mets fans are already growing tired of closer Armando Benitez.Benitez blew his fourth save chance this season, allowing two runs in the ninth inning of the Mets’ 6-5 loss to the Florida Marlins on Saturday.
“I don’t have to worry about this; I know what I can do,” said Benitez, who was booed from the mound to the dugout after the inning. “I don’t worry about a blown save. (Pitchers are) human. We’re not machines.”
Luis Castillo hit a game-tying RBI single and Ivan Rodriguez beat out a potential double-play grounder to drive in the go-ahead run as the Marlins rallied for the win.
“I played hard until the last out of the game, because in baseball you can win so many different ways,” Rodriguez said. “You can win with good hustle to first base, and that’s what I did.”
Benitez (0-3) matched his blown save total from all of last season in the first month of the year for the last-place Mets. He has blown four of nine opportunities this year after converting 33 of 37 in 2002.
“It’s only April,” Benitez said. “Come back and talk to me in five months.”
This is the third time in five meetings this season that the Marlins have beaten the Mets in their last at-bat—including twice against Benitez.
“He’s a very aggressive pitcher … our approach is to be aggressive but be patient because sometimes he has the tendency to be wild,” Rodriguez said. “Here in New York, it’s a place that you have to do everything right all the time. He needs to beat that and stay strong.”
After stealing six bases in their loss Friday, the Marlins stole four Saturday. Piazza caught Luis Castillo trying to steal second in the first inning, and Gonzalez was tagged on a squeeze play at home in the sixth.
When Cedeno struck out to end the Mets’ sixth inning, the Shea Stadium crowdchanted “Timo, Timo,” calling for Cedeno’s replacement to be OF Timo Perez.
Complete list of Armando Meltdowns >>
Expos sweep Mets
April 15, 2003 - A trip to the Montreal Expos’ favorite island caused a shipwreck for the New York Mets.
More errors. More injuries. The bottom line: Swept away.
“Maybe it’s just Puerto Rico. Maybe we have to get out of Puerto Rico,” Mets manager Art Howe said Monday night after his team’s latest loss, a deflating 5-3 defeat against Montreal that completed a four-game sweep.
“There’s no logic to it. It’s something different every night. Maybe a change of scenery will solve the problem.”
New York clawed back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game, but Fernando Tatis hit an opposite-field, two-run single in the eighth inning off David Weathers after Mike Stanton joined the injury list.
Rey Sanchez, one of the Puerto Rican stars getting to play major league ball in their home country, set up the winning rally when he misplayed Vladimir Guerrero’s one-out grounder to shortstop for an error.
“We’ll battle through it. We’ll be better,” Weathers said. “Last year we started 18-11, everybody thought we were going to take off and we went in the tank.”
The NL East-leading Expos (9-4), who play 22 of their home games in San Juan, extended their winning streak to five. They made New York’s island visit a wipeout, outscoring the last-place Mets 22-8.
“This was pretty sweet,” Montreal manager Frank Robinson said. “I’m very proud of this team. We understand and appreciate what went on here tonight.”
New York (4-9) lost its sixth straight and dropped five games back, its season veering off course just two weeks in. The Mets, who have scored only 38 runs this season. hadn’t been swept by the Expos in a four-game series since September 1972.
Los Expos dispatched New York like rude tourists. Stanton strained a calf muscle, joining Cliff Floyd (Achilles’ tendon) and Mo Vaughn (sore knee) on the injured list. Mike Piazza, trying desperately to beat out a hit, tumbled over first base in the sixth inning.
Expos bash Cone
April 11, 2003 - The Montreal Expos warmed to Puerto Rico real fast.
David Cone lasted four innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits and three walks.Brian Schneider put the Expos ahead with a two-run shot in the third, and Wilkerson capped the seven-run inning with his first career grand slam.
Local hero Jose Vidro added a two-run homer off Graeme Lloyd in the eighth.
“It was perfect,” said Vidro, who fought back tears as he rounded the bases. “If it’s going to be like that for the 22 games that we’re going to be here, it’s welcome.”
New York had just two hits: Cliff Floyd’s broken-bat single in the fourth inning and Roger Cedeno’s infield single on a topper in front of the plate in the ninth.
Cone (1-1) beat Montreal on April 4 for his first victory since the 2001 season.
On Friday, he got the ball up in the small dimensions of Bithorn—398 to center, 315 to left and 313 to right—and lost for the first time since Oct. 1, 2001, for Boston at Tampa Bay.
Cone lasted four innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits and three walks, one intentional.
Prior to Friday, only seven regular-season major league games had been played outside the 50 states and Canada: a three-game series between the Mets and San Diego at Monterrey, Mexico, from Aug. 16-18, 1996, the 1999 opener between Colorado and San Diego in Monterrey, a two-game series between the Mets and Chicago Cubs in Tokyo that opened the 2000 season, and the 2001 opener between Texas andToronto in San Juan.
Sammy slams Mets
April 3, 2003 - The Sammy Sosa traveling show packed up and left Shea Stadium on Thursday, still waiting for him to hit that elusive 500th home run.
Sosa finished 3-for-7 with six walks overall in the series.With his mother, his wife, two brothers and other family members and friends in the stands, Sosa drove in three runs with a pair of singles as the Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 6-3.
Mark Prior pitched six sharp innings, Moises Alou drove in three runs and Mark Grudzielanek scored three times. New manager Dusty Baker’s team took two of three, and the Cubs won an opening series for the first time since 1999.
“Sammy had a big game. He hasn’t hit a home run, but he has four or five ribbies, and that’s what counts,” Baker said.
Sosa finished 3-for-7 with six walks overall in the series. He lined a sharp, two-run single in the first, then came up with the bases loaded and no outs in the third against former teammate Steve Trachsel.
Given a chance to become the first major leaguer to make his 500th home run a grand slam, Sosa got an infield single—although replays showed he was tagged by first baseman Jay Bell.
Sosa batted for the last time in the eighth. After throwing two outside pitches, reliever Scott Strickland went ahead and intentionally walked Sosa, prompting many of the 17,244 fans to boo as they left the park.