It's still April, and in Cincinnati its still pratically snowing so you can't get carried away, but this is clearly a different team than last year judging by the performance they put on yesterday afternoon, and its a change for the better. Indeed, although doing nothing perticularly flashy or looking really dominant, the pitching staff headed by Santana looked methodical and purposeful, dominating the Reds lineup and showed a lot of promise for the year to come.
Santana as he is prone to do, looked dominant early and often, giving up only three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings striking out seven. However lasting not even six full innings usually would spell disaster for the mets, but not this year with the way their bullpen looks these days. For certain, the much ballyhooed back end of the bullpen lived up their billing, with Sean Green, Putz and K-Rod giving up no hits and allowing only one baserunner the rest of the way. Now that's what I call shortening a game with a bullpen.
On the other side, the hitting was nothing great, but effective and timely. The only offense really came from the un-hearlded second year outfielder Daniel Murphy, compiling a solo homer and an RBI groundout. For certain, it was nothing to write home about, as their big name stars did very little, but they did enough, they hit when it mattered and get enough to seal the win.
It was not a perticularly exciting or memorable game, with little offense on either side, but it showed a great deal of effiency in the Mets' approach this year. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the rotation can perform at a high level as Santana did and does every fifth day, but there was a lot to like and be happy about for Mets fans yesterday. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a tad envious of it.
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