Colon and Abreu Show Younger Mets How It's Done
Even in this relatively advanced stage of the Mets ' lengthy rebuilding effort, they must rely on free-agent veterans to fill roster holes not yet filled by the young constituents of their improved farm system.
The latest addition is outfielder Bobby Abreu, who was called up Monday and started for the first time Thursday. He played right field behind the right-handed pitcher Bartolo Colon, meaning the Mets employed a pair of 40-year-olds in their starting lineup, becoming the first major league club to do so this season.
Colon (2-3) was the star of the day, allowing one run on four hits and no walks in seven innings and striking out a season-high eight batters. Abreu doubled in three at-bats. And two runs were driven in by the off-season additions Chris Young and Curtis Granderson in New York's 4-1 victory.
Daisuke Matsuzaka worked a perfect ninth inning for his first career save. The Mets won three of four games in the series from the defending National League champion Cardinals.
In the fifth inning, Young smacked an elevated fastball from Cardinals starter Lance Lynn into the first row of the second deck in left field for his first home run of the season. Making the deep blast even more impressive is that he drove it into a stiff wind that registered sustained speeds of 19 miles per hour at the start of the game, with gusts up to 34 m.p.h. There were periodic end-of-inning appearances by staff members collecting windswept trash on the field of play.
Mets left fielder Eric Young Jr. led off the sixth inning by attempting to bunt for a hit. Lynn, who allowed three runs (two earned) in six and a third innings, fielded the ball quickly but threw wide of first base, allowing Young to reach second on a two-base error. On the next pitch, Daniel Murphy lined the ball into shallow center field, where St. Louis's Jon Jay dived but failed to catch the ball, which scooted past him for a run-scoring double. Murphy added a run-scoring single in the seventh.
Abreu, who started in the outfield alongside two players named Young, started his first big-league game since July 25, 2012, when he was with the Dodgers. He handled his two defensive chances without incident, catching one fly ball and fielding one routine single. He also provided a needed lift at the plate. The Mets entered the day last in the majors in on-base-plus-slugging (.602, the worst by 20 points), and Abreu sliced an opposite-field double in the fifth. Even one of his outs was productive by tiring Lynn: Abreu saw eight pitches in his first at-bat, fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches before succumbing on a grounder to shortstop.
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