A Colon Hit Is a Topper of a Sweet Night for the Mets' Offense
Forget, for a moment, the three home runs hit by the Mets in the first three innings. Forget the nine hits, the seven runs, the newfound aggression, the situational execution.
The moment when Mets fans might have realized something truly unusual was taking place, something so very un-Mets-like, was when Bartolo Colon laced a single into left field in the fourth.
It was the (fairly robust) cherry on the already overflowing bowl of ice cream, so sweet and refreshing to the crowd was this flaying of the Oakland Athletics in the early innings of Tuesday's 10-1 win. The stands seemed practically overcome with elation, coupled with giddy bewilderment. Really, where did all this come from?
After pounding the Marlins for 11 runs on Sunday, the Mets had steeled themselves for tougher pitching at home from the Athletics, the American League's top staff. On the mound was the left-hander Scott Kazmir, facing his former team for the first time in Queens since he was traded as a prospect in July 2004.
Kazmir entered the game with a 2.08 earned run average, having reinvented himself in Cleveland a year ago and with Oakland this season. But these are apparently boom times for the busting-out offense on Roosevelt Avenue.
Curtis Granderson started the barrage with a two-run homer to right in the second, his fourth home run in the last 14 games. Chris Young followed with a solo shot to left, his first homer since May 29. And he would add a second home run in the fifth.
Even more surprising, the Mets got an instant offensive lift from catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who homered with a runner on base in the third to give the Mets a 7-1 lead. The Mets recalled d'Arnaud, a highly regarded rookie, on Tuesday after a 15-game respite in Class AAA to help him retool and rediscover his confidence at the plate.
After he batted .436 with 14 extra-base hits in 55 at-bats with Las Vegas, d'Arnaud was simply too good to keep down. But the Mets still need to determine whether he is just a good hitter at the Class AAA level or one who can also succeed in the big leagues.
'Obviously, he went down and made some adjustments, and the results were outstanding,' Manager Terry Collins said. 'I hope that translates into the same type of production up here. But it's all about playing with confidence. When you have that, you can do a lot of things.'
D'Arnaud was vague before the game about what mechanical adjustments he made at the plate, saying instead that the instrumental changes had been 'probably 95 percent mental.'
After striking out in the second, d'Arnaud returned to the plate in the third and blasted a 1-2 pitch well into the stands in left. What happens in Las Vegas apparently does not always stay in Las Vegas.
The offensive support was more than enough for Colon, who shut down the A's for seven innings, with just one run and four hits allowed, to improve to 6-0 in his last seven starts. Colon retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced, his only trouble coming in the first inning, when he surrendered a run-scoring double to Yoenis Cespedes. Colon has a 1.54 earned run average over his last seven starts.
The Mets did not need his fourth-inning single. But it certainly added to a surreal night of offense.
INSIDE PITCH
The Mets placed catcher Taylor Teagarden on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, facilitating the move to bring up Travis d'Arnaud. ...With a groundout in the sixth, David Wright drove in a run for the seventh consecutive game, tying his career high.
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