Dave VW
July 23, 2024
Despite putting at least one batter on each inning and struggling with his control, Rogers somehow found himself on the good side of a 2-0 lead through 5 innings. Luck appeared to be on the Mets side, as Rogers had picked off a pair of baserunners and benefited from a pair of double plays, one that he deflected right to Ordonez on a ball that otherwise was headed to CF for a single.
The Mets scored once in the 2nd, despite starting the inning with a walk and 2 singles. Ordonez tried to put down a bunt to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd but instead bunted too hard and lined out to the firstbaseman. Rogers followed with his own sacrifice, but now with 2 outs it left it up to the under-the-weather Henderson, who did hit one in the hole between 1st and 2nd but Bret Boone flagged down the grounder and threw in time to Millwood covering for the 3rd out. If Henderson is feeling better, that should go as an infield hit.
Rickey then gets removed in the bottom of the 2nd for Mora, who, in his first AB of the game, takes Millwood deep for his first ML home run!
In between all that, Cedeno almost hit his own home run but hooked it foul by inches down the RF line. And that would loom very large, as the Braves finally broke through against Rogers in the 6th, hitting a pair of 2-run homers to take a 4-2 lead. Brian Jordan clubbed the first that hit into the netting on the RF foul pole, and then when Andruw Jones lined a single into LF, I thought the day was done for Rogers. But Bobby V left him out there for one more batter, and Eddie Perez drilled the first pitch he saw into the LF seats for his 2nd HR in as many games. Valentine was caught throwing and kicking his hat afterwards, as he knew he made the wrong decision.
The Mets did get one back in the 8th, with Mora reaching on a 1-out error and Alfonzo driving him in with a double. But then the Braves summoned John Rocker, and he struck out both Olerud and Ventura (bookending a Piazza intentional pass) to end the inning. His ownership of the Mets' two middle-of-the-order lefties has arguably been the key to the Braves holding a 2-0 series lead thus far.
I thought Bobby Cox might have been overmanaging when he then turned to John Smoltz to lock down the save in the 9th, considering it was Smoltz's first ever big league relief appearance and gave the Mets a better chance at tying the game with a HR with Cedeno and Bonilla than with Agbayani and Ordonez. But alas, Smoltz set the Mets down in order, with Bonilla taking a pitch 5 inches outside for strike 3 to end the game.
It sucks being down 2-0, but it's not like the Mets are getting blown out, despite getting seriously outpitched thus far. With Leiter going in Game 3 and the series shifting to Shea, I remember feeling dejected but hopeful that the Mets weren't about to go down without a fight.
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