The Wright Stuff... Again

David Wright, the cornerstone player of the New York Mets franchise once again proved to be the juggernaut against the dwindling Florida Marlins franchise. As the Mets edged the Fish 3-2, David had all 3 RBIs and Tommy Glavine pitched a great game against a bunch of below-average players. David Wright is quite possibly the best hitter on the roster, and, if not, second only to veteran slugger Carlos Delgado. Not only is Wright batting .474/.478/.895, but he has a K/BB ratio of 0/2. I know it's only the fifth game of the year, but Wright already has 9 RBIs, 2 HRs and 9 hits in 19 at-bats. A very small sample, but David should keep producing like this all year. He's obviously not going to hit .474/.478/.895 all year, as it is virtually impossible. but .315/.405/.540 shouldn't be out of the question. Wright hit .306/.388/.523 last year, and that's pretty good for a 2nd year player. The Mets haven't had a player of David's caliber out of the system since Darryl Strawberry, and we all know the problems Strawberry encountered down the road. Wright will definitely not encounter these blemishes on his career, and he should blossom into the best third basemen the Mets have ever had, and will be a great hitter for at least the next 15 years. I have no doubt that he can be the first Met ever to win the MVP, as he should get some serious consideration this year.

On Sunday's 3-2 win over the Marlins, hits were hard to come off of the always unhittable Dontrelle Willis when he faces the Mets. 8-1 career against the Mets, I figured when the Fish scored two off Glavine, the final was going to be 2-0 Marlins. Throughout the first five innings, nothing interesting happened. In the sixth, Hanley Ramirez doubled to left to lead off the inning. Jeremy Hermida, the next hitter, dropped down a sac bunt, bringing Ramirez to third. What figures to be a huge trend this year, Tom Glavine walked Miguel Cabrera intentionally, putting runners at the corners with one out. This would prove to be a decision which worked against the Mets, but I'd rather face Josh Willingham any day of the year rather than Miguel Cabrera. Willingham took a high Glavine change-up and hit a long fly ball to right center which would score Ramirez from third easily, and Miguel Cabrera from first with some slow running. Cabrera, the 22-year old third baseman is pretty slow, but nonetheless, got home safely. At that point, the Marlins led 2-0, but unfortunately for them, that's all they would score. Mike Jacobs would follow with a strikeout. Dan Ugly... umm... Uggla would be hit by Glavine's 1-2 offering, not even making an attempt to get out of the way. Olivo would fly out to center, and the Marlins were done. In the bottom of the seventh, Paul Lo Duca worked a 3-2 count and singled against Willis. Carlos Beltran would follow that with another single to left. On a ground ball which should have been a double play, Dan Uggla couldn't come up with it cleanly. Carlos Delgado hit it to second, and Uggla bobbled it, looked to second, but got Delgado at first. With second and third and one out, David Wright stepped up to the plate. On a 1-2 offering by Willis, Wright smacked one to right, one which Hermida tried to make a sliding catch on, but missed, and the ball would travel all the way to the wall, with Wright cruising into third with a two-run triple. 2-2, tying it off of Willis. In the top of the ninth, the Mets gave us some heartburn. Enter Sandman, came in a tied ballgame. Wagner got the first two outs, Miguel Olivo and Reggie Abercrombie. Chris Aguila would bat for Willis, and work a walk against Mr. Wagner. Aguila would then steal second with Hanley Ramirez at the plate. Ramirez would hit a grounder to Reyes, and Jose would commit his second error of the contest, this one a throwing error, throwing to far up the line. Runners on the corners with two out, Jeremy Hermida had a chance to redeem himself after his bonehead play in right field. Hermida hit a grounder to Anderson Hernandez, which Hernandez would knock down after not coming up with it cleanly. Hermida would dive head first into first base but to no extent, was still thrown out, as the score remained tied at 2. In the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Beltran led off with a walk, and Delgado followed with a single of his own. With runners on the corners and no out, David Wright stepped to the plate again. On the first pitch he seen from Marlins pitcher Carlos Martinez, who I doubt anyone has ever heard of, gave up a first pitch, game-winning sacrifice fly off the bat of David Wright, scoring Carlos Beltran. A good game all around.

As the Mets have won 3 in a row, and have started out their exciting 2006 campaign with a 4-1 mark on the season and at home, we should be in for a real treat this year. With the young hitting of David Wright, the quickness of Jose Reyes, the slick fielding of Anderson Hernandez, and the crazy starts for Pedro Martinez, this is going to be a season to remember.

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W- Billy Wagner (1-0) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3.00 ERA.

L- Carlos Martinez (0-1) 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3.86 ERA.

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The Mets and Nats are going to be warned, even before the first pitch is thrown.
"Umpire supervisor Steve Palermo is expected to alert the crew working this week's Mets-Nationals series of the strained relationship that exists between the two National League teams because of a series of hit batsmen last week when the Nationals played at Shea Stadium."

Interesting, and I guess the first pitcher who they believe throws at the other player intentionally will face serious consequences. I think they should just make them play, but don't let it get out of hand.

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Cliff believes if Pedro nails Guillen, there will be a fight.
It will be interesting if anyone gets hit now.

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David Lennon just about sums it up about Wright.
Great read. He's got the "Wright Attitude."

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Was Willie the key to Cliff's success last year?
Marty Noble talks about Willie's career changing attitude to Cliff.