Z's, Clones done for season, Mets fall

Last night in Sacramento, one inning, the fourth, both cost the New Orleans Zephyrs their third playoff game and knocked them out of the playoffs.

In the fourth, starter Jason Vargas made the mistake of allowing the leadoff hitter to get on base. He walked him. Jeremy Brown, a player whom Michael Lewis devoted a chapter to in his book, Moneyball, singled. A fielding error, a double, a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a throwing error by Vargas followed before Vargas could get the final two outs. Four runs crossed the plate, one more than the River Cats would need to win the game. They were the only runs Sacramento scored in the game.

During his six innings, Vargas surrendered six hits, two walks, and four runs. He threw 97 pitches. If it weren't for the fourth inning his stats would have been three hits, two walks, no runs. And the Z's would have won the game.

On the same night the Zephyrs were eliminated from the playoffs, so were the Brooklyn Cyclones. Their opponent, the Auburn Doubledays, also scored four runs, however, the Clones were able to score only one. And, as in the Zephyrs game, all the opponent's runs were scored off the Clone's starting pitcher, Michael Antonini. Unfortunately, Antonini's regular season ERA of 0.46 didn't carry over into the playoffs.

Antonini had held Auburn scoreless until the fifth. But then, in the fifth, he walked the leadoff batter (Sound familiar?) and then served up a gopher ball. In the sixth, he got the first batter out, but then gave up a single and a home run to put the Cyclones behind 4-1, which is how the game ended.

The Men of Shea didn't have better luck. The New York Mets latest nemesis, the Philadelphia Phillies, found a way to defeat them again. If it weren't for the sixth inning, Tom Glavine would have notched his 14th win. But he allowed the Phillies to tie the game when, after walking the leadoff batter (Sound familiar?), he plated a pitch that left-handed batter Chase Utley hit over the right field fence.

Then, in the tenth, Mets catcher Mike DeFelice, who was in the game after Paul Lo Duca was tossed out of it earlier in the inning for arguing a third strike, dropped a foul ball. That allowed the batter, Carlos Ruiz, to get another chance at the plate, which he used to advance the runner on first to second. Soon after, that runner scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly.

That wasn't the first time that Lo Duca couldn't control his temper. And in as important a game as that was, his failure to control it played a factor in the team's loss. If I were Willie Randolph I let Lo Duca sit on the bench for at least a game. He needs a cooling-off period, a chance to reflect on the fact that when he loses his temper, it could result in the Mets losing the game.

Lo Duca drives in seven, Niese wins one

In Cincinnati, New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez forget to bring his control with him to Great American Ball Park. In five innings he gave up only four hits, but he walked five batters. He threw 90 pitches; only 52, or 58%, made it into the strike zone. If it weren't for the Mets hitters, the five runs that Perez gave up would have resulted in his 10th loss rather than his 13th win. One Met alone outscored the entire Reds team.

Paul Lo Duca must have thought the game was an extension of batting practice. In five at-bats he knocked in seven runs, six coming on two three-run homers. Before yesterday Lo Duca had only hit five home runs all season.

This afternoon, the Mets send John Maine to the mound in their try to sweep their second series in a row. Though Maine's won 14, he went 2-3 in August with a 6.32 ERA. He also walked more than twice as many batters as he did in any other month this season. If Maine can't reverse his recent run of poorer performances, the Mets could be in trouble when the play-offs roll around.

Another member of the Mets organization seems ready for the play-offs, which start for them tonight. The Mets' Triple-A affiliate, the New Orleans Zephyrs, won its regular season finale Monday night 6-2. It newest reliever, Carlos Muniz, a Double-A call-up, pitched two innings of one-hit, no-run ball for the Z's. Better still, in three outings with the Zephyrs, Muniz has pitched 5.2 innings without surrendering a run, earned or unearned. At 26, Muniz is a bit old to be considered a prospect, but he seems to have the "right stuff." In 44 games with the Binghamton Mets he had a 2.45 ERA.

And in the Florida State League play-offs, the St. Lucie Mets won their first game behind the one-hit pitching of Jon Niese. In his six innings, he struck out nine. During the regular season, Niese led St. Lucie with 11 wins, the third highest number in the FSL.

But there was bad news for Brooklyn. The Cyclones lost to their archrival, the Staten Island Yankees, 5-4. The Yankees scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth off loser Eddie Kunz, who's been finding pitching in Single-A much tougher than for the Oregon State Beavers. After walking two batters, the second intentionally, Kunz gave up a single to Jose Gil, which ended the game. Kunz's ERA is now 8.10. Did the Mets make a mistake making him their top draft choice?