Cubs Dominate Mets Behind Zambrano, 10-1

By Professor Joe Janish
Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2007

FLUSHING, N.Y. -- It was an ugly game from start to finish.

John Maine was awful, and though he allowed "only" three runs in five innings, he pitched much worse than that. After three innings, he’d already thrown 72 pitches, so the fact he went as far as he did is a miracle in itself. His command was way off — he walked four, and went into deep counts on nearly every hitter — and often had to serve up straight fastballs to avoid more walks. As a result, when the Cubs weren’t walking they were teeing off — even the outs were hard line drives to the outfield.

Remarkably, though, Maine kept the Mets in the game, and indeed the contest was still very much within the grasp of the Shea Men; Maine exited behind 3-1. Unfortunately, Willie Randolph made the stupefying decision to bring in Scott Schoeneweis to pitch the sixth — the entire sixth. However, the LOOGY was spent after the first batter, and 29 pitches later the Cubs lead swelled to an insurmountable 7-1. Aaron Sele — the guy who should have started the inning (if not Amby Burgos) — rushed to get ready in the pen, but all he could do was throw gasoline on the fire. By the end of the inning, the Cubs were ahead 9-1, and the fans at Shea who weren’t heading for the #7 train were ordering the maximum two beers at a time.

It’s not even worth going into the details … if you’re a sadist and must know exactly what happened I suggest you visit our friends at BleedCubbieBlue.

Notes

The one bright spot on the Mets offense was Shawn Green, who went 2-for-3 with a double and a solo homer to centerfield. Though Green had been 1 for his last 18, he’d only struck out twice in that time and a number of his outs were bullets right at people — so his timing was still on and his stroke fine.

Carlos Delgado was hit by a Carlos Zambrano pitch in the sixth and mashed his pinky; he’s getting X-rays and is day-to-day. I wonder if Randolph will consider playing Green at first and Carlos Gomez in right field, if Delgado isn’t ready by Thursday’s game?

There isn’t any other noteworthy event to mention.

Next Game

Jorge Sosa will try the voo-doo he picked up in N’awlins while Rich Hill takes the hill for the Cubs. Game time is 7:10 PM.

**Read more from Joe Janish at: www.metstoday.com