Mets Postgame: 5/2 at ARI

What a way to open the roadtrip, as the New York Mets defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 on the backs of their superstars, David Wright and Jose Reyes, and on their most valuable player so far, Ryan Church. David and Jose each fell one hit shy of the cycle–Wright needed a triple, Reyes a home run. Church hit his fourth home run of the year and drove in three on the night, bringing his RBI total to 19.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Reyes gets on base, Church advances him, David drives in runs, and the rest of the team follows the lead. These 3 guys are key to winning, as is John Maine, who looked shaky at times, but got the job done, going 6 full innings to pick up his 3rd win of the year (surprising after his pitch count got way up there–he even had 12 pitches on just one Micah Owings at bat), and surrendering 2 earned on 6 hits, striking out 6 and walking 2. Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, and Duaner Sanchez combined for 3 scoreless innings in relief.

The Diamondbacks were a shadow of their usual self tonight. Owings took the loss, going 5.2 giving up 7 earned runs on 11 hits, striking out 2 and walking 3. He’s obviously banged up, as anyone watching the game could tell based on his motion. 2B Orlando Hudson had to come out of the game with a minor leg injury (he’s day to day). Here’s my observation of the D-Backs. They have a ridiculous amount of talent (especially in Justin Upton who is a phenom to say the least), but they are very, very young. Their pitching needs to be solid to carry them, and tonight it obviously was not. But this is a team that is going places.

A happy note for the Mets, LF Moises Alou made his return to the lineup, batting in the 5 spot behind Carlos Beltran. Alou went 1-4 with an RBI on a hard hit ball up the middle that could have easily been a double play ball. Weird to see the bottom of the lineup consisting of Carlos Delgado, Raul Casanova, and Luis Castillo. Those 3 combined to go 2-11 on the night, by the way.

Great win tonight for the Amazins, it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow as Mike Pelfrey takes on Snakes ace Brandon Webb.

–Jonathan Kraft

No DL for Schneider

SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt reporting that Brian Schneider will back up Raul Casanova until he is healthy enough to start. Gustavo Molina looks to be headed back to New Orleans.

-Jonathan Kraft