Remembering Mets History (2010) Mets Pitchers Throw Three Straight Shut Outs

 Tuesday May 25th: The Mets were coming off winning two of three in that year's subway series matchup as they hosted the reigning NL Champion Phillies for a three-game set at Citi Field.

In the opener the Mets R.A. Dickey went up against 37-year-old veteran Jamie Moyer. 

R.A. Dickey had come over from the Minnesota Twins as a free agent in the off season. The knuckle ball pitcher was making just his second start for the Mets. It was the start of a fine three-year career he would have for the Mets.

In the bottom of the 1st, Jose Reyes singled & stole second then scored on Jason Bay's grounder to short.

After an easy first inning, he would load the bases in the top of the 2nd on three straight base hits. He got Carlos Ruiz to ground into a double play but then walked Juan Castro to load them up again. Jamie Moyer struck out to end the inning.

 In the bottom of the 2nd, Angel Pagan, Rod Barajas got on with base is & Jeff Francoeur singled in Pagan with the Mets first run. In the bottom of the 4th Francoeur added an RBI sac fly to make it 3-0.

Dickey would give up seven hits & three walks, but he held the Phillies scoreless thru six innings as he struck out seven batters along the way. 

Raul Valdes would come in to pitch three scoreless innings of relief. Valdez would appear in 38 games for the Mets, in his only season with them.

The Mets provided enough offense on this day, in the 5th Jose Reyes singled & stole his second base of the game. Jason Bay brought him in with an RBI single. In the bottom of the 6th, Jeff Francoeur collected his second hit with a double to right. Pinch hitter Chris Carter singled making it 5-0 Mets.

In the 8th, Rod Barajas collected his second hit, Raul Valdes doubled bringing in Barajas, Jose Reyes followed with a triple to make it 7-0. Reyes would hit ten triples on the year. Luis Castillo's base hit then made it 8-0 for the win.

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Wednesday May 26th, 2010: Tonight, Mets 35-year-old Japanese born pitcher Hisanori Takahashi got the start. Takahashi had been used as a reliever in 15 games before making his first start five days earlier, shutting out the AL New York team for five innings. At this point he entered the game 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA, 38 strike outs in 32 innings.

Tonight, he went up against the Phillies Joe Blanton. Since coming to the Phillies Blanton had never found the same success he had in Oakland.

Hisanori Takahashi would retire nine of the first ten batters he faced collecting a pair of strike outs along the way. 

In the bottom of the 2nd, Ike Davis doubled & advanced on Angel Pagan's base hit. Rod Barajas RBI sac fly made it 1-0. In the bottom of the 3rd, Jose Reyes led off with a HR, his first of the season, making it 2-0.

Hisanori Takahashi would give the Mets six scoreless innings, striking out six batters lowering his ERA to 2.13.

In the bottom of the 6th, David Wright doubled & Angel Pagan reached on a bunt base hit to third base. Pagan then stole second. Rod Barajas continued his hot hitting with a two-run single making it 4-0. Barajas multi-three RBI game gave him 27 on the season.

Rod Barajas Trivia: Mets catcher Rod Barajas was a 12-year veteran having played with Arizona, Texas & Toronto before coming to New York via-free agency. In his first two months he hit 11 HRs with 30 RBIs thru 41 games. 

But from June 1st to July 24th when he got injured, he hit just one HR with four RBIs in 33 games. He was sent to the Dodgers in late August.

After Joe Blanton was replaced by Chad Dubin, Jose Reyes collected his second hit of the game scoring Barajas with an RBI single making it 5-0.

The Mets Jenry Mejia, Ryota Igarashi & Fernando Nieve closed it out for the team's second straight shutout.

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Thursday May 27th, 2010: The Mets went for the sweep sending Mike Pelfrey to the mound to face nemesis Cole Hamels. Pelfrey was off to a great start going 6-1 with a 2.86 ERA on his way to a career best 15-win season. 

In 2010 Pelfrey was 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA striking out 113 batters & walking 68 in 204 innings pitched. He & Johan Santana led the Mets staff that season.

Hole Camels Trivia: Hamels one of the Mets most hated rivals, had called the Mets choke artists in the 2007 & 2008 team collapses that led to the Phillies winning divisional titles. He became known as Hole Camels to the New York fans. The Mets would get personal revenge on Camels beating him 14 times in 23 decisions.

In the top of the 1st, Pelfrey struck out Shane Victorino & Chase Utley while retiring the side in order.

In the bottom of the 1st, Jose Reyes singled & scored on Jason Bay's double.

Pelfrey would issue walks in each of the next five innings, scattering just three hits holding the Phillies scoreless. Pedro Feliciano & Francisco Rodriguez finished off the Phils completing the shutout & the sweep.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Jeff Francoeur singled then advanced on an error. Jose Reyes then
doubled off Hamels bringing in the two runners giving Mets pitchers insurance in the 3-0 shut out. Reyes hit knocked Hamels out of the game exiting to a round of boos.

Mets Trivia: The Mets pitchers had pitched three shut outs in a row. 

In their next game, they continued a scoreless innings streak reaching 35 innings as Johan Santana would shut out the Brewers for eight innings in Milwaukee before Ryota Igarashi gave up a two-run walk off HR to Corey Hart.