It was a tough day for NL West teams.
First, Jeff Weaver blanks the Padres earlier Thursday evening and then shortly after the Dodgers fell victim to Tom Glavine (1-0) and the hell bent New York Mets.
Glavine had a great array of pitches working for him all night and was solid in going six innings and only giving up four hits and no runs. The Mets didn’t smack the ball around, but did get timely hitting from fielder choice ground balls and sacrifice flies when they needed it most. In fact, New York’s first run came on a Jose Reyes chopper to shortstop Rafael Furcal, who bobbled the ball enough to throw away a chance at an out at home plate, but did recover to get Reyes out at first. Reyes knocked in another run in the sixth on a single to center, which scored Jose Valentin and 90-year-old Julio Franco.
Los Angles just never got going and if they can’t scrounge out a win on Saturday, they will be going – home for the rest of the postseason. Hong Chih Kuo (0-1) had a decent slider that was working, but the Mets’ batters kept battling him (such as Reyes in the third when the Mets got their first run) and eventually chased Kuo. The Dodgers got their only run off a Wilson Betemit home run to center. Jeff Kent went 2 for 4, but J.D. Drew really struggled at the plate and finished 0-4.
The series shifts to Los Angles for Game 3 on Saturday and that contest will give the Mets a chance to sweep the series and set up a NLCS match up with either St. Louis or San Diego.
The Mets will face the Dodgers’ Greg Maddux (0-0) and will counter with Steve Trachsel (0-0).
