5 Things: Streaking Mets And MVP Matchup
By Andrew Kahn
After six straight losing seasons, this was the year many expected the Mets to contend for a playoff spot. But even the most optimistic fan couldn’t have predicted this start. Their win streak, plus some impressive catches outside the lines make up this week’s recap.
Mets streak at 11
The best record in baseball belongs to the New York Mets, 13-3 and winners of 11 straight. The win streak ties the longest in franchise history, as does the start, matched by the 1986 World Champion team. The last 10 wins came at Citi Field, where the Mets have struggled since it opened in 2009, and all were against divisional opponents. Though David Wright last played on April 14th and Travis d’Arnaud on the 19th, injuries have not slowed the Mets. That’s mostly because the pitching has been great. They head to the Bronx this weekend for a Subway Series matchup of two first-place teams.
Beers and cheers
Saturday was a good day for ladies at the ballpark. On Saturday at Wrigley Field, one fan caught a foul ball in her cup of beer, briefly celebrated the accomplishment, and immediately outdid herself by chugging the beer.
Kris Bryant got hit first major league hit, reached based five times, and the Cubs won 7-6 in 11 innings, but this was the highlight of the game.
In Pittsburgh, the ball girl in right field snagged a screaming line drive that was heading for the seats. It’s hard to tell by the video if she was seated initially, but her reflexes are impressive regardless.
Beltran’s feat
Last Friday, Carlos Beltran made history:
It’s not an easy achievement to verify, but according to other outlets, the other players to record 1,000 hits in both the American and National Leagues are Dave Winfield, Frank Robinson, Vladimir Guerrero, Fred McGriff, Carlos Lee, Orlando Cabrera, and Alfonso Soriano. Beltran was the Rookie of the Year for Kansas City in 1999 and was traded to Houston midway through the 2004 season. He remained in the National League—nearly seven productive seasons with the Mets before a trade to San Francisco; two seasons in St. Louis—before returning to the AL with the Yankees last year.
MVP duel
It’s not often anymore that something happens for the first time in baseball history, but that was the case on Wednesday in the Dodgers-Giants game. According to STATS, never before had a reigning league MVP and World Series MVP opposed each other as starting pitchers. Neither Clayton Kershaw, last season’s NL MVP, nor Madison Bumgarner, World Series hero, were at their best in San Francisco—Kershaw gave up two runs in 6 innings, Bumgarner two in 6.1—but it was a historic matchup. They both have ERAs over 4 in this young season, but they’ll get a chance to lower that number on Monday when they are scheduled to face off again in Los Angeles.
Royal pain
Why are the Royals so angry? They got into a benches-clearing brawl (is there ever any other word that follows “benches-clearing”?) last night with the White Sox, ignited by a verbal spat between Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura and Adam Eaton that began while Ventura was throwing out Eaton on a comebacker. Ventura and four others were ejected. The 23-year-old starter was fined earlier this week for his role in last weekend’s issues with Oakland (he plunked a batter).
Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about baseball and other sports at http://andrewjkahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn
