Trachsel foils Phils Lifts Mets with Glavine-Maddux next
By ADAM RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
PHILADELPHIA - Tom Glavine wants to minimize the hype for tonight's first-ever matchup with Greg Maddux, to "try to ignore all that stuff and treat it like another game."
Regardless, Glavine said, the meeting at Shea will be hard-pressed to generate more emotions than he felt Saturday at Turner Field, when Atlanta tallied six earned runs and eight hits and chased him in the fourth inning of his homecoming.
"Emotionally it's probably the hardest game I ever pitched, because I think in a postseason game, you don't have all the emotions that go along that I had Saturday," Glavine said yesterday, before the Mets beat the Phillies, 5-0, at Veterans Stadium last night.
"Ultimately what makes playoffs difficult is the nervousness of being there and what it means and the magnitude of each game. Saturday I had all of that, plus the emotions of 16 years of being with one organization, of facing those guys for the first time, not knowing what the reaction of the crowd was going to be. We all care about how we're being perceived."
The Mets headed home for that matchup on a high note, courtesy of 6-2/3 scoreless innings from Steve Trachsel, a season-high six doubles and quality relief from Graeme Lloyd in a role generally filled by Mike Stanton.
Through nine games of their 12-game stretch against the Phillies and Braves, the Mets own a 5-4 record, though they remain in last place in the NL East, 12 games behind Atlanta.
"I thought it was a barometer for us to see how we matched up with these teams because obviously they're all in front of us - just to see what we had to do to contend with them and beat them," manager Art Howe said. "We did fine with the Phillies (four of six) and hopefully we can win the series against the Braves and show that we can measure up to them, too."
Trachsel (4-2), winless until May 12, has won four straight. He held the Phillies scoreless into the seventh, when Lloyd bailed him out with the bases loaded, to beat Phillies ace Kevin Millwood.
With the Mets leading 3-0, Trachsel had surrendered a one-out double to Pat Burrell, then walked pinch-hitter Ricky Ledee with two out. With the tying run at the plate and Trachsel at 106 pitches, Howe came to the mound to see how much the righthander had left and to offer a scouting report on pinch-hitter Tomas Perez.
"I gave him my recommendation on how to pitch to Perez and he didn't follow it," Howe joked after Trachsel walked Perez on four pitches to load the bases.
With Stanton still unavailable because of inflammation in the left knee, Howe inserted Lloyd to face the switch-hitting Jimmy Rollins, and the southpaw succeeded. He got Rollins to commit on a 2-2 cut fastball, and after home plate umpire Jerry Layne appealed for help at first, Rollins was punched out and the threat was averted.
"That was the turning point of the ballgame," Howe said. "It was like we scored."
Said Lloyd: "It's a dream job when you get out of it like that. You love to come in when the pressure's on. That's what we do. It's been awhile since I've been in that situation, so I savor it. I was feeling the moment. I had all the juices flowing."
Now the Mets (24-29) can look with optimism to their upcoming series with the Braves, and the matchup between Glavine and Maddux.
"It doesn't get much better, I don't think," Howe said, "especially ex-teammates."
Nice end to the road trip. Trachsel has continued pitching well and even worked faster.
jimmfo Ohio's Best!
(just imagine how bad
the others are!)
USA
Posts: 548
(5/30/03 12:03 pm)
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
traxie was awesome, lloyd and mando cleaned up the last couple of innings and the offense was suffiecient.....was a fine evening for our guys in orange, blue and black!
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
If I had to guess, I'd say it will look something like this:
Cedeno RF
Sanchez SS
Wigginton 3B
Floyd LF
Burnitz CF
Clark 1B
Wilson C
Scaturo 2B
jimmfo Ohio's Best!
(just imagine how bad
the others are!)
USA
Posts: 550
(5/30/03 5:24 pm)
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
howentine?.........roflmfao............too funny dun........remember though, it was a while ago i brought up the point that what we were seeing in our lineups and game strategies, were not much different....guess you have begun to concur.
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
Great Game! Trax is doing great! lets hope this keeps up!
O & A ALWAYS WIN IN THE END
dunsel252 There is nothing to fear, but life itself
Fire Steve Phillips!!!
USA
Posts: 885
(5/30/03 5:45 pm)
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
I tellya Jim, I've been trying like hell to give the guy a fair amount of time. A season. But there's enough similarities to make me feel OOGIE!!!!
Welcome to Shea Stadium. Home of the Queens Chapter of the AARP
KilgoreTrout2002 I am Here Just to Advertise!!!!!
Posts: 2
(5/30/03 10:40 pm)
Re: Trachsel foils Phils
It's really sad, but Trach-man is our best, most consistent starter. Seo's been pretty good but unlucky, Glavine fell to 5-5 tonight, Leiter's been a bit inconsistent, and Astacio's shoulder is about to fall off.
Trachsel foils Phils 
O & A ALWAYS WIN IN THE END
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies