Trachsel Shows His Cojones

Finally, a game worth staying up for! I admit, I started nodding off about halfway through, but the Mets defensive wizards kept me awake for the duration. Admittedly though, everything else aside, last night's game was all about going after Barry Bonds for me.

I'm so proud of Trachsel for going after Bonds. So what if he hit a solo homerun? One run - big deal. Better than the asinine approach of intentionally walking Bonds to get to Alou, who is by far the Giant's best hitter this year. Besides, I'm on board with Greg at Faith and Fear in Flushing, who says that Mets fans should root for Bonds to overtake Babe Ruth on the all time homerun list. After all, he argues, Ruth is a friggin' Yankee, and how sweet would it be for THE Yankee to be pushed down in the record book by a surly, juiced, jackass like Bonds?

Anyway, back to Trachsel - after giving up #710 to Bonds in the second inning, Trachsel reared back in the fourth and struck the SOB out. After all was said and done, Bonds homer was the only run Trachsel allowed over six innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen.

Sanchez was a bit of a weasel in the seventh, "unintentionally" walking Bonds, but when Billy Wagner came on in the ninth he challenged Bonds with a first-pitch 97 mph fastball. Bonds couldn't hit that pitch, and eventually the big guy flied out to center to end the ballgame.

On the offensive side, Cliff Floyd's bat woke up in time to tell San Francisco that tonight, AT&SBC Bell Park was the Mets home, by hitting a splash-down home run deep in Kevin McReynold's Cove. (heh, heh...)

Defensively, Nady, LoDuca, Trachsel, Chavez, and even Matsui looked like gold glovers in the field. Break up the Mets! Wagner got save #5, Trachsel got win #2, and the Mets move to 4 games over the Braves, who lost to the Brewers.

The headlines say that Bonds made Willie Randolph look smart by hitting his homerun last night, but I couldn't disagree more. Much better to win the game and lose to Bonds, than to pitch around Bonds and lose the game. If Willie felt vindicated when Bonds hit #710, I say he's missing the point.

Don't forget, today's a day game - 3:35 PM. Brian Bannister vs. Matt Morris - a good day to listen to MLB.com Gameday Audio at work.