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Not Good

James Baldwin made his first and, if we're lucky his last, start for the Mets last night in Arizona, and didn't fare too well. In the worst Baldwin performance this side of The Shadow, brother James gave up 7 hits, 6 earned runs, two walks, two homeruns, and nary a strikeout in two-plus innings pitched.

Lost in Baldwin's atrocity was that Dan Wheeler, who relieved Baldwin in the third inning, actually pitched worse, giving up 6 runs, 6 hits, and three homeruns in 1.1 innings. Ricky Bottalico and Orber Moreno pitched very well, especially considering the dry, thin air in Arizona, limiting the D'Backs to one hit over 4.2 innings.

Though the Mets gave up five homeruns, three to Luis Gonzalez, it was pretty clear from watching the game that at least three of them were aided by the dry Arizona air. Gonzalez' first homerun was legit, and Chad Tracy's was borderline. Gonzo's second homerun would have been a liner into Karim Garcia's glove at Shea, and his third probably would have been a long single off the wall in left. Steve Finley's shot to centerfield would have fallen harmlessly into Mike Cameron's glove.

Ty Wigginton had a great night, going 5-for-5 in his first career five-hit game. In the process, he raised his average from .179 to .246. Those five hits were half of the amount Wigginton had going into last night. Jason Phillips went 0-for-5, and looks as useless at the plate as ever. The Mets hottest hitter? Eric Valent, who went 3-for-4, and is now hitting .314/.417/.549 for a team-leading OPS of .966.

The Mets have three more games in Arizona, two of which are against Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb. Not good.