Mets win Home Opener, Defeat Pods 5-2 before 55,088 at Shea

BOXSCORE: 1998 San Diego Padres At 1986 New York Mets 4/13/2010

Padres AB R H RBI AVG Mets AB R H RBI AVG
T.Gwynn RF 5 1 1 0 .279 E.Alfonzo 2B 4 0 0 0 .333
M.Loretta 2B 4 0 1 1 .200 K.Hernandez 1B 4 0 0 0 .222
K.Caminiti 3B 3 0 1 0 .222 C.Jones LF 3 2 1 1 .323
G.Vaughn LF 3 0 0 0 .257 B-E.Chavez LF 0 0 0 0 .000
A.Gonzalez 1B 4 0 2 0 .167 D.Strawberry RF 4 2 2 0 .308
C.Gaston CF 4 0 1 0 .222 C.Beltran CF 3 1 1 3 .167
B.Santiago C 4 0 1 0 .243 D.Wright 3B 4 0 2 1 .371
K.Greene SS 4 0 0 0 .103 T.Hundley C 3 0 1 0 .261
A.Benes P 0 1 0 0 ---- J.Reyes SS 3 0 0 0 .290
A-B.Perkins PH 0 0 0 0 .667 D.Cone P 3 0 0 0 .000
C.Lefferts P 0 0 0 0 ---- J.Orosco P 0 0 0 0 ----
C-E.Williams PH 1 0 0 0 .286
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 32 2 7 1 Totals 31 5 7 5

A-Pinch Hit For Benes In 7th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Jones In 8th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Lefferts In 9th Inning

Padres.......... 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 0
Mets............ 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 7 1

Padres (1-8) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
A.Benes LOSS(0-1) 6 7 5 5 2 3 2 90 7.50
C.Lefferts 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 25 0.00
Totals 8 7 5 5 2 4 2

Mets (8-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
D.Cone WIN(1-0) 8 7 2 2 3 7 0 140 2.16
J.Orosco SAVE(2nd) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0.00
Totals 9 7 2 2 3 7 0

ATTENDANCE- 55,088 DATE- Tuesday, April 13th 2010 TIME- Night
UMPIRES- Paul Runge, Angel Hernandez, Larry Vanover, Joe West
T- 2:58
LEFT ON BASE- Padres: 9 Mets: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Padres: 0 Mets: 1
ERRORS- K.Hernandez
DOUBLES- T.Gwynn(4th), A.Gonzalez-2(4th)
HOME RUNS- C.Jones(1st), C.Beltran(3rd)
STOLEN BASES- J.Reyes(2nd)
SACRIFICE HITS- A.Benes
SACRIFICE FLIES- M.Loretta
WALKS- K.Caminiti, A.Benes, B.Perkins, C.Jones, C.Beltran
HIT BY PITCH- G.Vaughn
STRIKE OUTS- M.Loretta, G.Vaughn, A.Gonzalez, C.Gaston, B.Santiago, K.Greene-2,
K.Hernandez, C.Jones, T.Hundley, D.Cone
GIDP- T.Gwynn
BALKS- D.Cone
2-out RBI- C.Jones, D.Wright

The New York Mets bested the San Diego Padres by a 5 to 2 score at Shea
Stadium, continuing their early season success while extending San Diego's futility. The Amazins are now 8-1 while the Pods are 1-8, as 55,088 happy fans cheered their Mets on to victory in their home opener.

New York claimed the early lead in the first inning scoring 2 runners on 3
hits. After two men were retired, Cleon Jones hit a hope down the left field line that just cleared the 338 sign for his first homerun of the season. After that, Darryl Strawberry singled. Carlos Beltran drew a walk. David Wright continued his early season clutch hitting, driving in the second run of the inning with a single to right field.

The Mets extended the lead in the bottom of the third. Cleon Jones drew a one-out walk. Strawberry then singled again, sending Jones to third. Beltran then hit a drive to right field, hoping to get a sacrifice fly. He got better than that, as the blow carried into the Mets bullpen for a three run homer (Beltran's 3rd, and the second against starter Andy Benes), giving New York a 5-0 lead after three.

San Diego had numerous opportunites throughout the night to score, but could only dent Cone in the fifth. Benes drew a one out walk. Tony Gwynn then doubled, etending his hitting streak to 7 straight games. While Mark Loretta was batting, third base umpire Angel Hernandez called a balk on Cone, as Benes was waved home. Loretta then punched a sac fly to right as Gwynn scored. The Padres stranded nine men on base, four of them in the first two innings. After the San Diego hafl of the fifth, neither team got on the socreboard again.

David Cone(1-0) picked up the victory, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings while striking out 7. Jesse Orosco was perfect in one inning of relief and gained credit for his 2nd save. The loss was charged to Andy Benes(0-1). He pitched 6 innings allowing 5 runs on 7 hits (2 of them homeruns) and 2 walks.

Bobby Valentine had this to say after the game: "We just wanted to give the Mets fans a taste of what this club did in the first eight games, and we did that tonight". As for the Padres, Bruce Bochy's post game conference was short and not very sweet, ending with "We can't fool around with these powerhouse teams like this...letting the game get away from us before we can get settled in".