No doubt about it

Wright, Jacobs blast 2 HRs each as Mets blow out D-Backs for second straight night and Seo breezes

BY DAVID LENNON | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

August 25, 2005

PHOENIX - Thirty-two to five.

There was nothing competitive about the last two games between the Mets and Diamondbacks. Absolutely zero. As bad as Tuesday's 14-1 beating was, the Mets outdid themselves last night, humiliating Arizona by the score of 18-4 in a game that wasn't even that close, a spectacle that brought jeers from the crowd of 22,268 at Bank One Ballpark.

David Wright and Mike Jacobs each drilled a pair of home runs, and Jose Reyes added his third homer in five games, along with his National League-leading 13th triple as the Mets generated their biggest offensive output since a 23-run thrashing of the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 1987.

Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran were the only two Mets starters without a hit - even Jae Seo had an RBI double in the third inning. The Mets also shattered club records for extra-base hits (13) and total bases (44) in winning their third straight to move six games over .500 (66-60).

"Keep it going, I love it," manager Willie Randolph said. "The guys were having fun tonight and obviously everyone was making a contribution. That's what you need to do the job on the road and hopefully we can get something special going."

The Mets obviously stumbled upon something special in Jacobs, and now the rookie first baseman has four home runs in his first 14 at-bats in the majors. Jacobs, in only his second start, slugged a two-run shot off Arizona starter Russ Ortiz in the second inning and later crushed a solo homer off reliever Jose Valverde with two outs in the ninth.

"It's been awesome, man," said Jacobs, who went 4-for-5 and finished a triple short of the cycle. "I don't know what to say about it. I guess the best thing I can say is just to be here and be part of this team and be in a race and be able to contribute, I don't think there's a better feeling than that."

Said Randolph, "He's in a nice groove right now."

The 32 runs are the Mets' highest two-game total since they scored a franchise-record 34 against the Cubs in 1990. But if there was ever a pitcher who needed it less, it was last night's starter, Jae Seo, who trimmed his ERA to 1.30 by allowing two runs over seven innings. Seo is now 4-0 with a 0.89 ERA in the four starts since he was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Aug. 6.

No Mike Piazza. No Mike Cameron. And for another night, it still was no problem for the Mets, who outclassed the Diamondbacks for the third consecutive game.

The Mets are in full take-no-prisoners mode, and they never gave the Diamondbacks a chance to breathe after sprinting to a 5-0 lead in the second inning. After a leadoff walk to Wright, Victor Diaz looped a sinking liner to rightfield that Chad Tracy misplayed into a double when he slipped, letting the ball skip past him.

Of course, Jacobs followed with another home run, golfing a low pitch over the rightfield wall for a two-run blast. From there, things got a little ridiculous after the Mets loaded the bases with one out. That's when Carlos Beltran hit what should have been a routine grounder to second baseman Craig Counsell.

But Kaz Matsui made a heads-up play by stopping short of Counsell, and in the rundown that ensued, the Mets scored not one, but two runs before Matsui was eventually tagged to complete the double play. At the start, Counsell tossed to first to get Beltran, but Matsui duped the others to scramble after him, and they totally lost track of the other runners - with Ramon Castro rumbling in from third base and Reyes coming all the way around from second.

"That was a very unorthodox-looking play," Randolph said. "It was probably the first time I ever saw that."

That was only the beginning. The Mets scored twice more in the third inning, on a pair of RBI doubles from Jacobs and Seo - yes, Jae Seo - who sliced a sinking line drive inside the rightfield line. Seo would have matched his RBI output for the season on that one hit if Castro had been a step faster, but he was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Seo later added another RBI with a groundout in the sixth.

Not that the Mets needed it. In the fourth inning, Reyes pulled his triple and Beltran floated a deep foul ball down the rightfield line for a sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Castro smacked a two-run double and Reyes clubbed a three-run homer off reliever Greg Aquino that put the Mets in front, 15-0.

Wright supplied the exclamation point in the sixth, drilling a 436-foot home run that clanged around a mostly deserted patio area beyond the centerfield wall. By then, it was a wonder that any of the Arizona fans remained in the building at all.

"When we get going, we can hit with anybody," Wright said. "That's what this offense is capable of. Not night-in and night-out, but we can put up some runs in a hurry."