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PREVIE |
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 Recent
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Halsey
blanks Mets in return to NY
Ex-Yankee settles down to shine in
victory
By
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com |
NEW YORK -- It's hard to believe, given
his stoic demeanor on the mound, but
Diamondbacks pitcher Brad Halsey really
does get charged up on the mound at
times.
"For me early in the game, sometimes
you're a little a little amped up and
have more adrenaline going," the
left-hander said.
While he may have been pumped up, Halsey
took the air out of the Mets on Tuesday
night as he pitched out of some jams
early and then settled in to toss seven
shutout innings in a 7-0 Arizona win.
The Diamondbacks gave Halsey some runs
to work with even before he took the
mound, scoring a pair of runs in the top
of the first when Craig Counsell led off
with a single and Jose Cruz Jr. followed
with a two-run homer to right.
"It's definitely great anytime your
offense can go out there and score runs
early," said Halsey, who improved to 4-2
on the year. "It definitely allows you
to settle in a little bit more and be as
aggressive as you want to be with the
other team."
However, it was the Mets that were
aggressive on the bases with Halsey. The
24-year-old relies on a cut fastball
that runs into righties and at times
results in broken-bat flares and bloop
singles. And once the Mets got on base,
they exploited Haley's leg kick to the
plate by stealing three bases in the
game's first three innings.
"Once they started playing the
merry-go-round game, I knew I was going
to have to make the slidestep work or
they were going to keep running," Halsey
said.
So he adjusted. The coaching staff has
been working on getting Halsey to use a
slidestep that allows him to get the
ball to the plate in 1.2 to 1.3 seconds.
He went to it after the Mets pulled off
a double steal in the third and that
brought their running game to a halt.
"He really made an adjustment in his
slidestep to be that much quicker to
shut them down," Arizona manager Bob
Melvin said.
Halsey scattered six hits over his seven
innings and fanned six. Of the 113
pitches he threw, 80 went for strikes.
"As soon as I got comfortable and got my
body going in the right direction with
the slidestep, things kind of took care
of themselves as far as me being able to
make pitches out of that position," he
said.
The game remained 2-0 until the sixth,
when the first two Arizona batters of
the frame reached. A strikeout and a
Halsey sacrifice bunt later, Counsell
hit a 3-1 pitch from New York starter
Kris Benson on the ground up the middle
to drive in two runs and push the lead
to 4-0.
"It was a fastball, and I'm just trying
to be aggressive and get the run in,"
Counsell said. "It's as simple as that."
The Diamondbacks tacked on three
insurance runs in the seventh off Mets
reliever Dae-Sung Koo, with Halsey
driving in one with an infield single to
deep short. It was his first Major
League RBI and his first hit after going
0-for-20 in the National League.
"That's just, for me, a bonus," Halsey
said. "I go out there and try to do what
I can at the plate. Most of the time I
come up short, but I was fortunate today
to be able to sac bunt and hit the ball
in the perfect spot."
The game was Halsey's first in New York
since being dealt by the Yankees to the
Diamondbacks as part of the trade that
sent Randy Johnson to the Bronx. Halsey,
though, said the game had no special
significance, and he once again showed
no outward signs of emotion on the
mound.
"That's who he is," Counsell said of
Halsey's poise. "It's at the point where
you stop marveling at it because that's
who he is. He doesn't get rattled.
That's just him. He's able to, when
things get kind of crazy, to make his
pitches, and that's great to have for a
pitcher." |
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