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  Sunday, Apr. 30 3:05pm ET
Mets, Rockies slug it out till final bell
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

DENVER (AP) -- After four years of annual visits to Colorado, New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine still isn't sure what to make of baseball at Coors Field.

With regular double-digit scoring, it's easy to blur the line between baseball and some kind of arena-football hybrid.

"We had a good field-goal kicker today," Valentine said Sunday after the Mets hit four homers in a 14-11 victory over the Rockies.

"I've had a few samplings of it, and it sure does seem different every time you're here," Valentine continued, shaking his head. "I guess that's the game that's played here every day. It sure is different. Everyone has a confident at-bat, it looks like."

Edgardo Alfonzo and Todd Zeile were among several Mets who boosted their confidence along with their batting average in the three-game series.

Alfonzo went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBI Sunday and finished the series 10-for-13 and scored seven runs. Zeile added his first homer of the season and raised his batting average from .254 to .302 over the weekend.

"Everybody coming here feels good," Alfonzo said when pressed for an explanation of the hitting success in Colorado. "That's probably why. I don't know. I don't know why everybody hits here."

Like many observers, New York reliever Dennis Cook has a theory consisting of expansive outfield gaps and thin air conducive to hitting long home runs.

"I don't think it's enjoyable for anybody to sit for four hours and watch two teams club each other half to death," Cook said. "That's not baseball."

Cook gave up Tom Goodwin's first career grand slam that capped a six-run eighth and cut New York's lead to 11-9. Goodwin also had a sacrifice fly and finished with a career-high five RBI.

"I wasn't sure what was going on out there when I ran the bases," Goodwin said. "I was kind of numb. ... It was exciting when it happened. The bottom line, though, is wins and losses."

Al Leiter (2-0) gave up six runs -- five earned -- and eight hits in seven innings to win for the first time since the Mets home opener. It was also the left-hander's first victory in four starts at Coors Field

"There were a few times when I thought it was a routine fly ball and then I turn around and it's to the warning track," Leiter said. "I totally came to accept that I'm going to give up runs. Runs will be scored. It's not a fun place to pitch."

After tying a nine-inning team record with 23 hits Saturday, the Mets added 15 more Sunday, including two homers off Rockies starter Brian Bohanon (0-3).

Zeile doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mora in the second, and the Mets made it 5-0 when the pair hit two-run homers in the fourth. Mora had been 1-for-14 against lefties before connecting off Bohanon, who has not won since last Sept. 10 -- a span of nine starts.

"I am frustrated. I am searching, trying to find things that will work," Bohanon said. "When times are going bad, they are really going bad. I can't get out of it."

The Rockies pulled to 5-2 on Goodwin's sacrifice fly in the fifth, but Todd Pratt hit a solo homer off Giovanni Carrara in the sixth, and Alfonzo had an RBI single as part of a three-run seventh.

The Mets scored three times in the ninth on a wild pitch by Jose Jimenez, and RBI singles by Alfonzo and Robin Ventura. Terry Shumpert capped the wild day with a two-run homer off Armando Benitez in the Colorado ninth.

"I am not going to get excited, but this is something we can't do every other day," Rockies manager Buddy Bell, who is adjusting to his first year in Colorado. "We have to do a better job. And I think we will."

Game notes
Mets C Mike Piazza was available to pinch-hit Sunday, two days after suffering a bruised right wrist and hyperextended right elbow. Piazza has not thrown a ball or swung a bat since leaving Friday night's game against Colorado, but said "I feel pretty close." ... LHP Bill Pulsipher was scheduled to join the Mets when they open a four-game series Monday in San Francisco. He will start Game 1 against the Giants. ... Colorado's starters have a 9.56 ERA in 10 home games. ... The Rockies purchased Carrara's contract from Triple-A Colorado Springs and optioned RHP Rick Croushore to the same club. ... Colorado (11-14) finished under .500 in April for the third straight season. ... Mets SS Rey Ordonez committed his sixth error of the season. He had four errors in 640 chances all of last year. ... Todd Helton's four walks tied a Colorado record. ... Alfonzo has reached base in 25 of his last 35 plate appearances.

 


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