It's the last MLB game before the All-Star break, pitting the surging New York Mets against the hapless Colorado Rockies. The Mets are on a 8-game winning streak, having taken 3 out of 4 from Philadelphia at Citizen's Bank Park, then sweeping the San Francisco Giants at Shea Stadium in 3 games, and have won the last two from Colorado at Shea as well.
If the Mets win today, they will finish up a half-game behind Philadelphia at the All-Star break, a place where very few people thought the Mets could end up just a month ago. Part of the Mets surge is thanks to the Phillies' own record over the last month or so.
Since Jerry Manuel took over the New York Mets on June 17, 2008 while in Anaheim, the Mets have a 16-9 record. Over that same period of time, the Phillies are 10-14. It didn't help Philadelphia's cause losing that series to the Mets recently.
In the month of July, the Mets are an impressive 10-2, and tonight, they look to go into the All-Star break sweeping another joke of an NL West team, the way they should have done a couple of times earlier in the season.
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5:05pm: ESPN just did a piece on Matt Holliday set to very somber music. Did he die or something?
Top of 1st Inning:
5:10pm: Scott Podsednik hits a ball up the middle into centerfield for a leadoff single.
5:12pm: ESPN broadcaster Jon Miller brings up the remarkable pitching the Mets have had over the last 5 games, setting a modern era record, giving up less than 3 hits in 5 consecutive games.
5:13pm: Clint Barmes grounds into a 6-4-3 doubleplay. 2 out.
5:14pm: Ramon Castro takes a life-shortening foulball off the bat of Matt Holliday into his mask which stuns him for a bit.
5:15pm: Mike Pelfrey gets Matt Holliday swinging and missing at the next two pitches for Pelfrey's first K of the game. 3 out.
Bottom of 1st Inning:
5:18pm: It's a crying shame that the Mets bench is so short that they have to use minor-leaguer-that-can't-hit-MLB-pitching-Nick Evans in LF. That's a situation GM Omar Minaya is going to have to solve over the next couple of weeks.
5:19pm: Jose Reyes hits a hard liner right to 1B Joe Koshansky for the first out.
5:20pm: Of course as soon as I take a knock at Nick Evans, he hits the first pitch he sees into centerfield for a single. Granted, it's off of Rockies pitcher Mark Redman, who hasn't been all that good since 2003 while with the championship Florida Marlins.
5:21pm: David Wright takes a walk. Nick Evans over to 2nd.
5:24pm: Carlos Beltran goes BOOM with a looooong 3-run blast into the leftfield bullpen. Mets go up 3-0.
5:25pm: Damion Easley lines a grounder into 2B Omar Quintanilla, 4-3. 2 out.
5:26pm: Jon Miller says Beltran's HR went an estimated 415 feet.
5:27pm: Carlos Delgado pops out to shallow left-centerfield and the ball almost drops until SS Clint Barmes is able to run it down. 3 out.
Top of 2nd Inning:
5:30pm: Brad Hawpe grounds out, 4-3. 1 out.
5:31pm: Garrett Atkins keeps Damion Easley busy by also grounding out to him. 4-3. 2 out.
5:32pm: Mike Pelfrey strikes out Joe Koshansky with a sinker. 3 out. A very economical 10-pitch inning for Pelfrey.
Bottom of 2nd Inning:
5:35pm: Fernando Tatis hits the weakest grounder ever back to pitcher Mark Redman, though not weak enough to make it look like a swinging bunt. 1-3. 1 out.
5:36pm: Ramon Castro lines a ball into centerfield for a single. Mike Pelfrey will surely be up to bunt.
5:37pm: Mike Pelfrey hits a nice sac bunt on the first pitch back to pitcher Mark Redman. 1-3. 2 out. Castro to 2nd.
5:39pm: Jose Reyes hits a chopper over the middle just over Mark Redman and through the middle infield that scores Ramon Castro from 2nd. Mets up 4-0.
5:43pm: Nick Evans goes the other way by hitting a single to right-centerfield. Jose Reyes to 3rd. You know Mark Redman really sucks when he's allowing Nick Evans to tee off on him.
5:44pm: David Wright hits the first pitch he sees hard at 2B Omar Quintanilla who fields it and tosses to SS Clint Barmes at 2nd for the 3rd out. 4-6.
Top of 3rd Inning:
5:48pm: Pelfrey gets ahead of Yorvit Torrealba with a 1-2 count and gets him swinging at the high heat for a K. 1 out.
5:52pm: Omar Quintanilla has a great AB against Mike Pelfrey, fouling off a ton of pitches before he smashes a 400-ft ground-rule double over the centerfield fence. The Mets are lucky it bounced over or it would have been a triple.
5:53pm: Mark Redman hits a sac bunt back to Pelfrey, 1-3. 2 out. Quintanilla to 3rd.
5:55pm: Scott Podsednik gets jammed and hits a weak grounder towards 3B David Wright who charges and throws the speedy Podsednik out at 1B. 5-3. 3 out.
Bottom of 3rd Inning:
5:59pm: Carlos Beltran hits a hard line drive past the glove of pitcher Mark Redman that goes up the middle for a leadoff single.
6:00pm: Damion Easley hits the ball right back to Mark Redman who hesitates a second before throwing to 2nd for the out, which may have eliminated the double play, since Easley is called safe at 1st on the throw. Replays show that Easley was out but it was very very close. 1-6. 1 out.
6:02pm: Carlos Delgado grounds into a double play, 5-6-3. 3 out.
Top of 4th Inning:
6:07pm: Clint Barmes goes down swinging. 1 out.
6:08pm: Matt Holliday hits a ball like a swinging bunt that goes towards 3B. David Wright charges and fields but has no play on Holliday.
6:10pm: Brad Hawpe singles into left-centerfield with Holliday running on the 3-2 pitch. Holliday to 3rd.
6:12pm: Garrett Atkins hits a grounder to David Wright. Wright throws in the dirt to 2B Damion Easley, who somehow fields it cleanly and still manages to throw to Delgado at 1B without being affected by the sliding Brad Hawpe. 5-4-3 doubleplay. 3 out.
Bottom of 4th Inning:
6:17pm: Fernando Tatis hits a 2-2 pitch up the middle through the rickets of Mark Redman and past a diving Omar Quintanilla for a single.
6:18pom: Ramon Castro singles to RF Brad Hawpe. Fernando Tatis races to 3rd on the play and slides in safe.
6:20pm: Mike Pelfrey bunts up the 1st base line, moving up Castro to 2nd base. 1B Koshansky fields the ball and throws to 2B Omar Quintanilla at first. 3-4. 1 out.
6:21pm: Jose Reyes gets the intentional pass to load up the bases and pitch to the weak Nick Evans. Except that Evans already has 2 singles off Redman today.
6:22pm: That's all for Mark Redman, who pitched terribly against the Mets today. 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.
6'7" righty Ryan Speier comes in for relief with the bases loaded, 1 out. Not an easy jam to get out of, even with Nick Evans up.
6:24pm: Nick Evans hits a shot into CF but Scott Podsednik tracks it down. Sac fly for Evans, with Tatis scoring easily. 2 out. Castro tags up to 3rd. Mets up 5-0.
6:25pm: David Wright swings at the first pitch he sees, hitting a hard grounder but right at 3B Garrett Atkins. 5-3. 3 out.
Top of 5th Inning:
6:29pm: Joe Koshansky singles into CF.
6:30pm: Yorvit Torrealba grounds into a routine doubleplay. 6-4-3. 2 out.
6:32pm: Omar Quintanilla grounds to Carlos Delgado's right, but Delgado is able to field it and throw to Pelfrey covering first for the out. 3-1. 3 out.
Bottom of 5th Inning:
6:36pm: Carlos Beltran bloops a single into leftfield for his 3rd hit of the day.
6:37pm: Damion Easley grounds out to 1B Joe Koshansky. 3-6. They try and complete the 3-6-3 double play but Easley beats the throw back to 1st.
6:38pm: Carlos Delgado hits a low inside fastball for one of his patented moonshot blasts that goes a mile in the air before coming down just short of the giant scoreboard. A gigantor Delgado HR, Mets up 7-0.
6:39pm: Fernando Tatis grounds out to SS Clint Barmes. 6-3. 2 out.
6:40pm: Ramon Castro skies out to LF Matt Holliday. 3 out.
Top of 6th Inning:
6:44pm: Seth Smith pinch-hits for Ryan Speier. Smith grounds out, 4-3. 1 out.
6:45pm: Scott Podsednik lines a ball off of Mike Pelfrey's left foot which deflects towards 2B Damion Easley, who throws to Delgado at 1B. Score that 1-4-3. 2 out.
6:46pm: Clint Barmes flies out to shallow center just beyond the lip of the grass. 2B Damion Easley brings it down for the 3rd out. Jon Miller notes that's the first flyball out the Rockies have hit all game.
Bottom of 6th Inning:
6:48pm: Matt Herges is on in relief for the Colorado Rockies. Mike Pelfrey at the plate in a non-sacrifice situation, so he'll be attempting to swing away.
6:49pm: Mike Pelfrey strokes a 2-1 curveball into LF for a leadoff single.
6:50pm: Jose Reyes grounds into a 4-6-3 doubleplay. Quintanilla to Barmes to Koshansky. 2 out.
6:52pm: Nick Evans hits a soft line drive bloop into shallow rightfield which is caught by 2B Omar Quintanilla in a nice grab. 3 out.
Top of 7th Inning:
6:56pm: Matt Holiday strikes out looking. 1 out.
6:57pm: Brad Hawpe grounds out to SS Jose Reyes. 6-3. 2 out.
6:58pm: Garret Atkins lines out softly to 2B Damion Easley. 3 out.
Bottom of 7th Inning:
7:04pm: Luis Vizcaino is now pitching in relief for the Rockies. David Wright hits a high flyball to CF Scott Podsednik. 1 out.
7:07pm: Carlos Beltran strikes out looking. 2 out.
7:09pm: Jon Miller notes that the Mets improved play coincided with the DL trip of Luis Castillo and the resurgence of Damion Easley. I think it's not just Easley, but a combination of the bullpen, starting pitching, and the bench guys finally performing at the level they should be.
7:10pm: Damion Easley strikes out. 3 out.
Top of 8th Inning:
7:14pm: Joe Koshanky grounds out to 2B Damion Easley. 4-3. 1 out.
7:16pm: Mike Pelfrey hits Yorvit Torrealba with a pitch on the elbow which sends Torrealba walking for a while, gritting out the pain before finally going to 1st base.
7:18pm: Omar Quintanilla is fighting off a lot of pitches again. The last time this happened, he hit a ground rule double.
7:19pm: This time Quintanilla fouls out to David Wright, who catches the ball right in front of Peter Gammons. 2 out.
7:20pm: Jayson Nix is in to pinch-hit for Luis Vizcaino's spot.
7:21pm: Big "Pelfrey" chant among the fans at Shea. Pelfrey is ahead 0-2 on Nix.
7:22pm: Jayson Nix hits a 95 MPH fastball on the ground in-between Wright and Reyes for a single.
7:23pm: Pelfrey has thrown 114 pitches at this point, and pitching coach Dan Warthen had initially said that he didn't want Pelfrey to go more than 100 pitches tonight. Warthen visits the mound to check on his pitcher, and he'll stay in the game for now. Now the fans chant "LETS GO PELFREY!"
7:26pm: Scott Podsednik fouls out to 3B David Wright. 3 out. The fans go nuts for Pelfrey, who is done for the night.
Bottom of 8th Inning:
7:29pm: During the commercial break, Pelfrey gave the fans a curtain call hat tip.
7:31pm: Brian Fuentes, now on in relief for Colorado, strikes out Carlos Delgado. 1 out.
7:34pm: Fernando Tatis flies out to RF Brad Hawpe. 2 out.
7:36pm: Ramon Castro strikes out. 3 out.
Top of 9th Inning:
7:40pm: Joe Smith is on to pitch the 9th for the Mets.
7:41pm: Clint Barmes grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 1 out.
7:42pm: A fan in the crowd shows his broom to the camera, indicative of sweeping the Rockies. You can't bring brooms into Dodger Stadium because it could be used as a weapon, or it might actually be used to sweep up the trash there, made up mostly of Dodger fans.
7:43pm: Matt Holliday grounds out to Damion Easley, 4-3. 2 out.
7:44pm: Brad Hawpe singles to CF. That's the 7th Rocky hit of the game. Hawpe steals 2nd uncontested on the first pitch strike to Garrett Atkins.
7:45pm: Garrett Atkins hits a liner right to David Wright at 3B. 3 out. Game Over. Mets win 7-0.
This is the 9th win in a row for the Mets, the 4th shutout in the last 6 games. Granted, it helps to pitch against the shit teams of the NL West when you want to fatten up.
Keys to the Mets win:
- Lights-out pitching from Mike Pelfrey, who is easily the #2 pitcher on the team right now, and some might even say the best. His line tonight: 8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
- Pelfrey has been amazing since May 31 against Los Angeles. Even his bad starts (June 16 vs. Angels and Yankees) are games the Mets won.
- Carlos Beltran's 3-run HR in the 1st gave Pelfrey all the runs he needed.
- Carlos Delgado's ridiculous HR moonshot off Ryan Speier may have hit a jet before it fell.
- Joe Smith allows a baserunner in the 9th, but who cares? The Mets bullpen is also firing on all cylinders.
There's still a lot more baseball left to play, and one hopes the All-Star Break doesn't stop the Mets winning momentum.
After the break, the Mets go on the road for a 4-game series at Cincinnati before returning to Shea to face the Phillies and Cardinals in 3-game sets.
Dodger "rookie" Hiroki Kuroda took a perfect game into the 8th inning tonight against the Atlanta Braves, ending with a CG 1-hit shutout thanks to a Mark Teixiera double. The Dodgers won 3-0.
Don't blink, but Joe Torre is now at the helm of a first-place team.
Of course, the L.A. Dodgers are also a game below .500, much like the Arizona Diamondbacks, who share the same 1st-place record in the NL West of 44-45.
Torre's former team, the New York Yankees, have a much better record now that they've gotten out of their funk during the first 2.5 months. They're 47-42, yet 8.5 games out of first behind Tampa.
While it's highly doubtful that the winner of the NL West in September will be under .500, it does show just how awful the teams of the NL West are.
Remember the hot start of the Arizona Diamondbacks this season when they went 20-8? They're 24-37 since.
Even though they're only 5 and 6.5 games out of first respectively, it seems quite doubtful that the San Francisco Giants or Colorado Rockies have a shot at catching up. But with a lot of baseball left to play, anything seems possible in a division of such weak teams.
Newsday's David Lennon picked up on the story recently (but not first) published by me about Carlos Delgado's huge day/night splits.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmearly0702,0,7415005.story
Sounds like not much will happen unless Delgado sees a causal link between the two. I certainly can't see the harm in him getting his eyes getting checked out by a professional. It could be the difference between retirement and an extended career as a DH in the AL next year.
I think the first person who wrote a pretty substantive article about this issue was Alex Britell of the New York Sun. His article, which I found after writing mine, was published on 5/19/08. At that point in time, the sample size for Delgado's splits weren't large enough, although it was certainly something worth noting.
http://www.nysun.com/sports/day-delgado-night-delgado-are-different-hitters/76612/
Now that a half-season has been played and the day/night split trends continued, Britell's article proved to be quite telling.
One thing that I think got lost in the translation, from here to MetsBlog to Newsday, is that 3 of the 4 HRs Delgado has hit in night game this season, were hit in natural daylight. So while they are attributed as "night game HRs," they were really hit under conditions of natural light, even if the sun wasn't shining bright in the sky.
Delgado’s day/night splits this season are now at a point where there is enough of a sample to derive data from, since the Mets have now played 81 games this season.
And the differences are… day and night. Overwhelmingly.
Delgado’s numbers during day games - .295/.352/.616 (.969 OPS)
Delgado’s numbers during night games - .190/.283/.291 (.573 OPS)
He now has 10 HRs in 30 Day Games (116 ABs), compared to 4 HRs in 49 Night Games (179 ABs).
Over the last 2 seasons, Delgado’s numbers during day games were better than night games, but not substantially enough to raise a red flag. Over the course of his career, he’s been pretty even, with a slight skew towards better performance during day games than night games.
This season, it’s a huge difference.
Then it got me wondering... Of those 4 HRs in 49 night games, when during the game did it take place? Was there natural light in the sky? Was the sun on its way down? Or was it truly "night"? So, I did a little more researching and looked at the video replays of those HRs.
Delgado's 4 HRs during night games came...
May 22nd vs Atlanta (7:10pm start) - 2nd inning - natural daylight
May 23rd vs Colorado (7:05pm start) - 6th inning - dark night sky, zero natural daylight
June 18th vs Angels (7:05pm start) - 4th inning - This one was hard to tell. Even though I was there, I don't remember the amount of light in the sky when the HR was hit. The video clip of the HR doesn't give you a good idea either. Sunset that night was 8:08pm, which is probably around the same time of the 4th inning. I did see natural daylight in the sky in the video clip of Marlon Anderson's sac fly that scored Reyes the previous inning, so my best guess is that there was indeed still a fair amount of natural daylight in the sky.
June 20th vs Colorado (7:05 start) - 2nd inning - natural daylight
So basically, when it's really dark out, you know "nighttime," Carlos Delgado only has 1 HR in 2008.
A Sunday morning game on TBS means it's a Mets-Yankees game I actually get to see. That's pretty damn rare these days as I haven't the slightest idea when the Mets will be on national TV again. And they sure ain't coming to California again for the rest of the season unless they AND the Dodgers or Giants or Padres somehow miraculously make the playoffs.
But I'll take the few games I can watch and try to enjoy. With Oliver Perez on the mound for the Mets, the "try" part may prove difficult.
One thing I HAVE grown a bit tired of when watching the highlights of the last couple of games recently, is shots of little kids together. One wearing a Met hat, one wearing a Yankee hat, and the two kids are BEST FRIENDS! Fuck that, you can't be friends with the enemy! You have to bludgeon them with a bat! Even at age 7.
Tell little Antonio that the douchebag next to him wearing a Derek Jeter t-shirt stole his iPod, and watch the havoc ensue.
Onto the game!!!
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Top of 1st Inning:
10:11am: Johnny Damon goes down swinging. 1 out.
10:13am: On the off chance that Oliver Perez ends up pitching wildly today, I'd at least like him to hit Yankee batters in the face with the ball. Especially Derek fucking Jeter.
10:14am: Derek Jeter grounds out sharply to 2B Luis Castillo, 4-3. 2 out.
10:15am: Alex Rodriguez fouls out to 1B Carlos Delgado. 3 out.
Bottom of 1st Inning:
10:17am: Jose Reyes lines a 0-1 pitch into short rightfield for a leadoff single.
10:18am: Luis Castillo squares to bunt but pulls back at the last second. Jose Molina can't catch the ball and it goes to the backstop. Jose Reyes takes 2nd on the Passed Ball.
10:21am: Luis Castillo fails to bunt or even make contact as he watches strike 3 go by him on the outside corner. 1 out.
10:22am: David Wright hits a long long flyball to deep right-centerfield, but RF Justin Christian pulls it down just in front of the wall. Jose Reyes tags up to 3rd. 2 out.
10:25am: Carlos Beltran walks. Runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 out.
10:26am: Jose Reyes is dancing off 3rd to a ridiculous degree.
10:27am: With Carlos Beltran running on the 0-1 pitch, Carlos Delgado flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 out.
Top of 2nd Inning:
10:31am: Jorge Posada strikes out. 1 out.
10:34am: Wilson Betemit strikes out swinging. 2 out.
10:36am: Melky Cabrera groundsout to SS Jose Reyes, 6-3. 3 out.
Bottom of 2nd Inning:
10:39am: Ryan Church returns!!! And now endless second-guessing about the concussion handling resumes...
10:40am: Ryan Church lines out to 1B Jorge Posada. 1 out.
10:42am: Endy Chavez hits a ball into the shallow right-centerfield Bermuda Triangle that no one can get to. Chavez on 1st with a single.
10:44am: Brian Schneider hits a groundball between 1st and 2nd for a single. Chavez to 2nd base.
10:45am: Oliver Perez lays down a sac bunt towards 3rd. Alex Rodriguez fields it and throws to Posada at 1B for the 2nd out. Schneider and Chavez move up a base.
10:46am: TBS lets us know that Yankees pitcher Darrell Rasner's has an 0-3, 10.93 ERA over his last 3 road games.
10:47am: Jose Reyes takes an intentional unintentional walk to load up the bases.
10:51am: Luis Castillo works a full count from Rasner and hits a chopper up the middle for one of his patented infield singles. Derek Jeter makes a nice play and throws to Posada at 1B but Castillo beats the throw. Endy Chavez scores. Mets up 1-0. Bases loaded for David Wright with 2 out.
10:54am: David Wright grounds out to 3B Alex Rodriguez, who runs to third base for the out before Jose Reyes gets there. 3 out.
Top of 3rd Inning:
10:59am: Jose Molina strikes out swinging. 1 out.
11:00am: Justin Christian pops out to 1B Carlos Delgado. 2 out.
11:02am: Pitcher Darrell Rasner strikes out looking. 3 out.
Bottom of 3rd Inning:
11:05am: Ron Darling reminds us that no Met has ever pitched a no-hitter. *sigh*
11:06am: Carlos Beltran pops up to 2B Wilson Betemit. 1 out.
11:09am: Carlos Delgado hits a mammoth HR just to the right of the Apple, which hits off the scoreboard. 2-0 Mets.
11:10am: Ryan Church hits a flyball into shallow LF that SS Derek Jeter cannot get to. Church on 1st with a single.
11:12am: With Ryan Church running on the pitch, Endy Chavez hits a 3-1 chopper right down to 1B Jorge Posada, who steps on the bag for the out. 2 out.
11:14am: Brian Schneider is intentionally walked so Darrell Rasner can face Oliver Perez.
11:16am: Oliver Perez strikes out swinging. 3 out.
Top of 4th Inning:
11:20am: The lights are on at Shea with darkening skies and the threat of rain looming.
11:21am: Johnny Damon strikes out. That's 6 K's in 4 IP. 1 out.
11:22am: Derek Fucking Jeter breaks up the perfect game with a basehit to RF.
11:23am: Oliver Perez throws a Wild PItch that gets past C Brian Schneider, although it probably was a ball Schneider should have handled. Derek Jeter to 2nd on the WP.
11:24am: Alex Rodriguez hits a MONSTER moonshot foul into the mezzanine level. Perez better not give him another one like that.
11:25am: Perez is taking it to A-Rod in this battle. It's a full count and A-Rod is fighting pitches off. A light rain has begun in Flushing.
11:27am: Perez wins the battle by blowing one by A-Rod that he can't catch up to. 7 strikeouts for Perez. 2 out.
11:29am: Jorge Posada grounds out to 2B Luis Castillo. 4-3. 3 out.
Bottom of 4th Inning:
11:33am: Jose Reyes grounds out to SS Derek Jeter. 6-3. 1 out.
The rain is getting heavier. The Mets need to get through the top 5 of this game, as the thunderstorms forecast in the area may be too much for a simple "delay."
11:34am: Luis Castillo squibs a single down the leftfield line.
11:35am: David Wright flies out to RF Justin Christian. 2 out.
11:36am: Carlos Beltran strikes out swinging at slop. 3 out.
Top of 5th Inning:
11:44am: Wilson Betemit hits a 3-2 fastball directly at 3B David Wright for a lineout. 1 out.
11:45am: Melky Cabrera strikes out swinging. 2 out.
11:46am: Jose Molina flies out to LF Endy Chavez. 3 out.
Bottom of 5th Inning:
11:51am: Carlos Delgado hits a couple of hard balls foul, but ultimately foul pops out to C Jose Molina. 1 out.
11:52am: Ryan Church grounds out to 2B Wilson Betemit. 4-3. 2 out.
11:53am: Endy Chavez lines a single to RF.
11:57am: Brian Schneider flies out to LF Johnny Damon. 3 out.
Top of 6th Inning:
11:59am: The rain seems to have stopped for now, and the game is now official anyways. It's now the 6th inning, so this is either the time that Perez falls apart, or shows us greatness.
12:01pm: On a 3-2 pitch, Justin Christian flies out to RF Ryan Church. 1 out.
12:02pm: Chad Moeller pinch-hits for Darrell Rasner, as the Yankees need some runs. I hope they don't get shit, obviously.
12:03pm: Chad Moeller just misses a HR by a couple of feet, flying out to deeeeeep LF, but Endy Chavez pulls it down just in front of the wall. 2 out.
12:04pm: Johnny Damon lines a ball into deep RF. Ryan Church gets a glove on it but it deflects off the mitt to the wall, but Damon is held to a long single.
12:05pm: Derek fucking Jeter hits the first pitch he sees for a groundball to 2B Luis Castillo. Castillo flips to Jose Reyes at second for the 3rd out. 4-6. 3 out.
Bottom of 6th Inning:
12:08pm: David Robertson is making his MLB debut for the Skanks, pitching in relief of Darrell Rasner.
12:09pm: Perez goes flat on his back after Robertson throws high and inside, but it wasn't nearly as close as Perez' flop made it look.
12:11pm: Oliver Perez has a good AB but ultimately strikes out swinging. 1 out.
12:12pm: Jose Reyes singles to CF.
12:16pm: Luis Castillo singles down the leftfield line bringing him to 3-for-4 on the day. Reyes to 2nd base. Is a double-steal coming?
12:17pm: With David Wright batting, Robertson's first pitch is in the dirt and it gets away from Molina enough to allow Reyes and Castillo to move up 90 feet.
12:19pm: David Wright flies out to RF Justin Christian. Reyes and Castillo tag up on the play, Reyes scores. Mets up 3-0, 2 out.
12:20pm: Carlos Beltran flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 3 out.
Top of 7th Inning:
12:22pm: The sun is shining bright at Shea Stadium again. No signs of rain for now.
12:24pm: Alex Rodriguez hits a first pitch that just goes foul down the LF line. The 2nd pitch he hits is a very high flyball just left of the pitcher's mound, David Wright catches it for the 1st out.
12:27pm: Jorge Posada hits a flyball to deep RF that Ryan Church takes a tough route to, but brings it down. 2 out.
12:29pm: Wilson Betemit hits a tape-measure HR blast over the picnic bleachers in leftfield. Yankees now on the board but trail 3-1.
12:31pm: Melky Cabrera hits a grounder to SS Jose Reyes who throws high to Carlos Delgado at 1B. Delgado should've caught it, but the Error goes to Reyes. The ball went into the dugout, so Cabrera takes 2nd base.
12:33pm: Jose Molina hits a flyball to RF Ryan Church. 3 out. We move into the 7th-inning stretch with the Mets up by a score of 3-1.
Bottom of 7th Inning:
12:38pm: Carlos Delgado hits a high flyball deep to RF, but Justin Christian catches it on the warning track. 1 out.
12:39pm: Ryan Church singles to RF.
12:40pm: Endy Chavez hits the ball the opposite way to LF for a base hit. Church to 2nd. Both Castillo and Chavez are 3-for-4 on the day.
12:42pm: Brian Schneider hits the first pitch into a 4-6-3 double play. 3 out.
Top of 8th Inning:
12:45pm: Met manager Jerry Manuel makes a double switch. Pedro Feliciano is on to pitch the 8th inning and will bat 5th in Carlos Delgado's spot, Fernando Tatis replaces Carlos Delgado at 1B.
12:48pm: Justin Christian flies out to LF Endy Chavez. 1 out.
12:49pm: The golden-thonged mustache Jason Giambi pinch-hits for David Robertson, and promptly hits the first pitch to LF Endy Chavez for out 2.
12:52pm: Joe Smith warming up in the bullpen in case Feliciano can't get Johnny Damon.
12:53pm: Pedro Feliciano strikes out Johnny Damon looking. 3 out.
Bottom of 8th Inning:
12:56pm: TBS announcer Chip Caray says that they were mistaken earlier about a double switch being made. There were two player changes (Tatis for Delgado, Feliciano for Perez) but they were not changed around in the lineup. Edwar Ramirez now pitching for the Yankees.
12:57pm: Marlon Anderson is in to pinch-hit for Pedro Feliciano. He flies out to CF Melky Cabrera. 1 out.
12:58pm: Jose Reyes flies out to shallow LF with SS Derek Jeter running it down. 2 out.
1:00pm: Luis Castillo flies out to LF Johnny Damon. 3 out.
Top of 9th Inning:
1:03pm: Enter Sandman. Billy Wagner is on to close out the game for the Mets. But he'll be facing Jeter, A-Rod and Posada in doing so.
1:05pm: Derek fucking Jeter lines a single up the middle that 2B Luis Castillo dives for but can't get to.
1:06pm: Billy Wagner throws a Wild Pitch in the dirt, Jeter to 2nd as the ball goes to the backstop.
1:07pm: A-Rod hits a shot that makes it to the LF warning track, but Endy Chavez catches it. 1 out.
1:08pm: Jorge Posada grounds to SS Jose Reyes, 6-3. Derek Jeter can't advance.
1:11pm: Billy Wagner throws a slider down Broadway and Betemit is frozen. Strike 3, 3 out. Game over. Mets win 3-1.
--------------------------------------------
- Oliver Perez has his best start of the season, with only a Wilson Betemit solo bomb to taint an otherwise great performance. 7IP, 3 H, NO WALKS, 1 ER, 8 strikeouts.
- Carlos Delgado's moonshot HR to put the Mets up 2-0.
- Both Luis Castillo and Endy Chavez knocked out 3 hits each, accounting for half the Met offense. Ryan Church and Jose Reyes had 2 hits each.
- Feliciano perfect in the 8th, Wagner scares us in the 9th by allowing a leadoff single from Derek fucking Jeter, who then gets to 2nd base thanks to a Wild Pitch, but ultimately Wags gets the job done by then retiring A-Rod, Posada and Betemit.
The Mets finish up the first 81 games of the season at 40-41, and win the season series from the Yankees 4-2.
The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a final score of 5-4 in 10 innings. This was one of the most exciting ballgames I've seen this season, not just by the Mets either.
There were a lot of highs and lows, depending which team you were cheering for. And not one, but two improbable comebacks by the Mets late in the game. This is not a team known for high-drama comebacks this season. All the more reason why it was one of the best Met victories of 2008.
Here are the key points:
- Jose Reyes led off the game with a single, stole 2nd, and went to 3rd on the high throw by Angel catcher Jeff Mathis. Marlon Anderson popped out to shallow left, which didn't allow Reyes to score. But David Wright grounded out 4-3, to allow Reyes to score. This was the third consecutive game in which the Mets scored first, in the first inning.
- In the 3rd inning, Jose Reyes just missed a HR to right-center that caromed near the top of the wall. He ended up with a triple instead. Marlon Anderson hit a sac fly to left which scored Reyes, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
- Carlos Delgado led off the 4th inning with a 400+-ft line drive HR just to the right of straight-away centerfield. THAT is the Delgado we know and love. He needs to show up more often. The Mets were now up 3-0.
- Oliver Perez was great for the first 3 innings of the game. In the 4th, the Angels tagged him for a run, but no biggie.
- Until the bottom of the 5th inning.The Angels started to hit Perez, scoring 3 runs off of a string of Angel hits, which put the team up 4-3.
- The play that got Oliver Perez out of the 5th inning was a combination of solid Met defense, and a huge baserunning mistake by Torii Hunter. With Hunter on 1st and Vladimir Guerrero on 3rd, 1B Robb Quinlan hit a groundball to David Wright at 3B. Wright threw home to catcher Ramon Castro who made the tag on Guerrero for the out, since he was running on contact.
- Then, Torii Hunter was caught napping. Seemingly thinking that Vlad was the 3rd out, Hunter began slowly jogging from 2nd base towards the Angel dugout. However, Ramon Castro wasn't napping and threw down to 2nd base where the Mets caught Hunter in a rundown for the 3rd out. 5-2-4-6-5 on the scorecard. Torii Hunter's gaffe with 2 out while he was still in scoring position, was a foolish mistake, which in some ways, cost the Angels the game.
- The 6th, 7th and 8th innings were relatively uneventful. For the Mets, Perez finished up pitching in the 6th, Joe Smith pitched the 7th, Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 8th. For the Angels, Garland finished up pitching the 6th, Darren Oliver pitched to 1 batter in the 7th before he was then successfully relieved by Jose Arredondo, Scot Sheilds pitched the 8th. No runs were scored during these three innings.
- The 9th inning, is where things got extremely interesting. The Angels bullpen is known to be superb, one of the best, if not the best in the Majors right now. Not just because of ace closer Frankie "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who had been 28 for 29 in saves this season. Also because of premiere setup man Scot Shields, and very good pitching from ex-Met Darren Oliver, and rookie Jose Arredondo.
- K-Rod doesn't blow many saves. He's only blown one in 2008 so far, and that happened on April 7 against Cleveland, a game which the Angels won anyways. And the Mets weren't exactly hitting up a storm against Jon Garland or the rest of the Angel bullpen. K-Rod got leadoff batter Ramon Castro to pop out. Jose Reyes, already with a single and a triple in the game and 2 runs scored, poked a single just over the head of 2B Howie Kendrick into rightfield. With Fernando Tatis at the plate, one kept expecting Jose Reyes to steal 2nd, but it never happened. Tatis struck out swinging, and there were now 2 out with David Wright at the plate.
- During the at-bat, Frankie threw a wild pitch which catcher Jeff Mathis let get away from him, so Reyes took 2nd on the pitch. In the clutch moment of the game, David Wright golfed a single into leftfield which scored Reyes from 2nd, tying up the game 4-4. Angel fans were stunned. Their closer doesn't do this. But tonight, he did. Even Met fans were stunned. After all, in the 9th inning this season, David Wright was 1-for-20. Rodriguez then managed to get Carlos Beltran to ground out, and we went to the bottom of the 9th.
- Duaner Sanchez pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the Angels. In a move one could (and I do) question that Mike Scioscia did not make, with 2 out and no one on base, he let switch-hitting LF Reggie Willits face Sanchez. Except Willits was 0-for-2 on the day with 2 BB, and does not have HR power at all. This would've been a smart spot for lefty Garrett Anderson to take over since he does have HR power and could win it with a walkoff. Reggie Willits was not going to be able to bunt the ball over the rightfield fence. Sure, you could say that Willits was hitting there so he could get on base and score the winning run with his speed. But he would have to count on the batters behind him to drive him in. With G.A. up at that point, one swing could win the game. And if he failed, Anderson then plays his normal position of LF. Ultimately it was obviously Scioscia's decision to make, and it wasn't a terrible one, just a questionable one. Maybe Garrett Anderson was unavailable and this move couldn't have been made in the first place.
- Onto the Top 10th, Justin Speier was now pitching for the Angels. He retired Carlos Delgado and Trot Nixon. With 2 out, former Angel Damion Easley was at the plate. In one of the most unbelievable moments, Damion Easley hit a solo blast into the LF bullpen to put the Mets ahead 5-4. This was made only more unbelievable because as Easley came up to the plate, an Angel fan behind us said, "Easley is going to hit a homerun," and I looked at him like he was crazy. I replied, "You're calling an Easley homer? I'd be surprised if he gets a base hit here." And low and behold, the man behind us was dead-on. In fact, he was in shock at his own HR call. Not even Damion Easley's own mother would've predicted that to happen.
- Understand that it's made even MORE unbelievable because over the past 3 years, when the Angels lead in the 8th inning or later, they have a record of 201-2. That's a testament to their bullpen and then some. That record now stands at 201-3.
- The Bottom 10 was Billy time. Howie Kendrick hit a chopper to 3rd base that was bare-handed by David Wright, who threw down to Tatis at 1st just in time to get Kendrick. Vladdy flied out to Endy Chavez in RF, and Torii Hunter struck out swinging for the big big big Met come-from-behind victory against one of the best teams in baseball.
- This was also, Jerry Manuel's first victory in the manager's role.
The team's march towards .500 continues...
Game 2 of the 3-game interleague series between the New York Mets, now managed by Jerry Manuel, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, ended with the Angels beating the Mets 6-1 behind the insanely great pitching of John Lackey.
While this was billed as a big-time pitching matchup, a battle of staff aces, Johan Santana doesn't pitch well against the Angels, and even less so when he's at Angel Stadium. Santana was 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 games - eight starts - against the Angels. After tonight's loss, make that 2-4 in 11 games, 9 starts against the Angels. I don't know the ERA offhand but it's definitely gone up.
Here are the key points of the game:
- Angel John Lackey was great. He scattered 6 Hits in 7.2 IP, walking 1, striking out 7, and the only run he gave up during the game was when David Wright hit into a double play, scoring Damion Easley, who replaced Jose Reyes after was pulled from the game by Manuel after he seemed to tweak his hamstring running to first on a leadoff single. I'm told that on TV, Reyes was shown throwing a tantrum in the dugout after being removed from the game. Apparently he thought it was just a temporary thing, but Jerry Manuel thought otherwise. All I could see from my vantage point was when Reyes threw the helmet, but no one knew what had happened.
- The Mets defense was terrible. They would've lost the game either way, but they committed 3 charged errors, and probably committed another 2-3 during the game that didn't make the official scorecard. Carlos Beltran could've nailed Vladimir Guerrero at the plate, but his throw to Brian Schneider was on the first base side of homeplate, allowing the Angels' 3rd run to score in the 1st inning.
- Johan Santana didn't pitch well, and earned the L in this game on his own. 4 of 5 Angel runs were scored on 8 hits in 6 Innings. Santana walked 2 and struck out 5. Angel catcher Jeff Mathis also connected on a solo blast in the bottom 6.
- Aaron Heilman pitched again tonight, and was perfect in the 7th. Heilman quite possibly saved last night's game by striking out Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd. The Mets led 8-6 at that point, so it was imperative to escape the inning.
- Claudio Vargas pitched the 8th, gave up an unearned run thanks to some more poor defense by Fernando Tatis and Luis Castillo, but at that point the game was pretty much over anyways.
The teams will meet tomorrow night in the rubber game of the series when Oliver Perez faces Jon Garland. Initially I thought this matchup favored Garland since he doesn't pitch very well at home, and has not looked anything remarkable lately. Then I heard that the Angels record against lefty starters is something like 12-3 this season, and with Perez' propensity to walk batters even in his GOOD starts, the Angels are a team with speed that will create problems for Perez.
This may end up being a battle of which pitcher sucks less. Considering the Angels scored 6 runs each in the first two games, the Mets pitching staff is going to have to come through Wednesday night, or the team will continue to slide, no matter who the manager is.
Omar Minaya Press conference notes:
- Omar Minaya said that he hadn't made the final decision to drop the axe (my words, not his) until Monday night and took full responsibility for the decision, emphasizing Willie was his hire, and this made it all the more difficult to fire him. He continued to underscore that this was his decision, seemingly distancing the Wilpons from this entirely.
- He could not have made the decision on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, because he hadn't made the final decision until sleeping on it Sunday night.
- The decision was made because the team is underperforming and has been since last season.
- During the meeting on Sunday night between Omar and Willie at Shea Stadium, Omar told him he was going to come to a decision sometime during the road trip whether to retain him for the year, or fire him. He came to that final decision Monday morning after sleeping on it, and decided to meet the team in Anaheim to deliver the news personally.
- Omar took full responsibility for the leaks that came out prior to the weekend detailing the plan of who would be fired, who would get promoted, etc. Minaya felt that those stories were also causing more distractions in the clubhouse and had created an unfair environment for all.
- Omar explained that he never wanted to say "Willie is going to be our manager for the rest of the year" because if the Mets had lost 15 in a row, then what? (you can still fire him, dummy.)
- Jerry Manuel will definitively be the manager for the rest of the 2008 season. Omar said that Jerry Manuel was the best person available to take over the team. Omar also reviewed Jerry's history as a manager with the White Sox, and winning Manager of the Year in 2000.
- Omar fired pitching coach Rick Peterson and 1st-base coach Tom Nieto because he didn't want Willie to take 100% of the fall. Other people he felt, were accountable for the team's poor performance. There was a need to change more than just the manager.
- Logistics prevented Omar Minaya from getting to Anaheim prior to the team getting to the ballpark. Omar felt it would be extremely disrespectful to Willie if he had been fired in uniform. He felt it was much more respectful to do it face-to-face in private, outside the confines of a baseball stadium. This is why he wasn't fired prior to the game.
- A reporter asked Omar about the reaction from the media and fans that this was handled very poorly and how people continue to view what happened through their own glasses, as opposed to the facts. One example is the constant references to 3am East Coast time, as opposed to 11pm Pacific Time when the firing actually took place. Omar said people have been making their assessments of the situation without having all the facts (which is exactly what I have been saying). Once the facts are out there, then you can decide to believe what you want.
- At the end of 2007, Omar Minaya was given the choice by the Wilpons whether to fire him or not. He chose not to and was supported in his decision by the Wilpons. Omar said this has always been his call and he has autonomy from the Wilpons, per their agreement in 2004, to make all baseball decisions without ownership interference.
- Is this change enough to turn the team around? He doesn't know, but he does not regret the decision to keep Willie Randolph at the end of last season, as he could not make that call based on the last 3 weeks of the team's performance in 2007.
- Omar said after the 4-game sweep at San Diego, that was one of several times he thought about firing Willie. The September collapse last season was another time he thought about it.
- Omar believes that everyone on the team has been working hard, but for whatever reason, things weren't working. One stat that Omar noted was the team's inability to come from behind to win games.
- I couldn't hear the reporter's question too well, but Omar's response seemed to indicate that it was in reference to Minaya hugging Manny Acta at Shea Stadium in full view when the Nationals came to play the Mets. He noted that people always perceive the things they want to perceive, or read into things that aren't there. Omar is a hugger, and Manny is a friend, so he hugs his friend, the end.
- The racial remarks that Willie made a month ago to Ian O'Connor, even though he apologized for them, had increased the tension regarding the situation.
- Willie Randolph did not know that Omar Minaya was coming out to Anaheim. Omar did not want Willie to hear the news from any 3rd-party source. "Standard procedure" was followed in letting him go at 11pm at night.
- In response to those who say it should have been done in New York, that wasn't possible since the final decision had not been made.
Jerry Manuel then answered questions from the media:
- Willie Randolph and he have become very good friends during their time together in New York. He spoke with Willie on Tuesday morning.
- The team is underperforming, so the first thing that needs to happen is to freshen up the everyday players. But that's difficult to do when you have an urgency to win. The ability to rest Beltran yesterday and have him DH instead of play OF was helpful, and Manuel plans to do the same with David Wright tonight. He will DH but not play the field.
- How much did the 2007 collapse impact the team this year? Manuel says it weighed on him all winter and they all felt the urgency to get off to a good start this year. They will carry the weight of that collapse until they get on track this year.
- What was Manuel's job as bench coach? To spill his heart and guts to Willie as to what he would do in certain situations. Jerry Manuel said Willie wanted to put the collapse behind them, but Jerry felt it was important to remind the team of it at times in order to motivate them.
- Does Jerry Manuel have a better relationship with some of the players than Willie did? Jerry says that's one of the advantages of being a coach because you have a slightly different relationship with the players than the manager does. Now that he has moved into the manager's role, he feels those player-coach relationships will help him with the team.
- Sandy Alomar Sr. will now be the team's bench coach. Ken Oberkfell will be the 1st-base coach, Luis Aguayo will be 3rd-base coach, and Dan Warthen will be the pitching coach. Manuel says he expects all of them to want to manage at this level and is looking forward to them being with the club.
- Jerry Manuel had spoken with Willie Randolph about the ongoing drama regarding his job over the course of the season, saying he was one of the very few who could truly understand what Willie was going through, as Manuel experienced it in Chicago.
- Jerry believes that the team is capable of playing much better and wouldn't have taken the job if he felt otherwise.
- Jerry explained that every manager says the same thing about "hit and run" and do this and that more when they come into a new job. He feels it's more important to teach the players when the times are right to do certain things as opposed to running for the sake of running.
- Jerry said that there's a fine line between creating an environment where players can have career years, and having career years on a team that can win championships. Often they can go hand-in-hand.
- Jerry joked that since Omar won't fire anyone while they're in uniform, he'll be staying in his at the end of the season no matter what happens.
- Jerry believes the team does have leaders, and some may not have stepped into those roles yet. But first, Jerry is going to do that, and then it will trickle down to certain players who should be in those leadership positions.
- Jerry wants bullpen roles to be more clearly identified and will work with Dan Warthen on that.
- It sounded like someone asked about pitch count, and Jerry thinks that while baseball as a whole has gotten too obsessed with pitch counts, it's going to take some time to change the mindsets of people in order to slowly move away from it. At the same time, he wants to be careful and not have his pitchers get injured/fatigued. He would prefer to remove a starter once the game is over, but realizes that's not going to happen very often.
- Jerry Manuel says that lineup changes will be occurring over time. Sometimes your cleanup hitter won't be your cleanup hitter.
- David Wright has joked to Jerry that now we have a "gangsta" running the team.
Thus ends the press conference.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/06/16/2008-06-16_mets_fire_willie_randolph.html
The Willie Watch finally comes to an end as Randolph, along with pitching coach Rick Peterson and 1st base coach Tom Nieto were fired after the Mets 9-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
I'm just glad it's over with. I think it was far better that they did it on the road, instead of in front of 8,000 reporters in NY. Willie can now enjoy a little vacation time, maybe go to Disneyland, breathe easier.
If this had been done to him while in NY, he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere in the tri-state area and enjoy himself. The man is on a paid vacation for the next year and a half. What better way to begin it than in sunny Southern California?
I don't KNOW this for sure, but my best guess is that Omar Minaya told him how this would go down in the meeting on Sunday night. This decision had already been made, and I'd like to believe they tried to have it go down as "humanely" as possible privately, despite growing dissatisfaction with Mets management for how they've handled this publicly.
Considering the names involved in the plan have been leaked for a while now, and the "unnamed sources" turned out to be 100% correct, this was a plan that HAD to have been put into motion over the weekend, if not earlier.
In many ways, because of the way the situation was handled over the last couple of days, Willie Randolph kinda became a sympathetic babyface figure with management taking the heat for letting him twist in the wind, whether he actually was or not.
It was interesting hearing the Angels broadcasters on both TV and radio weigh in on the Willie Randolph controversy (this was pre-firing) and how he was getting a bad rap, wasn't a bad manager by any stretch of the imagination, and was being treated unfairly by the fans at Shea along with the "what have you done for me lately" attitude of the NY media.
As for Rick
Peterson, the world's most overrated pitching guru who in my opinion,
was the PRIMARY culprit, though there were many, of the 2007 collapse.
It was time for "the jacket" to sell his line of bullshit elsewhere.
Maybe he can still help fix Victor Zambrano's mechanics. Or perhaps, BE
his mechanic.
The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday, 6/16/08 by a final score of 9-6.
A very exciting offensive-based game from start to finish with a lot of edge-of-your-seat moments, here are the key reasons why the Mets were able to take the first game from the Angels:
- Staked Mike Pelfrey to a 2-run lead in the first, and tacked another run each in the 2nd and 3rd innings to go up 4-1 after 3 innings. One of those runs was a Jose Reyes creation. He ledoff the game with a walk, moved over to 2nd after Castillo grounded out, stole 3rd base with ease and ran home on the errant throw by catcher Jeff Mathis that went into leftfield.
- Carlos Beltran finally hitting the longball. 2 of them. As I've said a bajillion times, Carlos Beltran is the key to the success or failure of the 2008 Mets. If he puts up 2005 numbers, this team is going to do poorly. If he puts up 2006 numbers, there is much hope for the postseason. But he needs to turn things around over the course of the season. Let's hope that tonight was the beginning of that.
- Offense as a whole. Jered Weaver looked very average tonight, not the way he's pitched over the past 5 starts at all. The Mets' offense had to take advantage of that, and they did.
- Pelfrey didn't pitch great, but he left the game with the 4-3 lead, and didn't choke in clutch situations. Pedro Feliciano's shoddy relief ended up charging runs to Pelfrey in the 7th. But hey, for once Pelfrey got the W!!!
- Top 7, the Mets scored 4 very important runs off the Angels. Weaver left the game with baserunners on 2nd and 3rd. He was relieved by Jose Arredondo, who has been extremely effective for the Angels this year with a 0.69 ERA coming into the game. That ERA almost doubled to 1.32 after Arredondo couldn't stop the Mets. 2 runs charged to Weaver, 2 to Arredondo (though only 1 earned).
- In what had to be the most important part of the entire game, with runners on 1st and 3rd in the bottom of the 7th inning, and Pedro Feliciano failing to record Angel outs, Aaron Heilman was brought into the game to face two right-handed All-star bats in Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter. Despite the ginormous lump in the collective throats of Met fans, with 1 out and only up by 2 runs, Heilman may have made his best appearance in the 2008 season by not only striking out Vlad, but also striking out Hunter. VERY clutch performance from Aaron Heilman, a guy who needs to make these kind of performances the rule, not the exception.
- After the scary bottom 7th inning, the Mets tacked on another insurance run in the 9th thanks to a Jose Reyes leadoff double. This was actually a single in which Reyes deked RF Gary Matthews into making a throw to 1B when Reyes was already in-between the bases, and went to 2nd on the throw. Very smart baserunning by Reyes. Then a Luis Castillo sac bunt that moved Reyes over to 3rd, and a David Wright sac fly that put the Mets up 9-6.
- Duaner Sanchez pitched a perfect 8th. Billy Wagner wasn't lights out, and did allow 2 baserunners with 1 out in the bottom 9, giving the Rally Monkey a chance to make a difference for the Angels, but Wagner got Garrett Anderson to hit the ball hard at SS Jose Reyes, who promptly doubled off Chone Figgins at 2nd base to end the game.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the Arizona Diamondback series at Shea Stadium in which the Mets lost 2 of 3 thanks to Billy Wagner blown saves, and the "Willie Watch" which picked up steam as a result, the Mets have since won 3 out of their last 4 ballgames.
One wonders if it's a coincidence that whenever the Willie Randolph firing rumors boil up, the Mets win more ballgames. After the initial May 26 meeting that Willie had with the Wilpons and Omar Minaya, the Mets took 3 straight series (Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco) before then losing 6 of 7 to San Diego and Arizona.
It's still too early to tell, but it's a curious pattern to take note of. Maybe this team requires consequences in order for them to play better baseball.
Game 2 of the 3-game series is tomorrow with a battle of top aces Johan Santana vs John Lackey. I highly doubt the final score will be something resembling 9-6.
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