Mets vs. Angels - 6/18/08 - Keys to the Mets win

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.
  

More importantly, the Mets won their second consecutive series by taking 2 of 3 from the Angels, after beating the Texas Rangers in 2 out of 3 at Shea Stadium. The team now travels to Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies in a 3-game set over the weekend.

The team's march towards .500 continues...