The first place, 10-6 Mets, won their 5th game in a row yesterday and are now public enemy #1 in the city of Philadelphia. How sweet was it for Jose Reyes to stick it to the Philly mob with a decisive two-run homerun?
The day before, Jose Reyes was knocked out on a play at second and the Philly mob decided to give his injury a rousing ovation.
"It's really sad when humanity comes to the point where somebody getting hurt is fun to watch,"Billy Wagner said. "Nobody wants anybody to get hurt. I don't want Jimmy Rollins or Pat Burrell to get hurt. I want to compete against the best. That just tells you where our society is. This is about the only place I've seen that. Shoot, they booed Santa Claus. They've taken this to a whole new level, when you're cheering for somebody to get hurt."
Randolph had a similar reaction, wondering why Phillies' fans "love to hate; it's really sad." The manager decided the negative energy comes from the "weird culture we live in."
Just how much do Philly fans hate the Mets? A vicious brawl erupted in the 9th inning when the Philly mob realized their team was about to get beaten by the Mets for the 4th game in a row. Fans spilled onto the field as shocked ballplayers looked on. Billy Wagner had just retired Ryan Howard, who is having an awful series, when the fight went out of control. "Holy Moly, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that," the closer said. "I looked at [Carlos] Delgado and his eyes were like this."
But getting back to the baseball for a moment, let's talk about Ollie Perez. He had a very live arm yesterday and struck out 7 in only 5 2/3 innings pitched. On the flip side he also walked 5 batters. "They have a real good lineup, so you have to be careful with them," Perez said.
Still, he is now 2-0 with a sparkling 2.49 ERA. He has not allowed an earned run in 3 his of his 4 starts.
Regular Season | Season to Date | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date | Opponent | Score | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K | W | L | SV | IP | ERA | ||||||
Apr 19 | @ PHI | W 4-2 | W | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21.2 | 2.49 | ||||||
Apr 13 | MIL | L 7-9 | - | 4.1 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 3.38 | ||||||
Apr 8 | PHI | L 2-5 | - | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 0.00 | ||||||
Apr 2 | @ FLA | W 13-0 | W | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0.00 | ||||||
Total | 21.2 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 12 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.49 |
The other pitching hero of the game was Aaron Heilman. Summoned into the contest with the bases loaded and the game riding on how he performed, he struck out Geoff Jenkins and Jason Werth in one of the most tense and exciting situations the Mets have been all year. It was truly riveting stuff, especially given Heilman's struggles to this point. But Willie displayed confidence in him, and the results speak for themselves.
"You can't give up on a guy after a couple of bad outings," Randolph had said Friday, laughing off the suggestion that Heilman was pitching his way out of his setup job.
Around the Horn:
Newsday reports that Brian Schneider is day to day after he got hit in the hand in the 9th, but that the x-rays were negative.
John Delcos talks about Pelfrey's growing confidence.
The NY Times has a great rundown of yesterday's events.
Tonight, on ESPNs Sunday Night Game of the Week, the Big Pelf tries to complete the sweep.
Enjoy your coffee!
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