Oh those old Mets!
25-year old Jose Reyes hit his major league leading 13th triple.
23-year old Daniel Murphy went 2 for 4 and drove in a run.
22-year old Nick Evans went 1 for 3, drove in 2 runs, and made a great stretch--possibly a game saving stretch--on a double play that was started by 25-year old Argenis Reyes, who flipped to 25-year old Jose Reyes, who fired to Nervous Nick.
Of course, 24-year old Joe Smith induced the double play ball.
And the Player of the Game? The Man of the Hour? The Toast of the Town?
25-year old David Wright, who went 3 for 5 and hit the walkoff homerun with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.
This was a big game for a lot of reasons.
The Mets started the day 3 games back of the Phillies...maybe it's just me, but 3 games back seems like "in the hunt" territory, while 4 games back seems like "desperate measures" land.
Johan Santana took the mound and did what Johan does--he pitched a solid game--7 innings, 7 Ks, 2 earned runs allowed.
Those are ace numbers; stopper numbers; numbers you need when you are in a must-win game.
Starting the 8th, Santana allowed back to back singles, and Jerry Manuel gave him what appeared to be a quick hook. Not to arm chair QB this thing, but a lot of folks wanted Johan to have a chance to escape the jam.
It was a tough call--Santana was at 104 pitches and the bullpen matchups certainly looked favorable for the Mets, unfortunately Duaner Sanchez plunked the first batter he saw, and Jerry went immediately to Pedro Feliciano, who induced a grounder that Argenis charged for a force at the plate. Feliciano then gave up a single to leftfield that plated a run, and Jerry went to Joe Smith.
Joe Smith got Kevin Kouzminoff to hit a sharp grounder up the middle, and "the play" began. Argenis smothered it to his right, flipped up to Reyes who, with the runner barreling into second, jumped and fired a one hopper to first wide of the bag. Nick Evans stretched his 6 foot 3 inch frame as far as he could and snared the ball with his toe barely on the bag to complete the double play.
Shea stadium and the Mets dugout erupted! Truly an incredible play!
Scott Schoeneweis was called in to close the game, lefty on lefty matchup, but Met killer Jody Gerut somehow cranked a mammouth homerun over the bullpen to tie the game. A deflating moment. Santana's chance at victory gone. The Mets on the ropes. Thoughts of another winnable game down the drain.
"I've thrown that pitch 10,000 times in my career and that's maybe happened twice," Schoeneweis said of the sinker to Gerut. "I've thrown that pitch to Bonds, Giambi, Ortiz, and that doesn't happen."
Schoeneweis also defended the bullpen, which has come under increasing scrutiny of late.
"I don't know how many teams if their closer went down wouldn't struggle," Schoeneweis said. "If you think this bullpen is bad, go follow some other teams and see what they come up with."
After Endy Chavez led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, he appeared stuck at first after Reyes y Reyes failed in their turns at bat.
Wright strode to the plate and began the battle. Guessing slider, Heath Bell threw a low and away pitch that had enough plate for a strike, but Wright had other ideas. He reached out and turned on it, sending the ball over the leftfield wall for his first walkoff homerun of his incredible career.
Shea went crazy--the Mets players stormed from the dugout to greet their young slugger at the plate, absolutely pummeling him with joy as he leaped onto homeplate....a joyful, exuberant moment in time.
"I'm always celebrating everyone else's [game-enders]," Wright said after the Mets beat the Padres 5-3 at Shea Stadium. "I don't know if it was a release of emotion or it just was everybody's chance to get some free shots in on me. I think guys were taking advantage of giving me some rib shots and some jabs," Wright said. "To get to be the one that jumps into the pile is pretty fun."
So in the end it was 2 of 3 from San Diego, the Mets are 2 games out, not 4, and the Marlins come into town for what will surely be a knock down, drag out three game series.
This is what baseball is all about my friends. This is why we watch the games!
Enjoy your coffee!
| New York Mets |
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Jose Reyes, SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .304 |
| Argenis Reyes, 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .255 |
| David Wright, 3B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .288 |
| Carlos Beltran, CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .270 |
| Fernando Tatis, RF-LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | .310 |
| Daniel Murphy, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .467 |
| Scott Schoeneweis, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Aaron Heilman, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Ramon Castro, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .267 |
| Robinson Cancel, C | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .238 |
| Nick Evans, 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .245 |
| Johan Santana, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .160 |
| Duaner Sanchez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Pedro Feliciano, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Joe Smith, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Endy Chavez, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 |
| Totals | 37 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
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| Batting |
| Fielding |
Oh those old Mets!
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