Game 6 - Mets vs. Nationals - May 26, 2009

Finally the Mets have made some moves to refill their depleted bench, placing both Ryan Church and Jose Reyes on the 15-day DL. To take their roster spots, the Mets received Wilson Valdez, a utility infielder from Cleveland, and called up 21-year old Fernando Martinez from the minors. Because of his age, the Mets were only going to call Martinez up if he was going to play every day. Consider yourself warned. . . The F-Mart era has begun!!

As for the game itself, the Mets defeated the Washington Nationals 6-1 at T-Shirt Night. They had a couple of firsts in the game. First, Fernando Martinez went 0 for 3 (with a HBP) in his major league debut, although he did get his first RBI, driving in Luis Castillo on a fielder's choice. He did look very anxious during the game (his 2 K's were ugly), but you have to cut him some slack. After all, he's just 21.

Second, Livan Hernandez became the first Mets starting pitcher this season to go into the 8th inning . . . and the 9th inning . . . and pitch a complete game. Hernandez, throughout his ML career, has been known to be an innings-eater. And although he might be getting up there in age, he showed that he could still go through a full game. While he did give up 9 hits, his only blemish was a solo shot given up to Adam Dunn (btw, Dunn got his 1,000th career hit in the 2nd inning).

Other players that had a good game for the Mets were Gary Sheffield (3-run laser shot to left field in the 7th) and Angel Pagan, who went 2-4 at the plate with a run and and SB, and also threw out Josh Bard at the plate in the 5th on a single to short center by Craig Stammen, the Nationals pitcher.

With the win, the Mets are now 5-1 in games I've attended, my only blemish being Opening Night. And while they haven't hit that well to games that I've gone to, they've pitched extremely well. My next game is almost a month away (unless someone invites me) so I'll be looking forward to that.

One final note about the game: the seats that my friend and I sat in were interesting (top deck, past 1st base). The aisle seat was facing 2nd base / short left field, while the second seat in the row (my seat) was facing in the direction of the pitchers mound. I applaud the fact that the Mets had all the seats set up so that they'd face the infield, but to have the aisle seat in the first few rows of this section face a different direction than the rest of the section? A bit weird.

Anything But A Comedy of Errors

I actually stayed up til 2am for this. Granted, I was in bed listening to the game on the radio. But I was still awake. And it would have been worth it if the outcome was different. But in a game that you commit FIVE errors in a game, I guess you'd have to expect the outcome like the Mets had. They didn't just give the game away on a silver platter. They gave the Dodgers an open bar as well!! They played arguably the worst game overall that I've ever seen!!

I'll skip the first 10 innings (and the first 3 errors) of the game and go straight to the 11th inning. With 2 outs and Ryan Church on 1st, Angel Pagan hit a triple to right center, easily scoring Church. Except he didn't score. And Pagan didn't get a triple. Why? Because when the Dodgers appealed to 3rd base to see if Church stepped on 3rd base, the 3rd base umpire called him out. Church forgot to step on 3rd on his way home! One of the fundamental rules of baseball completely ignored! And to make matters worse, there was no argument at 3rd base by ANYONE on the Mets. No argument by Ryan Church. No argument by Razor Shines (3rd base coach). No argument by Jerry Manuel! Inning over. (btw, Pagan got credit for a single)

Brian Stokes began the bottom of the 11th by walking Mark Loretta on 4 pitches. Then after getting 2 strikes on Xavier Paul, he flies out to left center. Except there's no out on the play, and there are runners one 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Why? Because Angel Pagan cut in front of Carlos Beltran and, even though Beltran was calling off Pagan, they still got crossed up, the ball went off Beltran's glove and went towards the wall. Error number 1 of the inning. And a second fundamental rule of baseball completely ignored!

Stokes then intentionally walked Juan Pierre and the Mets brought the infield in. They also brought Beltran in to be a 5th infielder (honestly, the only good move that the Mets made the entire inning). The only run that matters is the runner on 3rd, so loading the bases made sense here (ok, that's 2 good moves). They were then able to get Rafael Furcal to fly out to Pagan in left, one of only 2 outfielders (Church was the other, playing in right center). Orlando Hudson, who was a guy I wanted to sign to replace Luis Castillo this offseason, was next to bat. On a 2-2 count, he hit a grounder to 1st baseman Jeremy Reed to get a force out at home or, better yet, start a double play. Except Mark Loretta ends up scoring from 3rd base to end the game 3 to 2. Why?? Because Reed threw the ball about 10 feet wide right! The second error of the inning!! And a third fundamental rule of baseball completely ignored!!!

Here's one fundamental rule that the baseball gods followed. Three strikes -- the strikes being broken fundamental rules -- and you're out (or in this case, game over!!!)

The Road Trip Continues . . .

Leg one of the Mets 10 game road trip is over, and they were able to take 3 out of 4 in San Francisco. A 4 game sweep could have been possible, but the Mets could not score in last night's 2-0 loss, even though they had the bases loaded in both the 2nd and 8th innings. A great play by Giants 1B Travis Ishikawa to go home with the throw with no outs and bases loaded in the 2nd, and a GIDP by Angel Pagan in the 8th stifled both chances. But how much can you complain? David Wright going 10 for 15, with 9 RBI and 5 steals? Carlos Beltran extending his hitting streak to 11 games? Not enough to have any complaints here.

They now start a 3 game series against arguably the best team in the NL, the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are, of course, without Manny Ramirez -- if you don't know why, where were you 2 weeks ago?? -- but seem to be surviving without him. I expect to see the Mets taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers, but if the hitting continues how it's been on this trip so far (excluding Sunday), a sweep might not be out of the question.

I actually have some extra interest in this series. Whenever the Dodgers and the Mets play each other, my cousin out in LA and I offer to buy each other a beer for each win that our team gets from the other. Considering that I haven't seen him in a couple of years, we are at 6 beers a piece. But before I see him again in August, I am planning to add an additional 6-pack (3 games this week, 3 games in July) to what he owes me!

As for injuries, it seems that Reyes will be out of the lineup for the 5th straight game, after missing the entire Giants series with a sore/stiff right calf muscle. Carlos Delgado might be out for a bit longer with his hip injury. The Mets will need to find a replacement for him, whether it's within the organization (Daniel Murphy? Fernando Tatis?) or outside via trade (Nick Johnson?)

Oh, and one final thing . . . i will post my review of the 5th game I attended on May 12th, either later tonight or tomorrow night.