Game 4 - Mets vs. Phillies - May 6, 2009

If you're a fan of a pitcher's duel, tonight was a game you would have appreciated!! Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0, with Carlos Delgado scoring all the way from 1st base on an error by Pedro Feliz in the bottom of the 7th inning. Johan Santana continued his great start by pitching 7 innings, striking out 10, giving up 2 hits and walking only 3. Chan Ho Park, the Phillies starter, arguably pitched a better game. He gave up 1 hit (Daniel Murphy double with 2 outs in the 5th) and walked 2 in 6 IP. The 2 teams combined for 5 hits in the game (Mets 2, Phillies 3). As for the Mets relievers, Pedro Feliciano pitched a great 8th, outside of the ground-rule double that he gave up to Shane Victorino. But he recovered by fielding a Chase Utley comebacker and holding Victorino at 2nd. Then, after a wild pitch (ok, maybe it was a very good inning, not great) he was able to strike out Ryan Howard to end the inning. Francisco Rodriguez came in and got the easy 1-2-3 save in the 9th.

As for the atmosphere, i was surprised by the number of Phillies fans at the game. I could see a number of Phillie fan clusters throughout the Promenade level, and there was one cluster who was loudly chanting "Let's Go Phillies" throughout the game. Definitely annoying, but nothing crazy. I do have 2 other Phillies games later this year, both in August, so we'll see then how the atmosphere is.

Current record of games I've attended: 3-1

Shades of Kenny Rogers

Ok, I admit, it's a totally different situation. It's May, not October. It's game 23 of the regular season, not game 7 of the NLCS. And Kenny Rogers was a lefty. Sean Green (not Shawn Green) is a righty. But they both walked in the winning run. Then, it was Rogers walking Andruw Jones to end the 1999 Mets playoff run. Today, Green walked Shane Victorino in the bottom of the 10th inning to end today's 6-5 loss (recap) to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Remember, it's only May . . .

Who Am I?

I'm at my parents house watching the Mets play the Phillies, but I had to mention something that I read earlier today.

In last night's 8-2 Marlins win over the Cubs (boxscore), the Marlins scored 6 runs in the top of the 10th inning. Here's the line of the pitcher who started the inning:

6 batters faced, zero outs recorded, 6 runs (5 earned), 3 hits, 2 walks

Who Am I? (hint: I pitched a complete game 1-hitter for the Mets in 2005)

Too Many Ducks on the Pond

Wednesday afternoon, the Mets lost to the Marlins 4-3 (Recap & Boxscore) and by looking at the highlights, some might say that the bullpen blew the game again. Just like last year. But I'm blaming the offense on this one. The Mets left 14 runners on base and were 1-11 with runners in scoring position. Pathetic!! Absolutely pathetic!! 10 of those 14 runners were in scoring position when they were stranded. And there were 5 innings where a runner was (at least) stranded at third.

One situation where you can't blame the Mets on (just bad luck) was in the bottom of the 8th. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Jose Reyes tried to steal 2nd, and Alex Cora hit a grounder up the middle. If Reyes isn't stealing, Emilio Bonifacio (Marlins 2b) doesn't get to the ball. The tying run would have scored and Reyes would have been on 3rd as the go-ahead run with a pinch-hitter on deck. Instead, Bonifacio gets to the ball and throws out Cora at 1st. Inning over.

Mets are 9-12 and are heading to Philadelphia to play the Phillies. Hopefully, they can turn things around.