Happy Recap: Mets 5 Giants 4

What an amazing game! We saw so many things that we have seen before: Perez pitching well, the Mets struggling against a young pitcher, Beltran failing with a man on third, Delgado with a walkoff hit and Benitez melting down.

Oliver Perez was not sharp early, giving up solo home runs to Randy Winn and Bengie Molina in the first inning. Then Perez settled in again. He retired 14 in a row and 18 of 19 before he allowed a third home run, this time to Ortmeier which tied the game.

I know some of you are going to say that 3 runs in 7 innings is not a good start, it's barely adequate. But if you look deeper you'd see that he struck out 8 and walked none, and they basically didn't hit him other than those three home runs. And of course you should remember that this was the worst start he's made of his last four.

Pitching against Perez was Tim Lincecum. He was drafted 10th overall by the Giants last year and has never lost a pro game. He went 2-0 in short season A ball last year and this year he started the season at Triple A Fresno. In 5 starts he pitched 31 innings and allowed one earned run, going 4-0 with a 0.29 ERA. He made his first start for the Giants on May 6 and got bombed, but didn't lose. In four starts since then he's 2-0 with a 2.17 ERA. He's walked 6 (he can struggle with his control) and struck out 28 in 28 innings, excluding that rough first start. He's going to be a star, assuming he can stay healthy. He's listed at 5'11" and 170 lbs.

Lincecum got through the Mets lineup in order the first time through, he retired the first 11 in a row before he walked Beltran and Delgado blasted a game tying homer.

Then in the 6th, he allowed a single to Reyes and a double to Beltran to give the Mets the lead.

In the bottom of the 9th the game really started to get interesting. David Wright hit one that I really thought was going to end the game. It hit the top of the wall and bounced back for a double.



Then after a walk to LoDuca, Julio Franco pinch hit for Gomez. He ripped one right up the middle which looked like the game winning hit but Omar Vizquel made a diving stop, then he rolled over and from his back, he flipped the ball to the second baseman. But his toss was off and the second baseman Kevin Frandsen stretched and caught it with his bare hand for the final out. Just an incredible play.

Willie decided to stick with his lefties until the Giants wasted Bonds so after Feliciano and Wagner each pitched an inning he brought in Schoeneweis who walked Bonds. Then Frandsen hit a ground rule double to right which bounced into the stands (a fan did not touch it), so Bonds had to hold at third. Heilman came out of the pen to get the third out.

Heilman almost picked up another easy victory when Russ Ortiz walked Reyes and Beltran and hit Delgado, but Wright couldn't come through. Heilman stayed on and pitched a good 11th inning.

Joe Smith was terrible in the 12th, he had no control. He walked Vizquel then threw a wild pitch that was so far inside, LoDuca couldn't get to it. A sac bunt put the go ahead run on third with one out. Smith hit the next batter, then Delgado made a mistake. Vizquel hit a grounder right at him but he turned around to step on first before he threw home. Randy Winn slid in ahead of the tag, just ahead of the tag, but the replays show it was the correct call. But the play was so close Delgado could have had him if he had come home with it right away.




But Delgado redeemed himself thanks to another Benitez meltdown. We've seen this so many times before. He came in and his first three pitches weren't even close. Once Reyes reached with a walk you kind of felt that Benitez was going to blow it. Then first base umpire Balkin Bob Davidson who has called more balks than anyone ever, called a balk moving Reyes to second. This one was a little hard to notice, I didn't see any balk. Chavez bunted Reyes to third and Beltran came up with a runner on third and one out...and he failed again. I don't know why he has such problems in this situation. But thankfully the Mets didn't have the stupid contact play on or Reyes would have been dead meat at home.

With Reyes at third and Benitez on the mound and the suddenly red hot Carlos Delgado at the plate, those fans that stuck around were going nuts. Reyes was bouncing down the line off the third base bag. Benitez clearly flinched this time, an obvious balk, which was called by the third base umpire, not Balkin Bob. Later even Bruce Bochy said the second balk was obvious.





With the game tied after two balks, the Benitez meltdown was in progress. And Carlos Delgado finished it off. He crushed it to right field for his second homer of the night, his second 2 homer game in less than a week and his third walkoff RBI of the season.

I hesitate to say that the balks didn't matter because knowing Benitez's emotional state I don't think he would have given up the homer to Delgado had the other things not already transpired.

But after being on the wrong end of some many of these games for several years, it felt very good to be the recipient this time.

This is the type of game championship teams win, and through 50 games the Mets are looking like a championship team.