Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Happy Recap: Mets 7 Padres 6

How I started this post:

These are the losses I absolutely despise. There's nothing worse than having your bullpen blow a lead, get those runs back, and then have the bullpen blow it again. That's what happened tonight.

But the Mets remembered that Paul is a daddy tonight, and stepped it up big time against the all-time saves leader. Let's start from the top.

Carlos Beltran is en fuego. He smacked a bomb into the wind in the 1st inning to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. He later doubled to put the Mets up 4-1.

But John Maine once again had trouble putting hitters away. He's lost about 3-4 miles off his fastball, and it shows. Batters are fouling off pitch after pitch, making even his outs taxing. By the time he came out in the 6th, he had thrown 117 pitches. Unless you're El Duque, that's way too much.

Scott Schoewenweis came in and looked strong, getting Brian Giles to end the 6th, and he got two outs in the 7th before allowing a hit that Milledge misplayed, putting a runner on second. Willie decided to play the percentages and bring in "Everyday" Jorge Sosa. Sosa has pitched great lately, but not this time, giving up a couple of hits to let the Padres take the lead.

But the Mets seem to have gotten past the phase where this would be the end of the game. Maybe it's because 1-7, there are no easy outs in the lineup right now. They got a Reyes run to tie the game in the 8th. Jose got an infield hit, stole 2nd, took third on a Castillo groundout, Wright walked, and Beltran lined a single into left field. Unfortunately, Delgado and Alou couldn't keep it going.

Wagner was called on to keep the game tied in the 9th, and couldn't get it done. He gave up a run on a couple of singles and a sac fly, and even my cat thought it was over.

But L-Millz kicked off the 9th against Trevor Hoffman with a line drive single to left. Mike DeFelice bunted him to second, and Hoffman-killer Marlon Anderson tied the game with a single to center. Reyes walked, and new Mets hero Luis Castillo singled up the middle to score Anderson with the game winning run.

Great comeback win against a good team. In fact, if the playoffs started today, the Mets would play the Padres.

Brief aside: around the middle of the game, Kevin Burkhardt interviewed "Danny," a construction worker on CitiField. This was unintentional comedy at its finest. Danny told us about his memories of seeing the Jets and Mets at Shea, told Kevin that "cash is king" to us, and admitted buttered rolls, coffee, and donuts are the preferred food of the union workers. Buttered rolls? Well, that is a NYC thing.

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