Jimmy Rollins is right - the Phillies are the team to beat in the National League East - and the Braves, Marlins, and now the Mets have taken them up on the offer. The Phillies are now tied with Washington as the "team to beat" up on.
It's big talk now that the game is over, but the Phillies led this game into the 8th. The Mets had cut it to 5-4 before rallying against Geoff Geary. Moises Alou led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, followed by a Shawn Green single. Jose Valentin's bunt attempt resulted in an out at third, and then pinch hitter Julio Franco walked.
It was then, with the bases loaded and one out, that Jose Reyes grounded to shortstop. Jimmy Rollins drifted to his right, and couldn't field the grounder, allowing a run to score, and the bases to stay loaded. It was 5-5, and then there was a wild pitch, and the Mets led, 6-5. Paul Lo Duca walked. Carlos Beltran hit a sacrifice fly, 7-5 Mets. Carlos Delgado walked. David Wright extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a long double to left, making it 9-5, Mets. (Wright's third double, en route to a record, on a 1-for-5 day.) Alou singled home the final two runs, and the Mets went on to the 11-5 win.
I didn't see any of this game, in fact, I just saw the highlights on ESPN. I tuned into ESPN GameCast for the first time this year after dismissal at school, when the Mets were down 5-3, so it was exciting to see the rally. I like to think the Mets broke the Phillies for the year, but I doubt it. I will say, however, that after one game, the Phillies still don't scare me.
John Maine wasn't great in this game. He pitched 4-and-2-thirds innings, giving up just 2 earned runs, but walked six, and gave up 5 hits. He threw 104 pitches in that short amount of time. I'd say he struggled. Ambiorix Burgos also struggled, giving up a homer to Ryan Howard, and three runs in an inning and a third. Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano (who got the win), and Billy Wagner combined for three scoreless innings.
On the Phillies' side, Cole Hamels was good - striking out 7 in six innings, giving up 3 runs, only 2 of which were earned. He's a good young pitcher.
The Mets and Phillies have Tuesday off before resuming on Wednesday at Shea. Oliver Perez tries to replicate his first start against Adam Eaton.
naturalbl0g.blogspot.com JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Delgado was 3-for-3, with a walk, and 2 runs and 2 RBI. I wasn't watching the whole game, so I don't know for sure, but it seemed to me he was in the middle of all of the Mets' action. He scored the Mets' second run in the 4th inning, with a headfirst slide around the tag of Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz. He hit a sacrifice fly to put the Mets ahead 3-2, and then had an RBI single to bring the Mets to within 5-4 in the 7th. And he scored after a walk in the 8th. Seems like a good day to me.
WEATHER-RELATED STUFF: Forgot to mention this Sunday - I know it was cold in Atlanta, but every wide shot I saw of the stands when the Mets were down there this past weekend showed empty seats. I'm pretty sure this was even the case at Friday's home opener. The Atlanta fans are horrid.
Also, the Cleveland-Seattle series never got off the ground because of snow. The Indians moved their homestand now to Milwaukee, where they'll play the Angels.
ASTROS: Brad Lidge's nightmare continues. He was officially taken out of the closer's role on Monday, replaced by Dan Wheeler (Former Met).
BEAT THE STREAK: After saying I was going to pick Ichiro, I actually forgot to log on and do it. Good thing they were snowed out. So I'm still at 0...I'm going with Andruw Jones to try to get me started against a Washington Nationals pitcher named Matt Chico.
1 comment:
When I read that the Phillies were the "'team to beat'... up on" I couldn't help but think the would also be a good team... for you to poop on.
(I know it's a family site, but I thought an homage to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog would be ok.)
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