The New York Yank$$s pounded out 14 hits and scored 5 runs late, pulling away to defeat the injury depleted New York Mets 9-1 Friday night at Citi-Field. Yankees free agent prize threw 7 innings of 3 hit ball while CF Brett Gardner had a career high five hits. Noted steroid cheat and Yankees 3B Alex Rodriquez passed Yankees legend Reggie Jackson for 11th place on the all time home run list with a 8th inning shot.
The Mets, playing without 3 star every day players, their top set-up man an d 2 starting pitchers, cannot afford to play sloppy or bad baseball. They did both in the 4 run 2nd inning to help do in RH Mike Pelfrey. Errors by 3B David Wright, SS Alex Cora and 1B Nick Evans helped them score on 2 hits and 2 misplays. Sabathia and injury fill-in Ramiro Pena drove in runs. “There was a point there, I started laughing,” said Mike Pelfrey (5-3,4.67), who dropped to 1-3 in his last nine starts. “You want the ball to get hit to those guys. They make great plays all the time. That was just weird.” Pelfrey finished allowing 6 hits and 4 runs(2 earned) over 5 frames. He K-ed 3 and walked 2.
The Mets managed only 3 hits, Gary Sheffield returned to the line-up after 4 days off dealing with a knee injury and his 5th inning homer was the Mets offense. Sabathia(7-4,3.55) faced a mini-rally in that same inning but with 2 runners on he struck out the final two Mets hitters to effectively end the competitive portion of the contest. In 7 innings, he allowed 3 hits and Sheffield’s homer for the lone run. He struck out 8 and his 2nd inning rbi single provided the game winning rbi.
Star of the Game: Sabathia- Was huge with his arm and bat
Mets starting line-up:
1- 2B Luis Castillo
2- SS Alex Cora
3- 3B David Wright
4- RF Gary Sheffield
5- LF Fernando Tatis
6- CF Ryan Church
7- 1B Nick Evans
8- C Omir Santos
9- Pitcher
Game Notes: Game was delayed 1 hour and 7 minutes due to rain…. No Met had 2 hits….Every Yankees starter except C Francisco Cervelli had a base hit…. Wright now has 10 errors…. Yankees left 14 on base… Mets RH SP John Maine right shoulder has acted up again and will not pitch until after the All-Star break. He had pain playing catch Thursday and was given a 2nd cortisone shot. Maine was scheduled to pitch in a rehab start Saturday but will obviously miss that. “It is frustrating,” Maine said. “Even if I can go out there and just have a little bit of soreness, I would pitch. But I can’t go out there with pain. It’s not going to do me any good, it’s not going to do the team any good. And I tried. I tried to come back and throw. But I just couldn’t, so I just had to say something.” Mets GM Omar Minaya says their is nothing structurally wrong with the shoulder but Maine thinks it is a pinched nerve that needs to calm down with only rest.
Do something, NOW!!!: The Mets need a bat— I know they have injuries, I know the price will be high but this is a now team and they cannot win with this line-up in the field consistently. Jerry Manuel is a saint for not flipping out publicly.(Take a look to Chicago and the Cubs!!)Omar, Get a bat today, get one yesterday or quit— TODAY!!!! Aubrey Huff, Mark Derosa, I don’t care… We need a “pro” Bat!!!! This line-up is a joke! Sending a guy to a gun fight with a butter knife, work all you want, you cannot win!!!
Next Game:
Saturday, Game 2 of the Subway series vs the Yank$$s at Citi-Field
7:10 pm
Mets RH Tim Redding(1-2,6.08) vs. Yankees RH A.J. Burnett(5-4,4.24)
