Over the past 3 seasons, the New York Mets have had some excruciating and painful defeats, on Saturday, they won one of the more incredible contests you will ever see, 2-1 in 20 innings over a historic rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. SS Jose Reyes’ sacrifice fly of position player -Yes, a non pitcher- Joe Mather was the decisive blow after the teams plated runs in the 19th. Both clubs exchanged wasted opportunities in extra frames with the each club struggling with runners in scoring position.(Cards 1 for 18, Mets 0 for 7) CF Angel Pagan(3) and 2B Luis Castillo(2) combined for 5 of theMets 9 hits. The entire Mets staff pitched great, led by ace Johan Santana,who allowed 4 hits over 7 innings while striking out 9 and walking 1. As great as the southpaw was for NY, Cardinals LH SP Jaime Garcia was better, allowing only a bloop single by Pagan to lead off the 6th over 7 frames. SP Mike Pelfrey threw a tough 20th inning, getting OF Ryan Ludwick to ground out with two on to end this historic game. Just an incredible win with so many twist and turns, this is why you watch sports and why I write about them. A great, great win for a team that needs one. I don’t care if Daffy Duck was pitching, the Mets need any break they can get. NY now stands at 4-7 with John Maine throwing Sunday night.
PASS PUJOLS: Mets walked 1B Albert Pujols 4 times, twice intentionally. To quote one of my favorite ad campaigns: BRILLIANT!!!!
BADDD BULLPEN: Once again, a HUGE effort from the relief corps with some reinforcements from the starting staff.(more on this later) Lets Look at these numbers: 8 pitchers, 13 innings, 11 hits, 1 earned run, 10 walks, 10 Ks…. Just a great, great job. Hats off to Fernando Nieve(2 & 1/3rd), Hisanori Takahashi, Jenrry Mejia and Raul Valdez for tossing 2 innings apiece.
SEVEN NOT UP: LF Jason Bay(4 Ks), SS Jose Reyes(run, rbi, walk) and RF Jeff Francoeur(rbi) all took the golden sombrero, going 0 for 7. The “O for” also ended Francoeur’s season opening hitting streak at 10 games.
YUCK YADIER: Professional Mets killer Yadier Molina tied the game in the 19th off of closer Francisco Rodriquez. NY should do some type of vodo doll promotion with either Molina or Nationals Willie Harris, these two have CRUSHED NY in recent years. An amazing stat on an amazing game: Molina had 9- NINE-plate appearances, collecting 3 hits.
CARDINALS CONCEDE: Rather than throw a starting pitcher in the game, St Louis Manager Tony Larussa used two position players on the mound late: first, INF Felipe Lopez in the 18th(Mets failed to score) then Mather for the final two innings.
MIKE THE MAN: Pelfrey approached Mets manager Jerry Manuel and asked into the game saying”Hey I can do this”. You wonder why I think the world of the big man? Remember this game. Guts will get you real far in life. This kid has “it”.
HOLLIDAY ON VACATION: Larussa made a tactical move that might have cost him the game when he double switched his clean up hitter, slugger Matt Holliday out of the game in the 14th, and put the pitcher behind Pujols. With the bases loaded in that frame and St Louis out of players, Pitcher Blake Hawksworth struck out.
SOME GAME STATS: Team combined to use 19 pitchers… Not a single player reached third until the Cardinals loaded the bases in the 10th… All of the Mets hits where singles… This is the franchise first win in games lasting 20 innings, they are now 1-4… Who would have guessed Mike Pelfrey would have a save BEFORE K Rod!!!!
NEXT GAME:
Series finale, Sunday, 8 pm- Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN
Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright(2-0,1.20) vs. Mets RH John Maine(0-1,13.50)
