The New York Mets supported their ace on a night when he struggled a bit with his control and the umpire, defeating the Washington Nationals, 7-4 7-4 Wednesday night at Citifield. LH Johan Santana(7-2, 1.77) labored into the 6th but earned the win. 1b Daniel Murphy had a career night with 3 separate rbi hits, hi-lighted by a 6th inning two run shot and 7th inning double that drove home two. He was 3 for 4 with 5 rbi.
Leadoff men CF Angel Pagan and 2b Luis Castillo got the offense going with 2 hits and 2 runs apiece, while red hot LF Gary Sheffield continued his red hot ways plating 2 runs in the 1st after a double to right center. Since May 13, Sheffield is hitting .419 with 3 doubles, 4 homers and 14 rbi!!!
Santana, the top pitcher in the NL, had a tough time with homeplate umpire Sam Holbrook and Nationals RF Adam Dunn. He gave up a tremendous homer to Dunn(almost 475 feet) with a runner on in the 4th. Although he struck out 11, he walked 6 and needed 120 pitches to get the win. He allowed 3 hits and 3 runs(Walked SS Christian Guzman with the bases loaded in the 4th) and was not happy with the man behind homeplate postgame.“I don’t know, something was wrong. It was a crazy night,” said Santana, who thought he got squeezed a bit by plate umpire Sam Holbrook. “I’ve never seen anything like that. The only thing that was good about it was that we won the game.”
For the 4th time in 5 contests, NY was involved in situation that called for video review. Murphy’s homer to right was ruled a double but reversed after a booth viewing. Amazingly, The Mets have seen 5 reviewed calls be turned in their favor!!!
Star of the Game: Murphy— With 1b Carlos Delgado on the DL for about 10 weeks, they need this rookie to blend in and be a support player. Kid can hit and maybe ready to take off wit his move away from the outfield, where he seemed to overthink and be robotic. Was an infielder in the system and with Keith Hernandez around, he can seek counsel. Team has outfielders on the team and in the sytem, I like this move for both Murphy and the Mets short and long term.
Rookie learning: One negative from the game,(besides Holbrook) was a lack of hustle from rookie phenom Fernando Martinez. He failed to run out a pop up and the ball dropped. The Citifield crowd booed during his next plate appearance, the youngster was apologetic post game. “I promise that will never happen again,” he said. “I’m sorry, to my fans.”
Game Notes: C Omir Santos was a late scratch from the lineup with a bruised left shin, he is listed as day to day… 3b David Wright K-ed 4 times for the first time in his career…The Mets scored 12 runs in Johan’s first 6 starts, 21 in the last three!!!… Santana’s 6 walks were one short of his career high
Mets Wednesday Lineup:
1- CF Angel Pagan
2- 2b Luis Castillo
3- 3b David Wright
4- LF Gary Sheffield
5- 1b Daniel Murphy
6- C Ramon Castro
7- RF Fernando Martinez
8- SS Ramon Martinez
9- Pitcher
Next Game:
Day off Thursday, Host the Florida Marlins for 3 game set at Citifield this weekend starting Friday
7:10 pm
Mets RH Mike Pelfrey(4-1,4.31) vs Marlins LH Sean West(3.60 era in 5 innings, 2nd ML start)
