"Jim-my Roll-ins" Day At Shea

Dear Mr Team To Beat!

Thanks for that crucial flub of Jose Reyes' certain inning-ending double play ball in the 8th inning before the largest home-opening crowd in Mets history (56,227), yeah, you remember. The one that opened the floodgates not only to a big phat phillies loss but a massive win for the Mets on Opening Day at Shea.


Manager Willie gives thanks for Jimmy Rollins

You've now replaced the infamous Pat Burrell on the Boo-O-Meter at Shea and your January words oozing with over-confidence, inappropriate foot-in-mouth-moment considering the Phillies' typically malfunctioning 1-6 start, nearly-out-of-the-NL East-race-before-mid-April, is certainly coming back to haunt you, Mr Rollins, Mr Team To Beat. (ha! Team to beat indeed. A team to beat again and again and again!)


Nice one, Mr Team To Beat!

And oh, what a sweet 8th inning rally it was!


Not every moment was a bundle of laughs for David Wright...

Following consecutive singles by Alou and Shawn Green and a Julio Franco walk to load the bases, the Jimmy Rollins Flub allowed the tying run to score and was followed in quick order, in the midst of a massive Philly Bullpen Meltdown, by Geoff Geary's wild pitch that gave the Mets the lead, a two-run double by David Wright and a two-run single by Alou.

Although Ambiorix Burgos did become the second Met out of the bullpen to allow a run thanks to a Ryan Howard 3-run homer that gave the Phillies the lead in the 6th, he did in fact win a massive 12 pitch strikeout battle against Chase Utley just a batter before.

The rest of the bullpen, unlike that of the Phillies however, was flawless in relief of John Maine as Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner combined to pitch three hitless innings of relief to seal the victory. Ah yes, a bullpen that doesn't choke and squirm under pressure. A bullpen you can reasonably count on to hold a lead. Not the Phillies bullpen. A true Achilles Heel.

The Opening Day victory overshadowed the fact that the battle of the young arms was won by Cole Hamels who held the Mets to two earned runs and six hits over six innings whilst John Maine walked six batters over 4 2/3 innings and gave up five hits over 104 struggling pitches.


Delgado scores one the hard way...

Carlos Delgado, singled out yesterday for a lack of hitting against the Braves generally and the early days of the season in particular, welcomed himself back to Shea with three hits, two runs and a pair of ribbies to highlight a Mets attack that included 12 runs, "only" 7 of which were earned.

The Phillies went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine men on base to help the cause of the Mets victory. You can attribute that to crappy clutch hitting, as one might have done had the shoe been on the other foot, or you can credit the clutch Mets pitching which often let the Phillies wriggle on but not off the hook.


Out at second but safe in the crotch!