Santana Exits Early, Mets Lose 4-2
He carried the Mets to the brink five days ago following a brilliant 125 pitch outing with an even more heroic 3 hit shutout on only 3 days rest but last night in Game 2 of the Division Series, Johan Santana had finally shot his wad.
Exiting the game for a pinch hitter in the 5th Santana had given up 4 earned runs, walking a career high 6 batters and worse still, complaining of left knee pain which is rumoured to be a possible torn meniscus.
Pain was the name of the game last night
"I was going for it," Santana said afterwards, clearly as dejected as the rest of his team. "We worked really hard between this start and the last one to make sure my arm, my legs, everything was in place. But this time, it was simply too much"
The pain clearly effected his delivery, hence his difficulty finding the strike zone.
The Cubs, desperate for a win, took advantage in the 2nd inning when a walk to Geovany Soto was followed by a Jim Edmonds double. With two outs and men on 2nd and 3rd, Theriot was intentionally and foolishly walked to get to winning pitcher Carlos Zambrano, a .337 hitter, who drew a run-scoring, 11 pitch walk. Santana then unleahed a wild pitch, scoring Edmonds.
He composed himself but with the Mets flailing at Zambrano's pitches, the Cubs struck again in the bottom of the 4th when Edmonds doubled again to lead off and Mark DeRosa hammered the next pitch into the bleachers to make it 4-0.
The Mets scratched out a lone run in reply in the 5th when Evans, pinch hitting for Santana, doubled with none out, Reyes sacrificed him to 3rd and he scored on a DeRosa error of a Carlos Beltran grounder. But one pitch later, Beltran was then picked off first and the rally fizzled.
In the 8th, still down 4-1, Beltran led off with a single and was driven home by Carlos Delgado's double to cut the lead to 2. Typically, with none out and the tying run at the plate, the rally died in its tracks. David Wright popped a weak fly to center. The Magical Murph singled but Luis Aguayo, scared of his own shadow, forced Delgado to hold at 3rd. Murph was caught stealing and Castro flew out to end the inning.
They even fought back once more in the 9th when, with Zambrano tiring, Ryan Church and Martinez led off with back to back singles to put the lead run at the plate.
But guess what? Kerry Wood came in and the Mets went down without another peep.
"We got to have an optimistic mind-set," Wright, who was 0-3, said. "That the glass is half-full." he reassured himself.
Fat Lou doesn't care. At least his Cubbies aren't heading to Shea down 2 games to none.
Whilst to a man the Mets were happy to come out of Wrigley with one win and a chance to clinch at Shea, they are understandably disheartened by the potential loss of Santana.
"We have to look at this with half-full, rose coloured glasses," Wright elaborated afterwards. "We are only thinking of this one step at a time. Just like the Cubs only put on pants one leg at a time and the time is now."
Exiting the game for a pinch hitter in the 5th Santana had given up 4 earned runs, walking a career high 6 batters and worse still, complaining of left knee pain which is rumoured to be a possible torn meniscus.
Pain was the name of the game last night
"I was going for it," Santana said afterwards, clearly as dejected as the rest of his team. "We worked really hard between this start and the last one to make sure my arm, my legs, everything was in place. But this time, it was simply too much"
The pain clearly effected his delivery, hence his difficulty finding the strike zone.
The Cubs, desperate for a win, took advantage in the 2nd inning when a walk to Geovany Soto was followed by a Jim Edmonds double. With two outs and men on 2nd and 3rd, Theriot was intentionally and foolishly walked to get to winning pitcher Carlos Zambrano, a .337 hitter, who drew a run-scoring, 11 pitch walk. Santana then unleahed a wild pitch, scoring Edmonds.
He composed himself but with the Mets flailing at Zambrano's pitches, the Cubs struck again in the bottom of the 4th when Edmonds doubled again to lead off and Mark DeRosa hammered the next pitch into the bleachers to make it 4-0.
The Mets scratched out a lone run in reply in the 5th when Evans, pinch hitting for Santana, doubled with none out, Reyes sacrificed him to 3rd and he scored on a DeRosa error of a Carlos Beltran grounder. But one pitch later, Beltran was then picked off first and the rally fizzled.
In the 8th, still down 4-1, Beltran led off with a single and was driven home by Carlos Delgado's double to cut the lead to 2. Typically, with none out and the tying run at the plate, the rally died in its tracks. David Wright popped a weak fly to center. The Magical Murph singled but Luis Aguayo, scared of his own shadow, forced Delgado to hold at 3rd. Murph was caught stealing and Castro flew out to end the inning.
They even fought back once more in the 9th when, with Zambrano tiring, Ryan Church and Martinez led off with back to back singles to put the lead run at the plate.
But guess what? Kerry Wood came in and the Mets went down without another peep.
"We got to have an optimistic mind-set," Wright, who was 0-3, said. "That the glass is half-full." he reassured himself.
Fat Lou doesn't care. At least his Cubbies aren't heading to Shea down 2 games to none.
Whilst to a man the Mets were happy to come out of Wrigley with one win and a chance to clinch at Shea, they are understandably disheartened by the potential loss of Santana.
"We have to look at this with half-full, rose coloured glasses," Wright elaborated afterwards. "We are only thinking of this one step at a time. Just like the Cubs only put on pants one leg at a time and the time is now."
Comments
Guys who are mentally tough but run a little slower. I can live with more walks and fewer triples. sStolen bases are overrated. Timely hitting is better than gaudy statistics. We were second in runs scored but terrible with RISP. It is madness. And Omar is in the middle of it.