Mets Bullpen Is The Difference In A Walk Off Win
Bases loaded none out, Carlos Delgado to the plate, just what you'd want to start off the first inning. Not a grand slam, but a shot to the warning track, knocks a run home. But Beltran, struck out in an at bat with a 3-0 count and men on 2nd and 3rd.
What? The Mets getting a clutch hit with the bases loaded? You've got to be kidding!
Ramon Castro, whose two run homer the night before nearly tied the game for the Mets, got his shot with the bases loaded one batter later and was walked to make it 2-0. You'd had to be hating life at that point if you were a Brewers fan, more despondent even than a Mets fan watching your starting pitcher walk a run home in the first inning.
And when Castillo hit a grounder in the hole that JJ Hardy managed to stop, Brewers fans must have become even more deranged watching Hardy's inexplicable throw to no one somewhere near third base to make it 3-0.
A real knee-slapper, that first inning. Except for the fact that the Mets had a 3 run lead after one the night before and where did it get them? Another notch in the loss column, that's where.
Look familiar? Another lead disappearing...
So when the Ryan Braun hit a three run homer in the 6th inning to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead, the nauseous, queasy ill ease was understandable.
Not often the first hit as a Met is your 500th homerun
Yes, the pinch hit 500th homer by Sheffield was a pleasant moment to tie the game, but much like Castro's two run shot the night before, it wasn't quite enough to push the Mets forward. Especially after Delgado just missed the left field line that would have scored two runs and given the Mets an insurmountable late-inning lead, it was easy to start looking around the room for breakable things to throw against the wall, things which would give a satisfying shattering sound when the Mets failed to put up another run in the 7th despite bases loaded and only one out.
Anyone catch that drunken guy screaming in the background of the telly broadcast, The U, The U, the fucking U? Anyone know what he was on about, other than about 20 pints?
And in the 8th, the bases juiced for Wright, the King of the Meaningless Hits, after getting on base four times already, Wright grounds out to end the inning. A second inning a row with the bases loaded the Mets failed to put the game away. All very typical. All very Mets.
Luis Castillo, 2009 Comeback Player of the Year?
Fortunately for everyone concerned the Brewers bullpen is not as hearty as the Mets bullpen and in the 9th, FINALLY, Luis Castillo's clutch infield single scored Delgado from 3rd and gave the Mets the victory.
NOTES
Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, Bobby Parnell and J.J. Putz combined for four consecutive scoreless innings which made all the difference in last night's game. The Brewers bullpen, by contrast, 3 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 4 walks and 2 runs.
*****
And much as you may like The Magical Murph, jaysus, fielding problems, absurdist bunting mischief, you can certainly see he's not always quite ready for prime time, a long shout from a finished product.
*****
It's early in the season, but I'm thinking a Prince Fielder versus Heath Bell sumo wrestling match during the All Star break might be more interesting than any homerun hitting contest.
*****
Beltran and Wright combined to leave 9 runners on base last night.
*****
What? The Mets getting a clutch hit with the bases loaded? You've got to be kidding!Ramon Castro, whose two run homer the night before nearly tied the game for the Mets, got his shot with the bases loaded one batter later and was walked to make it 2-0. You'd had to be hating life at that point if you were a Brewers fan, more despondent even than a Mets fan watching your starting pitcher walk a run home in the first inning.
And when Castillo hit a grounder in the hole that JJ Hardy managed to stop, Brewers fans must have become even more deranged watching Hardy's inexplicable throw to no one somewhere near third base to make it 3-0.
A real knee-slapper, that first inning. Except for the fact that the Mets had a 3 run lead after one the night before and where did it get them? Another notch in the loss column, that's where.
Look familiar? Another lead disappearing...
So when the Ryan Braun hit a three run homer in the 6th inning to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead, the nauseous, queasy ill ease was understandable.
Not often the first hit as a Met is your 500th homerun
Yes, the pinch hit 500th homer by Sheffield was a pleasant moment to tie the game, but much like Castro's two run shot the night before, it wasn't quite enough to push the Mets forward. Especially after Delgado just missed the left field line that would have scored two runs and given the Mets an insurmountable late-inning lead, it was easy to start looking around the room for breakable things to throw against the wall, things which would give a satisfying shattering sound when the Mets failed to put up another run in the 7th despite bases loaded and only one out.
Anyone catch that drunken guy screaming in the background of the telly broadcast, The U, The U, the fucking U? Anyone know what he was on about, other than about 20 pints?
And in the 8th, the bases juiced for Wright, the King of the Meaningless Hits, after getting on base four times already, Wright grounds out to end the inning. A second inning a row with the bases loaded the Mets failed to put the game away. All very typical. All very Mets.
Luis Castillo, 2009 Comeback Player of the Year?
Fortunately for everyone concerned the Brewers bullpen is not as hearty as the Mets bullpen and in the 9th, FINALLY, Luis Castillo's clutch infield single scored Delgado from 3rd and gave the Mets the victory.
NOTES
Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, Bobby Parnell and J.J. Putz combined for four consecutive scoreless innings which made all the difference in last night's game. The Brewers bullpen, by contrast, 3 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 4 walks and 2 runs.
*****
And much as you may like The Magical Murph, jaysus, fielding problems, absurdist bunting mischief, you can certainly see he's not always quite ready for prime time, a long shout from a finished product.
*****
It's early in the season, but I'm thinking a Prince Fielder versus Heath Bell sumo wrestling match during the All Star break might be more interesting than any homerun hitting contest.
*****
Beltran and Wright combined to leave 9 runners on base last night.
*****
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