Game 40: New York Mets 7 vs. New York Yankees 4
The New York Mets (20-19) are playing Game 40 of the 2008 Regular Season against the New York Yankees (20-22) at Yankee Stadium. It’s the first game of the two-game series. The game began at 1:10 p.m., and it was aired on SNY.
Mets Lineup: Reyes, Church, Wright, Beltran, Alou, Delgado, Easley, Schneider, Castillo.
Yankees Lineup: Damon, Abreu, Jeter, Matsui, Giambi, Cano, Cabrera, Gonzalez, Moeller.
At the Plate
Andy Pettitte (3-4) was the starting pitcher for the Yankees. In the Top of the 1st, Pettitte struck out Reyes and Church on three pitches each. Wright beat out a ground ball to short for a two-out single. With Beltran at the plate, Wright stole second easily. Pettitte fanned Beltran on four pitches. Pettitte gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 3 SOs in the 1st Inning. In the Top of the 2nd, Alou lined a leadoff single into left. Pettitte struck out Delgado swinging. Pettitte struck out Easley looking. Pettitte picked off Alou by getting him in a rundown, and Giambi placed the tag on Alou to end the inning which was poor base running on Alou’s part. Pettitte gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 2nd Inning. In the Top of the 3rd, Pettitte retired the side in order. Pettitte gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 3rd Inning. In the Top of the 4th, Church led off by lining a single to center. Wright lined a no-out single into left, and Church moved over to second. Carlos Beltran grounded a no-out RBI single through the hole on the left side, and Ryan Church came around to score and Wright advanced to second. Alou worked the count full before drawing a no-out walk which loaded the bases. Delgado popped up in shallow left so the infield fly rule was called, and Jeter made the catch. Pettitte struck out Easley looking. Brian Schneider worked himself into a full count before drawing a two-out walk which forced in David Wright. Luis Castillo hit a slow ground ball half way down the third base line which stopped so the Yankees never made a play as Carlos Beltran came home to score. Reyes popped up to short leaving three Mets stranded. Pettitte gave up 4 Hits, 3 Runs, 2 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 4th Inning. In the Top of the 5th, Beltran lined a two-out single into left. Pettitte hit Alou in the hand so Alou will take first. With Delgado at the plate, Beltran stole third without a throw. Pettitte fanned Delgado to leave two Mets stranded. Pettitte gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 5th Inning. In the Top of the 6th, Pettitte retired the side in order with three fly balls. Pettitte gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning. Pettitte left the game after pitching 6.0 Innings allowing 7 Hits, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 2 BBs, and he had 7 SOs.
Girardi replaced Pettitte with Kyle Farnsworth to begin the Top of the 7th. Jose Reyes led off the inning with a solo shot to right field. Church drew a no-out walk. David Wright hit a no-out 2-run opposite field jack to right which scored Ryan Church. Beltran popped up to shallow right, and Cano made the catch for the first out. Alou grounded to third, and Gonzalez made the out at first. Delgado hit a two-out pop fly single into shallow center. Farnsworth struck out Easley on a check swing to end the inning. Farnsworth gave up 3 Hits, 3 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 7th Inning.
Girardi replaced Farnsworth with Edwar Ramirez to begin the Top of the 8th. Castillo drew a leadoff walk on four straight pitches. Reyes lined a one-out single up the middle, and Castillo moved over to second. Ramirez struck out Church as Moeller threw out Castillo as Castillo attempted to steal third for a strike him out throw him out double play which ended the inning. Ramirez gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 8th Inning.
Girardi replaced Ramirez with Joba Chamberlain to begin the Top of the 9th. Beltran drove a one-out triple to the gap in left center. Chamberlain struck out Alou staring at strike three. Carlos Delgado worked the count full before he pulled the ball through the hole on the right side for an RBI single which scored Carlos Beltran. Anderson is pinch hitting for Easley, and Chamberlain fanned Anderson to end the inning. Chamberlain gave up 2 Hits, 1 Run, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 9th Inning.
On the Mound
Johan Santana (4-2) was the starting pitcher for the Mets. In the Bottom of the 1st, Damon drew a leadoff walk. Santana struck out Abreu swinging. Derek Jeter crushed a one-out 2-run home run to left field scoring Johnny Damon. Matsui grounded out to second. Giambi popped up behind home plate, and Schneider made the catch to end a bad first inning. Santana gave up 1 Hit, 2 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 1st Inning. In the Bottom of the 2nd, Cabrera drew a one-out walk. Gonzalez grounded to third, and Wright made the out at first as Cabrera advanced to second. Santana fanned Moeller to end the inning. Santana gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 2nd Inning. In the Bottom of the 3rd, Damon led off by lining an opposite field single to left. Abreu drove the ball to the gap to right center for a one-out double, and Damon tried to come around to score but Church made the relay to Castillo who made a perfect throw to Schneider who tagged Damon at the plate to save a run (Girardi came out to argue the call, but it wasn’t even close). Jeter lined out to right. Matsui grounded to first, and Delgado flipped the ball to Santana for the final out. Santana gave up 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 3rd Inning. In the Bottom of the 4th, Santana pitched his first 1-2-3 inning of the game. Santana gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 4th Inning. In the Bottom of the 5th, Santana retired the side in order again for the second straight inning. Santana gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 5th Inning. In the Bottom of the 6th, Jeter lined a one-out single into the gap in left center but he attempted to take second and got thrown out by Beltran. Santana struck out Matsui to end the inning. Santana gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 6th Innings. In the Bottom of the 7th, Jason Giambi led off by going yard to right field. Santana caught Cano looking at strike three. Cabrera grounded out to short. Gonzalez flied out to center to end the inning. Santana gave up 1 Hit, 1 Run, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 7th Inning. In the Bottom of the 8th, Bobby Abreu hit a two-out solo shot to dead center. Jeter hit a two-out opposite field double to the right field corner. Santana gave up 2 Hits, 1 Run, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 8th Inning. Santana left the game after pitching 7.2 Innings allowing 7 Hits, 4 Runs, 4 ER, 2 BBs, and he had 5 SOs.
Randolph replaced Santana with Billy Wagner with two outs in the Bottom of the 8th. Matsui grounded to second to end the inning. Wagner gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 8th Inning. In the Bottom of the 9th, Giambi led off by hitting an opposite field flair into left. Cano hit a broken bat single to third, and Wright stopped it but could not make a throw to first. Cabrera flied out to right. Duncan is pinch hitting for Gonzalez, and Duncan popped up behind home plate so Schneider made the catch. Ensberg is pinch hitting for Moeller, and Wagner fanned Ensberg to end the game. Wagner gave up 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 9th Inning.
Final Score: New York Mets 7 - New York Yankees 4. The MLB.com Box Score is attached. Johan Santana (5-2) got the win and Andy Pettitte (3-5) got the loss.
Since the Mets have been playing w-l-w-l-w-l baseball and they lost two before winning today, I think that the Mets will win tomorrow as well to go on a two-game winning streak. It’s a pattern. So the Mets should sweep this mini-series, and then I expect them to lose their first game (or more than one game) in Atlanta to continue the trend that the Mets have set. After the losing streak, the Mets will win exactly that many games. I just wish the Mets could put it together when playing the division.
Anyway, the Mets played a pretty good game today. They took the first game from the Yankees in the Bronx. Santana gave up 4 runs on 3 homers, but he pitched 8.2 innings before handing the ball off to Wagner for a four-out save. Pettitte came out smoking hot early on, but then the Mets batted around in the 4th inning. The Mets scored 3 runs in the 4th inning, but they should’ve scored a whole lot more. After the bases were loaded, a hit out of the infield would’ve ended this game early. Fortunately for the Mets, Reyes and Wright were each able to homer over the short porch in right in the 7th for some insurance runs. In the 9th, Delgado was able cash in by driving in Beltran. So 7 runs were enough today. Perez will face Wang tomorrow night so it seems like the edge is in the Yankees favor, but Perez has a pretty good record against the Yankees. Last year, the Mets hit Wang well the first time they faced him but Wang was lights out the second time around. We’ll see how it plays out tomorrow.
The 2008 Subway Series will begin tonight, if it stops raining. And man is it raining. Tonight’s game will probably get postponed. If you’ve followed what I’ve written then you’d know that I think the Subway Series is overhyped Interleague play. I’m not a fan of Interleague games at all. It wouldn’t bother me if they eliminated it from the schedule. If they did it at all, I think that it would be better if they did it like the NFL where each NL division plays a specific AL division per year and then it alternates annually. That way, each division plays the same opponents. For instance, if the NL East played the AL East in 2008, then if the NL East played AL Central in 2009, and so on. It seems like the Interleague play goes on forever. Or is it that the MLB season goes on forever? I don’t know. And then there is the difference in rules which is the dumbest thing in sports. That doesn’t happen in the NFL, NBA, or the NHL. The difference in rules is buch league. Anyway, here’s the probable pitching matchups for the weekend:
Here’s a picture of the new Nationals Park which replaced the ugliest stadium in sports, RFK. I went there once, and they needed a new stadium. If you never made the trip to RFK then you didn’t miss anything. Anyway, Washington is only 2-5 in their new park so New York doesn’t need to make it easier for them to get closer to a winning record at home. Santana is on the mound tonight, and he has to stop the bleeding.
I apologize for not writing the past two days. One of our Giants Bloggers on Die Hard Giants Fan, Phessional, came up from Jacksonville, FL and stayed at my place for two days. He moved down there about a year and a half ago and barely comes up here. We partied like rock stars for two days. He has to go to an engagement party tonight which is the reason he is here. Anyway, I went back and got all of the news that I missed in case you haven’t heard it already.
The Mets didn’t have such a good weekend, in terms of wins and losses. Another loss to the Cards, and that was a spanking, not a loss. However, they got right back on track today with a 1-0 win over the Orioles. Even better news, Opening Day is one week away…finally. I, like all of us, have high expectations for the ’08 Mets and I cannot wait for it to begin, and maybe even end. There are more concerns now than prior to Preseason, but as a Mets fan, I hope they can win it all. 7 Days!!! 
The Amazins’ are smoking hot right now. They are getting healthier even though they won’t begin the season with some critical components, but it is what it is. I just hope that the hot streak continues when it counts. In the meantime, the team that is on the field at the beginning of ‘08 will need to win as many games as possible until the injured players can return. At least the Mets aren’t playing crappy ball and don’t have to come out of a funk in March with players out. It could be much worse.
The Metropolitans will host the Orioles at 7:10 p.m. tonight. Opening Day is quickly creeping up on us, and it isn’t good news if we can’t put together a healthy roster. There are multiple articles about whether or not Duaner Sanchez will make the team or end up on the Disabled List. Sanchez is going to attempt pitching on back-to-back days to see if he can do it. How that goes will determine whether or not he will end up on the DL. We all understand how important Duaner is as the setup man to Wagner. Worse case scenario is that Sanchez gets a late start to the season.
