Game 19: New York Mets 1 - Chicago Cubs 8
The New York Mets (10-8) are playing Game 19 of the 2008 Regular Season against the Chicago Cubs (13-6) at Wrigley Field. It’s the second game of the two-game series, and the final game of 2008 at Wrigley Field. The game began at 2:20 p.m., and it was aired on SNY.
Mets Lineup: Reyes, Pagan, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Easley, Clark, Casanova, Figueroa.
Cubs Lineup: Johnson, Pie, Lee, Ramirez, Fukudome, DeRosa, Cedeno, Blanco, Lilly.
At the Plate
Ted Lilly (0-3) was the starting pitcher for the Cubs. In the Top of the 1st, Lilly sent the top of the lineup down in order. Lilly gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 1st Inning. In the Top of the 2nd, Lilly retired the middle of the lineup in order. Lilly gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 2nd Inning. In the Top of the 3rd, Lilly now pitched perfectly the first time through the lineup. Lilly gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 3rd Inning. In the Top of the 4th, Lilly got Reyes swinging at strike three. Pagan drove a one-out double into the gap in right center. Wright drew a two-out walk. Beltran also drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Delgado popped up in shallow left, and Cedeno made the out. Easley popped up to shallow right, and DeRosa made the catch to leave the bases juiced. Lilly gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 2 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 4th Inning. In the Top of the 5th, Clark led off by lining a single into right. Casanova grounded slowly to third, and Ramirez made the out at first as Clark moved over to second. Figueroa grounded out to short. Reyes drew a two-out walk. Pagan popped up to second base to leave two Mets on. Lilly gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 5th Inning. In the Top of the 6th, Beltran drew a one-out walk on four pitches. Delgado lined a one-out single into right. Easley dropped a one-out single into shallow right. Brady Clark grounded to second, but DeRosa only got the out at second so Carlos Delgado came home to score. Casanova grounded to short, and Cedeno made the force out at second to leave two Mets on. Lilly gave up 3 Hits, 1 Run, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning. Lilly left the game after pitching 6.0 Innings allowing 4 Hits, 1 Run, 1 ER, 4 BBs, and he had 4 SOs.
Piniella replaced Lilly with Bob Howry to begin the Top of the 7th. Howry sent the Mets down in order. Howry gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 7th Inning.
Piniella replaced Howry with Carlos Marmol to begin the Top of the 8th. Marmol breezed right through the Mets. Marmol gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 8th Inning.
Piniella replaced Marmol with Kevin Hart to begin the Top of the 9th. Anderson is pinch hitting for Sosa, and Anderson drew a one-out walk. Casanova grounded a one-out single up the middle, and Anderson advanced to second. Chavez grounded to first, and Lee made the force out at second as Anderson moved over to third. Reyes grounded out to first to end the game. Hart gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 9th Inning.
On the Mound
Nelson Figueroa Jr. (1-0) was the starting pitcher for the Mets. In the Bottom of the 1st, Figueroa pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Figueroa gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 1st Inning. In the Bottom of the 2nd, Ramirez drew a leadoff walk. Fukudome grounded the ball to first under the glove of Delgado and into right field so Fukudome arrived safely at first as Ramirez went first to third. DeRosa drew a no-out walk to load the bases. Figueroa fanned Cedeno on three straight pitches. Blanco grounded to short, and the Mets turned the double play to get Figueroa out of a jam. Figueroa gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 2 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 2nd Inning. In the Bottom of the 3rd, Pie grounded a hard two-out single to first which hit Delgado and went into right field. Lee lined out to left to end the inning. Figueroa gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 3rd Inning. In the Bottom of the 4th, Fukudome grounded a one-out single through the hole on the right side. DeRosa flied out to center. Ronny Cedeno lined a two-out double into the right field corner, and Kosuke Fukudome came around to score. Figueroa intentionally walked Blanco. Lilly grounded to second, but nobody covered first so Lilly beat out the play to load the bases. Reed Johnson lined a two-out 2-run single into left scoring Mark DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno. Pie grounded out to first to end the inning. Figueroa gave up 4 Hits, 3 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 4th Inning. In the Bottom of the 5th, Lee drew a leadoff walk. Ramirez flied out to right. Fukudome drew a one-out walk on four pitches. DeRosa flied out to right, and Lee tagged up and went to third. Cedeno lined out to right to end the inning. Figueroa gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 2 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 5th Inning. In the Bottom of the 6th, Blanco led off by grounding a single under Reyes and into left. Fontenot is pinch hitting for Lilly. This move brought Randolph to out to the mount to make a pitching change. Figueroa gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning. Figueroa left the game after pitching 5.0 Innings allowing 7 Hits, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 5 BBs, and he had 2 SOs.
Randolph replaced Figueroa with Scott Schoeneweis with no outs in the Bottom of the 6th. Fontenot dropped down a sacrifice bunt along the first base line, and Scoeneweis made the out at first as Blance advanced to second. Johnson drew a one-out walk. Pie grounded right in front of home plate, and Casanova made the out at first as both runners advanced. Schoeneweis gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning.
Randolph replaced Schoeneweis with Joe Smith with two outs in the Bottom of the 6th. Lee flied out to the warning track in dead center, but Beltran made the out to leave two Cubs on base. Smith gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning. In the Bottom of the 7th, Ramirez grounded a leadoff single through the hole on the left side. Fukudome drove a no-out double that one-hopped the wall, and Rameriz went first to third. Mark DeRosa lined an RBI single into right center, and Aramis Ramirez came home to score and Fukudome advanced to third. Smith caught Cedeno swining at ball four to strike him out. Smith gave up 3 Hits, 1 Run, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 7th Inning.
Randolph replaced Smith with Pedro Feliciano with one out in the Bottom of the 7th. Soto is pinch hitting for Blanco, and Feliciano threw a wild pitch to Soto so DeRosa moved over to second. Soto drew an intentional walk to load the bases. Feliciano gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 7th Inning.
Randolph replaced Feliciano with Jorge Sosa with one out in the Bottom of the 7th. Murton is pinch hitting for Howry, and Murton grounded to first so Delgado made the out at home. Johnson popped up to second to end the inning. Sosa gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 7th Inning. In the Bottom of the 8th, Pie lined a leadoff single into right. Lee grounded a no-out single through the hole on the right side, and Pie moved over to second. Ramirez flied out to the warning track in left. Fukudome drew a one-out walk to load the bases. DeRosa grounded to short, and Reyes made the out at home as DeRosa beat out the relay throw to first. Ronny Cedeno smacked a Grand Slam near the foul poul in left scoring Derrek Lee, Kosuke Fukudome, and Mark DeRosa. Soto lined a two-out single into left. Marquis popped up to shallow left, and Reyes made the catch to end the inning. Sosa gave up 4 Hits, 4 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 8th Inning.
Final Score: New York Mets 1 - Chicago Cubs 8. The MLB.com Box Score is attached. Nelson Figueroa Jr. (1-1) got the loss and Ted Lilly (1-3) got the win.
OUCH!!! It bothered me a little bit when the Mets lost the final game of the Phillies series, but I figured that the Mets would recover quickly and sweep this mini-series. As you can tell by the scoreboard, the Mets got stomped twice by the Cubies. The Mets starters pitched decently. Wright was the one that stopped driving in the runs. He’s been the only one doing that for the Mets so if he stops then the Mets only put up a run a game which isn’t enough. This Cedeno kid beat the Mets by himself.
The Mets need to get out of Chicago ASAP. Maybe things will turn around as soon as they get off the plane in Washington. The Mets are 10-9 now. They are disappointing me right now.
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 injury list is up to 16 now. The Mets are downplaying the status of the injuries. I’m getting more and more concerned about the ‘08 season. All of these injuries are overshadowing our acquisition of Santana. It was supposed to be an easy season, but we need our A-team to play for that to happen. It seems realistic now that our B-team will be on the field a lot this year. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Being a Mets fan, it just seems like nothing goes our way. All we can do is hope.
