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The New York Mets (18-16) are playing Game 35 of the 2008 Regular Season against the Cincinnati Reds (15-22) at Shea Stadium. It’s the rubber game of a three-game series. The game began at 1:10 p.m., and it was aired on CW11.
Today is “Mother’s Day at Shea”
Reds Lineup: Freel, Votto, Griffey Jr., Phillips, Encarnacion, Dunn, Keppinger, Bako, Cueto.
Mets Lineup: Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Beltran, Church, Alou, Delgado, Schneider, Perez.
On the Mound
Oliver Perez (2-3) was the starting pitcher for the Mets. In the Top of the 1st, Griffey drew a two-out walk. Phillips flied out to right. Perez gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 1st Inning. In the Top of the 2nd, Keppinger lined a two-out single into center. Perez caught Bako looking at strike three. Perez gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 2nd Inning. In the Top of the 3rd, Perez pitched his first 1-2-3 inning of the game. Perez gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 3rd Inning. In the Top of the 4th, Phillips drew a one-out walk on four pitches. Eencarnacion popped up near home, and Schneider made the catch. With Dunn at the plate, Phillips stole second with no throw. Perez fanned Dunn to end the inning. Perez gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 4th Inning. In the Top of the 5th, Keppinger drew a leadoff walk. Perez struck out Bako swinging. Cueto dropped down a bunt down the first base line, and Delgado made the out at first as Keppinger advanced to second. Perez hit Freel with the pitch. Perez fanned Votto to end the inning. Perez gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 2 SOs in the 5th Inning. In the Top of the 6th, Griffey drew a leadoff walk. Phillips hit the ball foul of the right field wall, and Church made the out. Encarnacion lined the ball to deep left, and Alou dropped it so Encarnacion ended up with a double as Griffey went first to third. Adam Dunn hit a sacrifice fly to center, and Ken Griffey Jr. tagged up and scored and Encarnacion tagged up and went to third. Jeff Keppinger worked the count full before lining a two-out RBI triple to the gap in left center, and Edwin Encarnacion scored. With Bako in the batters box, Perez threw a wild pitch that went to the backstop and Jeff Keppinger scored. Bako flied out to center. Perez gave up 2 Hits, 3 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning. Perez left the game after pitching 6.0 Innings allowing 3 Hits, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 4 BBs, and he had 8 SOs.
Randolph replaced Perez with Scott Schoeneweis to begin the Top of the 7th. Freel dropped a one-out single into left. Schoeneweis picked off Freel at first, and the Mets got him in a rundown and then got Freel out at second. Schoeneweis struck out Votto looking. Schoeneweis gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 7th Inning. In the Top of the 8th, Phillips grounded a one-out single up the middle. Encarnacion drove a one-out single to the gap in right center, and Phillips went first to third. Schoeneweis struck out Dunn swinging. Schoeneweis gave up 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 8th Inning. Schoeneweis left the game after pitching 1.2 Innings allowing 3 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 3 SOs.
Randolph replaced Schoeneweis with Joe Smith with two outs in the Top of the 8th. Smith fanned Keppinger. Smith gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 0 SOs in the 8th Inning.
Randolph replaced Smith with Pedro Feliciano to begin the Top of the 9th. The inning has been slowed down because the Reds batted out of order. It seems like the Coaches and the Umpires don’t know how to deal with the situation. Ross grounded a one-out single up the middle. Freel grounded to second, and Easley made the out at first as Ross advanced to second. Votto grounded to second, and Easley made the out at first to end the game. Feliciano gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 9th Inning.
At the Plate
Johnny Cueto (2-3) was the starting pitcher for the Reds. In the Bottom of the 1st, Reyes lined a leadoff single to center. With Castillo at the plate, Reyes stole second by a mile. Luis Castillo hit the ball into the gap in right center, and miscommunication between Griffey and Freel allowed the ball to fall so Castillo ended up with an RBI triple while Jose Reyes came around to score. Wright flied out to shallow center, and Castillo held up at third. Carlos Beltran lined a one-out RBI double into the gap in left center, and Luis Castillo came home to score. Church lined out to first. Moises Alou lined a two-out opposite field RBI double to the right field corner, and Carlos Beltran scored. Delgado flied out to center to end the fun. Cueto gave up 4 Hits, 3 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 1st Inning. In the Bottom of the 2nd, Perez drew a one-out walk. Reyes popped up to center, and Freel made the catch. With Castillo at the plate, Perez stole second with no throw because the Reds were very confused. Cueto struck Castillo out on a called strike. Cueto gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 2nd Inning. In the Bottom of the 3rd, Wright drew a leadoff walk. Cueto struck out Beltran swinging as Wright took off for second, and Bako threw Wright out at second. Cueto fanned Church. Cueto gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 2 SO in the 3rd Inning. In the Bottom of the 4th, Delgado drew a one-out walk on four pitches. Schneider popped up foul of the third base line, and Encarnacion made the catch. Perez dropped down a bunt towards the pitcher, and Cueto did not field the ball properly so Perez beat it out and Delgado went to second. Cueto got Reyes swinging at a pitch in the dirt to end the inning. Cueto gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 1 BB, and he had 1 SO in the 4th Inning. In the Bottom of the 5th, Castillo beat out a slow grounder to short for a leadoff single. Cueto fanned Wright. Carlos Beltran crushed a one-out 2-run homer to right field scoring Luis Castillo. Ryan Church followed that up with a solo shot to center. Alou grounded out to short. Cueto gave up 3 Hits, 3 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 5th Inning. Cueto left the game after pitching 4.2 Innings allowing 8 Hits, 6 Runs, 6 ER, 3 BBs, and he had 5 SOs.
Baker replaced Cueto with Bill Bray with two outs in the Bottom of the 5th. Bray fanned Delgado. Bray gave up 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 5th Inning. In the Bottom of the 6th, Reyes grounded over the third base bag and down the line for a two-out double. Bray gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 6th Inning. Bray left the game after pitching 1.0 Innings allowing 1 Hit, 1 Run, 1 ER, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs.
Baker replaced Bray with Jared Burton with two outs in the Bottom of the 6th. Easley replaced Castillo, and Damion Easley lined a two-out RBI single into right which scored Jose Reyes. With Wright at the plate, Burton threw a wild pitch and Easley stole second. David Wright worked the count full before grounding an RBI single through the hole on the left side which scored Damion Easley. Beltran grounded to third, and Encarnacion made the force out at second to end the inning. Burton gave up 2 Hits, 2 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 0 SOs in the 6th Inning.
Baker replaced Burton with Jeremy Affeldt to begin the Bottom of the 7th. Delgado dropped a two-out opposite field single to left. Schneider grounded to the pitcher, and Affeldt made the out at first to end the inning. Affeldt gave up 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 1 SO in the 7th Inning.
Baker replaced Affeldt with David Weathers to begin the Bottom of the 8th. Anderson pinch hit for Smith, and Anderson led off with a leadoff double into the right field corner. Reyes chopped the ball to third and beat it out without a throw, and Anderson went to third. Weathers caught Easley staring at strike three. With Wright at the plate, Weathers threw a passed ball so Reyes stole second. Weathers struck out Wright swinging. Beltran grounded out to second to end the inning. Weathers gave up 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BBs, and he had 2 SOs in the 8th Inning.
Final Score: Cincinnati Reds 3 - New York Mets 8. The MLB.com Box Score is attached. Oliver Perez (3-3) got the win and Johnny Cueto (2-4) got the loss.
The Mets were able to win on Mother’s Day, and they were able to win this series against the Reds. Oli pitched in classic Oli fashion as he pitched 5 shutout innings and then gave up 3 runs out of no where. The ‘pen put up goose eggs today. The offense scored 8 runs, and Beltran led the charge again with 3 RBIs. The best thing about the past few games is that other batters are driving in runs while David is in his slump. In April, Wright drove in almost all of the team’s RBIs. For this team to dominate, everybody needs to contribute. If nobody else drove in the runs then the Metsies would lose these games against the last place teams. I hope it’s a good sign of things to come.
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Last night’s game got postponed so the Reds and the Mets are playing a double header today. The Mets stomped the Reds in the early game, and the night game begins at 7:30 p.m. Hopefully, we’ll get to witness another whoopin’ tonight. Mike Pelfrey is supposed to face Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo used to be the Reds’ ace, but his 1-4 record in ‘08 wouldn’t show us any evidence of that. Pelfrey started out the year pitching well, but tailed off lately. If he doesn’t have a good outing, then possibly the offense can put up double digits again.
For one day, the Metropolitans were able to put it all together. They came home from their west coast trip with a 3-3 record. The Mets are sporting a 17-15 record now. Kinda boring, huh? It seems like they are always around .500. My expectations of the ‘08 season are dwindling because they aren’t showing me anything special. Something isn’t right with the team, and it doesn’t make sense because I thought they had a shot at winning the World Series a month ago.
