In a possible N.L. playoff preview, the Mets twice rallied in the late innings to defeat the San Diego Padres, a win made all the sweeter by the fact that the Mets rallied after letting an early 4-1 lead change to a 5-4 deficit by the time the eighth inning rolled around.
Met fans tend to hold their breath when their closer Billy Wagner takes the mound, especially against the better teams, and tonight he wasn't especially sharp, entering the game in the top of the ninth with the score tied at 5. Wagner allowed a hit, a walk (on four pitches, no less), and a hit batter to load the bases with one out. Next came a deep sacrifice fly to right field that brought the lead run into score. Wagner escaped further damage by getting the third out on a strike out.
The Mets rallied with the bottom third of the line-up in the ninth, Lastings Milledge got things rolling with a single off of Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, Mike DeFelice moved him to second with a bunt, to be followed by pinch hitter Marlon Anderson's single that scored Milledge to knot the score again. Jose Reyes then singled, sending Anderson to second, and then Luis Castillo, who has done little wrong since his acquisition from the Minnesota Twins, drilled the first pitch he saw from Hoffman back up the middle for the winning run.
Can't forget the fact that Carlos Beltran single handedly kept the Mets in the game until the ninth with 5 RBIs, or the fact that he did it against the league leader in ERA, Chris Young.
It wasn't a perfect game, some shaky fielding choices (though probably shaped by the drizzly weather, to be fair), and once again, it's not often that two of the top closers in the majors look so bad, but all things considered, a comeback win against a playoff caliber team is not to be sniffed at. I was just hoping that the Mets weren't going to hurt themselves by mobbing Castillo after the hit ( or the second baseman for that matter).
METS RECAP
No comments:
Post a Comment