Thank You Brian McBride!

The news today that Brian is leaving Fulham TO RETURN TO THE U.S TO PLAY may have been expected for awhile, but it was still a shock to hear it actually confirmed.


His return from an ugly kneecap injury earlier in the season to help guide the Cottagers to retain their status in the Premiership, at a time when that prospect seemed unlikely, is stirring stuff for those who believe that hard work and dedication are still important today. The one game in my mind is the mid-March HOME WIN against an Everton team fighting for a Champions League spot, with McBride hitting home a crucial second half goal for a deserved victory. Everton coach David Moyes gave McBride a compliment that was seemingly par for the course for McBride's career.

'I don't like anybody scoring against but Brian is a great player, great professional and he deserves everything he gets.'

.


There's a very nice thread on the Fulham message board full of support and appreciation for what McBride has done in terms of being a leader for his team and for being a good role model for younger kids to emulate. Good luck to you Brian and continued success for the next stage of your career in the MLS.


FULHAM APPRECIATION THREAD



FULHAM VS. EVERTON

Cure For A Season Of Mediocrity And Underachieving: Raise Ticket Prices Even More!

How lovely for the fans in White Hart Lane to be treated to ticket price increases after a spectacularly mediocre year, a year in which their Carling Cup championship was certainly overshadowed by some of the most up and down play seen from a team in recent years. Losing 1-4 at home to relegated Birmingham after beating Chelsea for the Cup title? Says it all right there for me. Don't know what the tipping point for some fans will be, but the clubs message of "We're gonna do this..........we're gonna do that.............we're gonna do the other thing..........etc. etc........but we need more of your money first!" is going to wear real thin if next year Spurs perform as abysmally as they did this one.




GOING UP, UP, UP

Mets vs. Braves: This Is A Low

The fleeting thought after yesterday's doubleheader loss to the Braves was that maybe the Mets would charge out of the gate and take early control of the game. With the National League east being so balanced at this point of the season, that honestly didn't seem like much of a stretch to my mind.


Today's game started well enough in that Jose Reyes got on base his first two times at bat, stole a couple of bases, and scored the first run of the game in the top of the third on a David Wright single. So far so good. Then the Braves rally for 3 two-out runs in the bottom for the lead and the win, for all intents and purposes. I do believe that a lot of fans have lost a lot of confidence of this team, very few of their wins have been of the come-from-behind variety.


Combined with the erratic pitching, leaky defense and freaky injuries, these elements have truly produced a season so far filled with a lot of aggravation (the boos ringing loudly in Atlanta tonight in the nightmare seventh inning were a clear indication of that). The Mets did score three late cosmetic runs after the Braves were comfortably ahead, but the 11-4 final score was a barely adequate measuring stick of the awfulness of what happened on the field (the Mets could only get one run off of three Braves errors).


The good news is that the Mets are only 3.5 games out of first at this point, but with the recent woeful run of divisional rivals (one win in the last seven games), that may prove to be a mountain too high to climb if current trends continue. The optimist in me says that Johan Santana will stop the bleeding tomorrow, but seeing as how Tim Hudson is going for Atlanta, the Mets will need to score at least two runs to even have a shot to salvaging something from this miserable series. As always, the masochist in me will be tuning in. Err, Let's Go Mets!!!






METS RECAP

RC Flying Penis Attack Neutralized

Out of left field (literally) comes an RC flying penis interrupting a speech by chess champion Garry Kasparov. Some hilarity does ensue.........until the menace is swatted down in the same manner King Kong was battling those planes whilst on the Empire State Building.



STORY AND VIDEO OF THE EVENT

Could Enrico Palozzo Have Made The Correct Call?

Oh, probably not, but thankfully the overturned call of Carlos Delgado's three-run home run in Sunday's Yankees/Mets game didn't wind up costing the visitors the game.


A very good performance from Oliver Perez led the way for the Mets bats to take over t he game, Perez scattered three hits over 7 and 2/3 innings while the Mets took a couple of innings to figure out Chien-Ming Wang, as well as battering reliver Ross Ohlendorf for their 11 runs to win the two games in the rain-shortened series.


At least home plate umpire (and crew chief) Bob Davidson had to admit that he EFFED UP overruling third base ump Mike Reilly's call of the ball that hit the fair side of the base of the left-field foul poll, right in front of a couple of Mets fans who were quick to point out where the ball hit. Derek Jeter was among the Yankees to argue that the ball was indeed foul, but the call did little to give the Yankees any momentum for the rest of the game. It was a little bit of justice a bit later to see all of the Yankee fans clamoring for a ball hit down the same line by a Yankee batter later in the game to be ruled fair, even though it was clearly foul; I think by this time the Yankee fans had opted for anything in which to hope that they would win this game against their cross-town rivals.


Almost immediately after the blown call, there was a loud exchange of voices audible as Davidson threw out Mets coach Jerry Manuel from the dugout for continuing to argue the call after the play had been reversed.


The call now makes two home runs taken from the Mets this year, the first came in Miami in the third game of the year as Carlos Beltran was given a ground-rule double when a ball was ruled to have hit the top of the fence rather than the metal railing behind which it actually hit.


At least we can kind of laugh about this and debate the merits of instant replay in baseball, I just hope that Delgado doesn't have too many performance incentives in his contract relating to home runs and RBI's.



MANUEL GETS TOSSED



METS RECAP

Mark Your Calendars: Nick Cave September 22nd At The Crystal Ballroom

Very good news has returned in the form of the Black Crow King returning to the City of Roses in late September. Of course, things changed the last time Nick was scheduled to perform in September (back in 2001 on September 23rd, obviously circumstances dictated that, out of respect, Nick and the band would postpone their dates until the next spring).


The new album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is very good, continuing on from the improvement that Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus showed after the slight disappointment that was Nocturama. The title song is typical of the rest of the album, a fierce rock stomp, seeing as how Nick stopped writing songs from the piano for this album, but the songs We Call Upon The Author , More News From Nowhere, and Today's Lesson rank as high in the Cave catalog as anything he's ever done of late. Even without Blixa Bargeld in the band these days, it should still be a show to remember. Roll on this summer.




The McMenamins/Crystal Ballroom blurb is HERE



the video for the title track from the new album............

Dodgers 5 Mets 1: A Dormant Field Of Opportunity

Gonna take the view that tonight's loss to the Dodgers was just one of those games that'll happen over the year, a game in which multiple scoring opportunities are squandered over the game.


The Mets left 14 runners on base, amazingly on just five hits, but I never really got the feeling that the batter at the plate would come through, Dodger starter Chad Billingsley got a few strike outs at the beginning of the game, and finished his six inning stint with a lot of ground ball outs to kill any potential rally dead in its tracks.


Oliver Perez looked like he hadn't recovered from his disastrous last start against the Pirates, and quickly found himself down 2-0 in the first inning as Rafael Furcal led the game off with a home run, followed up by an RBI single from Russ Martin.


Perez settled down for a lengthy stretch, retiring eight batters in a row, and 11 of 12, until the Dodgers struck for two home runs in the fifth on home runs from rookie third baseman Blake DeWitt (his first career homer), and a two-run shot from Matt Kemp to effectively put the game away from the punchless Mets, who seemed to have been just a bit too aggressive at the plate in general.


Other things that happened: Perez took a hard line drive shot to the gut in the bottom of the first from Jeff Kent, but quickly recovered enough to throw him out.... as a batter, Billingsley struck out ineffectually, causing Vin Scully to state that "he was hoisted on his own petard"....Carlos Delgado made a nice toss of the ball from his glove to Perez covering first to nip Juan Pierre in a close play....the Dodger crowd roared for a curtain call from DeWitt, who responded, but it was a bit funny to see his team mates give him the "cold shoulder" when he returned to the dugout. Okay, it only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it was a good feeling to see the thrill for the young man. It's just too bad that it had to happen tonight. We'll see what happens tomorrow, another offensive performance like this one is defintely a cause for concern, but as has been shown elsewhere in both leagues, there is a high degree of uniform mediocrity at this stage of the season.

Mets 5 D-Backs 2: Mets Take The Series

The Mets take two out of three in a benchmark series on the road against the team with the best record in the National League, winning on Friday and today, while losing on Saturday. Both of the wins were on TV here (albeit with the Fox Arizona announcers sadly), while the Saturday loss, by a 10-4 score, was on a Faux regional broadcast. Call me crazy and delusional, but I honestly figured that they would actually show the game here, being that Arizona is in the Western division; however, we were stuck with the Cubs and the Cardinals as our "game of the week", to which I said "no thank you!" instead.



I can't really comment on that game in terms of having watched the proceedings, and about the only good thing I can discern from the stats is that the Mets were able to hit Brandon Webb (five hits in six innings, with four runs on the board), the bullpen imploded in the eighth inning, allowing five runs which put the game out of reach, and that the seventh place hitter in the lineup, second baseman Augie Ojeda , knocked in six runs for the game. Also, we do know that the D-Backs lineup is potent from first to ninth, and that Friday's starting pitcher, Micah Owings, is now hitting .429 on 21 at-bats, made an appearance today as a pinch hitter and hit a single.


In Friday's game, John Maine pitched well, but the Mets continued their offensive domination of the Diamondback at Chase Park. Jose Reyes led off the game in blazing style with a lead off triple andRyan Church and David Wright hit home runs to keep the Mets in control for the entirety of the game. Reyes wound up the game with a single, a double and two triples, the last triple coming in the eighth inning when he blasted a ball to deep center field; once he saw that the ball went over the head of Chris Young (as well as heeding the advice of third base coach Sandy Alomar), Reyes kept his motor revved around the bases in an attempt to hit for the cycle. However, the Diamondbacks recovered in the outfield enough to relay the ball home to catcher Miguel Montero, who was waiting for Reyes and tagged him out. At first, I thought Reyes was going to make the play, and I assume that Alomar did as well, but seeing as how the game was going at that point, there was no harm in trying to see what could happen, as long as he wasn't going to do a Pete Rose on Ray Fosse move. The cameras showed Reyes in the dugout afterward clearly trying to catch his breath for a few minutes.


Today's game featured a pretty good pitching duel between former American Leaguers Johan Santana for the Mets and Dan Haren for Arizona. Both had their moments of brilliance, although Santana walked four batters but somehow escaped damage in five of his six innings.


One of the plays that'll be talked about for awhile was the play Mets rightfielder Ryan Church made in the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at two. Lead off hitter Chris Burke laid down a surprise bunt in an attempt to get on base, but Mets pitcher Pedro Feliciano threw the ball into right field. The Arizona third base coach judged that it was okay for Burke to try for third, but Church made a terrific one-hop throw to Wright that just beat Burke to the base.


The Mets added the final three runs in the top of the ninth when a key throwing error by Arizona first baseman Conor Jackson opened the door to victory. Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou led the inning off with singles, and when Carlos Delgado grounded out to first base, Jackson went for the runner going to second instead of the batter; his throw wound up in left field, Beltran scored and the Mets still had runners on first and second with no outs. A Brian Schneider sacrifice, a pinch hit by Marlon Anderson (his first of the year, I think), and a sacrifice fly from Reyes rounded out the Mets scoring, leaving closer Billy Wagner a lot of space in the bottom of the ninth to end the game and give the series to the Mets.



On to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers winning streak of eight games was ended today by the Colorado Rockies.


ESPN RECAP FROM TODAY


REYES ON HIS NEAR-CYCLE

Reading 0 Tottenham 1

A very good all-around effort from Spurs today resulted in the 0-1 victory. This ends a run of four games of 1-1 draws for Spurs, but is the sixth straight game without a goal for the home side Royals, only two of those having been draws.


Robbie Keane took a nice pass from Darren Bent and found the goal fairly easily in the 16th minute as the Reading defenders collapsed between themselves on the Spurs attack, and continued to dominate the play for the majority of the first half, they should have had a second goal just minutes later from Steed Malbranque, but he was ruled to have been offsides, though replays showed he was indeed onside. Oh well, at least this blown call didn't really affect the outcome of the match.


Reading showed more spark in the second half, with Spurs goalie Radek Cerny making some fine saves throughout to preserve the lead.


Dimitar Berbatov did not play due to a groin injury, and with all of the recent news regarding his wishes to play in the Champions League, who knows if this was a preview of what to expect if he is no longer playing at White Hart Lane. Keane and Bent did well today up front, though it wasn't quite as effective as when the Irishman had been playing with Berbatov. That may certainly change with time of course, but it was more than effective today against a team fighting for its survival.




Coupled with Man U's 4-1 destruction of West Ham today, Spurs can still finish the season in the top half. A win for Spurs at home versus Liverpool coupled with a Hammer loss or draw (at Upton Park) against Aston Villa will do the trick. With Liverpool having even less to play for than Spurs, it seems a golden opportunity to salvage something from a disappointing season. At the very least, and as always, COME ON YOU SPURS!



BBC REPORT

Time Flies When One's Having (?) Fun: The Ramones & D.O.A 25 Years Ago Today

Sorry, no lost archival footage from the show from either band here, just a note to remember one of the most frenzied shows I've ever had the pleasure to witness. The smart folks at John Bauer, along with the EMU Cultural Forum, had the good sense to bring to Eugene, for the first time ever I think, the Ramones along with Vancouver's brilliant D.O.A. in a sonic assault for their eager fans at the EMU Ballroom.


This post is dedicated to the memory of a lost friend, Cary, who I had the good fortune to turn onto the Ramones, away from the dreary stadium rock that he'd grown up on. We cruised to the show in our self-styled Ramonesmobile eagerly looking forward to the show; what we got surpassed our expectations by a mile. Cary was right up front bouncing around with the best of them, and he enjoyed the show so much that he wound up getting Dee Dee's bass pick, Dee Dee had told him that it was cool to see him enjoying the music so much.


The Ramones were touring behind Subterranean Jungle, in my mind an underrated album in the Ramones catalog. D.O.A. had released War On 45 a little bit earlier; of course, opening for the bruddahs, Joey Shithead and the band made an excellent showing in front of the rabid audience.



Cary only lived a couple of years after this show, but he always thanked me for playing him the Ramones, and always with a smile on his face as he did. I'm always smiling at the memories of this show, both for the music and for Cary. Thanks buddy, I had a great time indeed. R.I.P. (And R.I.P. to Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee as well....thanks for your music.)


The Ramones covering Time Has Come Today on a date a few weeks before Eugene (bootleg audio over the album cover, good quality), and D.O.A. from 1981 telling someone to Get Out Of My Life.

The Bitterness (?) Of Younes Kaboul

At this point in time, as another lackluster season draws to a close, the relative merits of what has gone right and wrong with Spurs is being debated, by both team officials and the fans, as a guide as to what to try and improve for next season. The firing of Marin Jol is one aspect, colored a bit by the injury factor at the time. The hiring of Juande Ramos brought a new attitude, a bit of a swagger that helped in Spurs triumph in taking home the Carling Cup earlier this year.


Now today comes word that a favorite of Jol's , Younes Kaboul, who hasn't played regularly for the past month or so under Ramos, has blasted Ramos, saying that Spurs would have won the Carling Cup even if Jol was still the coach.


I'm going to give the Frenchman a bit of a break on this one, what he's saying in this newly published article just shows a man who is clearly frustrated at his lack of playing time. One thing that I think might be behind Kaboul's words is that, no matter who the coach is, Spurs have been amazingly inconsistent all season, and that the brusque style of Ramos is bound to wear on a player who has fallen out of favor for whatever reason; I'm guessing that Kaboul sees other reasons for the inconsistency and lashed out when he'd had enough. He probably shouldn't have lashed out publicly like he did, but that's irrelevant now. KABOUL STORY


Going to dwell on the good things that he's done in his year here (highly unlikely he'll be back after this outburst), such as his dramatic injury time goal against Aston Villa in the amazing 4-4 draw back at the beginning of the year.

Tottenham 1 Bolton 1: No Clinical Finishing Here

Spurs managed their fourth straight 1-1 draw as they statistically dominated visiting Bolton but had very little to show for their efforts except for the one point.


This draw was different from the previous three in that they came from behind in this one. Bolton scored first, in the opening minute of the second half, when a misplayed clearance sent the visitors onrushing the goal, the result being that Stelios Giannakopoulos knocked the ball in from close range amidst a tangle of fallen bodies in front of the goal.


Spurs replied just a few minutes later as Steed Malbranque chipped in a pass from Robbie Keane to level the score. The rest of the match was a continuation of what had transpired in the first half, with Spurs unable to finish the chances they were given.


An unremarkable game, even if Bolton were fighting to stave off relegation as Spurs really have nothing to play for other than their pride. That being said, it wasn't like the match was a trivial exhibition, both teams were trying hard to win, it's just that the shots didn't fall today as they sometimes do.



SOCCERNET REPORT.



The really good news is that Croatian midfielder Luka Modric is now a Spur, having watched the match from the directors box today and choosing the team over Newcastle. Heh heh heh. STORY

And There Was Much Rejoicing: Sports Talk Is Back On The Air

Couldn't quite believe my ears today when, at the end of the Writer's Block show on 1320, host George Schroeder announced that the much missed Sports Talk, a local call in show hosted by Steve Tannen, would return to the air next Monday, having been canceled a bit more than a month ago by KPNW.


The announced time slot for the show was given at noon to 2 p.m., currently where the Dan Patrick show is now heard, albeit on a three-hour time delay. Having appreciated his return to radio, I'd resigned myself to never hearing from Mr. Patrick again. The one factor that I had not counted on was the news that the programming director of 1320 was dropping the Jim Rome show instead, moving Patrick's show into that time period.


Can't say I'll miss Rome terribly, I get annoyed at times when he will chide his listeners for one particular thing, telling them to grow up and never do that again............but he won't let the subject drop and will continue to talk about it for several more minutes. Besides, if I have a need to hear Rome (and there are times when I do, but I find myself wishing he would take more vacations so that we could hear the Sklar brothers instead), I will just turn to 1240 Joe Radio for that fix.


The excellent Duck Sports News, a great compendium of Duck information, has some more information on the story HERE, including the press release from Cumulus Broadcasting announcing the change.


Welcome back Steve, you were most certainly missed this past month, especially during the NCAA men's basketball tourney!

Avram Grant's Monosyllabic Obfuscation

Can't let slip by a transcript of the great "interview" Chelsea coach Avram Grant had with the press after last Thursday's win at Everton. The dour man is certainly in the unenviable position of having to had replace the loquacious Jose Mourinho as the man who took charge of a club in fight for both a Premiereship and Champions League title midway through a season. Seeing as though both the majority of fans (and the press as well) have not embraced him as a competent manager of a top club, it was probably inevitable that this outburst was bound to happen. The interview lasted a bit more than five minutes, and here's a sample question and answer.







You seem lost for words by the performance. Are you more satisfied with the performance or the victory?

Both.



More of the cat and mouse game, from the Independent, is HERE

Wigan 1 Tottenham 1: Same Old Sad Song

Another familiar theme dominated the match at the JJB today, another similar verse in a season-long song of defensive shortcomings. That would be Spurs grabbing an early lead, only to see the lead evaporate rather shortly afterward, with the majority of results ending in a draw or loss (this was the third consecutive draw by that score achieved in that manner, and the fourth game in a row in which Spurs scored first, that one being the 1-4 disaster at home against Newcastle at the end of March).



Dimitar Berbatov, wide open in front of the goal area, knocked in a great pass from Aaron Lennon in just the sixth minute to give Spur the lead, but Emile Heskey, just five minutes later, replied on a run that caught Spurs a bit flat-footed defensively.



The rest of the match saw a ton of blown opportunities on both sides, a bit frustrating when Spurs were on the offensive, and a bit unnerving when the Latics, especially Marcus Bent, caused havoc in front of Spurs goalie Radek Cerny. Bent knocked paint off the bar on a driving shot midway through the second half that had me cringing seeing as how wide open he was, luck was definitely looking out for Spurs at that time.




SPURS REPORT

Shunsuke Nakamura's Goal Vs. Rangers: Are You Kidding Me?

Great to see the Bhoys win a crucial match to keep their SPL title hope alive; what I'll remember though is the amazing strike by Celtic's Nakamura, his quick corralling of the pass and then the subsequent twisting blast shot on goal with his left foot is a thing of beauty. C'mon the hoops!

Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1: SURPRISE.....IT'S HARGREAVES!!!

Gotta love Owen Hargreaves for sinking the Gunners faint league title hopes with a wicked free kick that no one on Arsenal(save for maybe Robert van Persie, who made a half hearted jump) even made a move to block. That kick was the final of two second half goals for the Red Devils at Old Trafford as they overcame a 0-1 deficit for the victory.


It's true, the visitors did outplay Man U for large parts of the game, but both teams missed golden opportunities to score, and some good work from the goalkeeper and the defense is always essential to success; that part of the game isn't just luck, as Arsene Wenger trotted out the latest version of "we outplayed them, we were just unlucky, etc" for everyone afterward.



Also gotta love the fact that Arsenal's annoying goalie Jens Lehmann (RIGHT, NOT A BITTER MAN AT ALL), who declared earlier in the week that WERE HE IN GOAL, ARSENAL WOULD NOT HAVE LOST IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH VS. LIVERPOOL just stood there with the rest of his teammates on the Hargreaves free kick.




The lovely, lovely goal, which made me laugh out loud for the first time since, errr, Tuesday I suppose, is linked below.


COULD RONALDO HAVE DONE ANY BETTER THAN THIS?

Because Love Hurts, Stinks And Bites ( Don't Forget It's A Heart Disease As Well)

Cheers to the KLOO listener, Lori in Stayton I think, who, on the station's Friday 4 p.m. SELECT A SET, a regular programming feature where a selected listener gets to pick three or four songs that the station will air, went for a set that dealt directly with matters of the heart.


Can't recall ever hearing a thematic set before, but something maybe has gone amiss in that person's life, for KLOO listeners were treated to Love Hurts by Nazareth, Love Stinks by the J. Geils Band, Love Bites by Def Leppard, and Heart Of Stone by the Rolling Stones. Surely a nice cheerful way to roll into what's going to be a fantastic weekend, no?


John Cooper Clarke's wonderful Heart Disease Called Love was obviously not in the stations vast music library, that certainly would have been a perfect addition to the songs selected. There's no video of that song that I could find, so here's another classic track from the Bard Of Salford in a similar vein, entitled Tw@t. This post is dedicated to an ex-roommate of mine, not because he was or is an idiot, far from it, but because once he heard my twin-grooved 45 back then, he would have me play it at parties constantly. Ain't love grand? (this is the uncensored version, with language probably NSFW).

New York Mets 4 Phillies 3 (12 Innings): He Was Clearly Safe. Err, Maybe.

Much better played game than the poor showing that what happened on Wednesday, the Mets edged the Phillies 4-3 in the 12th inning as Angel Pagan drove in Jose Reyes from second on a ground single to shallow center field.


There was controversy on that play, as Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth quickly got the ball to home plate, where catcher Chris Coste was waiting, the plate blocked with his left leg. Reyes slid past Coste's leg and reached out to touch the plate with his hand, either a split second before or after the catcher had applied the tag, depending on which team you were rooting for. Since umpire Ted Barrett was right there, I'll go with his call on this one.


Only the Mets Aaron Heilman had what could be called a rough outing, giving up two runs in the eighth inning which allowed the Phillies to tie the score at 3, but the rest of the staffs did reasonably well indeed, though Mets starter John Maine did give up five walks in his six innings.


The new outfield additions to the Mets were largely responsible for the offensive output tonight, in addition to the game winning RBI by Pagan, right fielder Ryan Church opened the score book with a two run single in the fourth. Carlos Beltran got the other RBI in the sixth by driving in Pagan.


The Phillies got two solo home runs, one from Pedro Feliz and one from Ryan Howard, as well as the tying run in the eighth that came via a walk, a single, and a fielder's choice.



The Milwaukee Brewers are next for the Mets starting tomorrow, so Let's Go Mets!



ESPN RECAP

New York Mets 8 Phillies 2: Wrap The Gift Up, We'll Take It

Good God, even as a Mets fan that third inning, an inning in which the Mets scored six runs, was a bit painful to watch. Not that the amazing ineptness in which the Phillies exhibited early on could ease any of the pain from last season's choke-job, but it helped a bit tonight.


Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick walked six Mets in the first two inning, allowed no hits, yet found himself trailing 1-0 thanks to the first of four Phillie errors. The Phillies scratched out the tying run in the top of the second on a series of singles, but Mets starter Mike Pelfrey got out of a jam by inducing a couple of ground balls to end the inning.


The Mets got their six runs in the bottom of the third on four hits, three errors, and a wild pitch (their was another walk, but no runs scored because of that one). Two of the Phillies errors were on substitute shortstop Eric Bruntlett, filling in as Jimmy Rollins was injured. Bruntlett booted two balls that could easily have been double plays, and those errors led to the last four Mets runs of the inning, the first Phillie error of the inning was on catcher Carlos Ruiz, who made a throwing error to third base to load them up when the score was just 2-1 Mets with one out.



The Mets got that second run by opening the inning with three consecutive hits, but then the wheels really fell off, and with Rollins out and Ryan Howard still struggling at the plate, the game was over for all intents and purposes.







ESPN RECAP