Week Two
(April 11th – April 17th)
“After a Taste of both Rivals”
New York Mets
(3 – 4)
3rd place/3.0 GB
The Past (week one pt. 2): Philadelphia Phillies Series…The first two games of the series the Mets showed up to play, especially on Tuesday night when they looked great. Wednesday night they had their classic up and down look after a slow start and a big hole by the time 3 innings had past, but the Mets showed a glimpse of their heart. In essence it was a “well played” and hard fought battle going 1 – 1 against their division rival. Not bad, something to be proud of. Game three however, once again gave the upper hand to the Phillies and their ace, Roy Halladay. An 11 – 0 loss is the type of game that will live on and fester for a bit in the 25 heads as the Mets traveled home for the first time this year.
The week started out on the right foot with the Mets scoring six in the 3rd inning of game one demolishing Cole Hamels, (making him now 0 – 5 against the Mets since the beginning of 2010) and sending him to the club house after getting only 7 batters out. Chris Young baffled Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard repeatedly and fought his way through walks giving up the only run of the game the Mets would surrender in his 5 1/3 innings pitched. David Wright opened the night striking out with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the first after Terry Collins put on the double steal pressuring the hell out of Hamels. Following a messy 1st inning where the Mets should’ve been quickly on the board Cole looked to be lucky and ready to roll. Not so fast Sir, as the Mets began pouring it on in the 3rd with hit after hit after hit, producing runs and shocking Phillies fans and silencing the 45,000 plus size crowd. David Wright went 4 for 4 after his miserable first plate appearance and the Mets took a 6 – 0 lead for Chris Young, who also had a stellar day at the plate going 3 for 3 and an RBI to boot. The Mets looked good and the Phillies were stunned. A 7 – 1 win sent a fastidious message of brotherly love.
Game two of the series started out the complete opposite way with the Phillies jumping all over Mike Pelfrey’s second awful start of his 2011 season giving his impression of Cole Hamels by surrendering six earned runs in 2 innings. The Mets again had Jose Reyes on base and in scoring position before the game started but for the second straight night did nothing with him and put up a goose egg in the 1st inning. So with the Philly’s up 7 runs after 3 innings things looked bleak and Mets fans worried that this was the fear of how things would go. With the cracked bell echoing its ring in the outfield of Citizens Bank Park from Ryan Howard’s monster blast to center and Joe Blanton serving up a 2 RBI base hit (Doing his impression of Chris Young from the night before) the deficit looked sad, but a promising turn arose with the Mets coming all the way back in the 4th and the 5th. The Amazin’s scored 7 runs of their own off of the Phillies fifth starter tying the game with four innings to play. Can you say…intriguing? Mets fans rise and think, “Holy shit, we might have something here, a team that won’t back down.” Then, just as quick as that sentence ended all the positive thoughts drifted away in the bottom of the 5th (Blaine Boyer’s 3 ER’s in 2 innings was enough to keep the Mets at bay suffering a 10 - 7 loss) that Wednesday night and continued all the way through Thursday afternoon. The Mets went 13 innings unable to score a run, but 7 of those innings were due to Roy Halladay. He pitched seven scoreless on Thursday’s 11 – 0 win and the Phillies took the series 2 – 1 just like we expected. Game three was all Phillies and Roy…or all Roy and Phillies, I don’t know who controls who. He’s the reigning Cy Young award winner, and by the time the series got to Halladay we didn’t expect much more besides the fact of stealing one win and the Mets did just that. The Mets had plenty of hits in the series, but they were out scored 22 to 14. Not horrible when you look at the offense, but not what you need with your pitching. Giving up 39 hits in three games doesn’t hold well in any argument. The last negative aspect that came from this first rival series of the year was the Mets not scoring in the 1st inning of the first two games. They had 2nd and 3rd with no outs in game one…no runs. Then 1st and 2nd with nobody out in game 2…no damn runs. Work on that early lead and the Mets will bring confidence to a young, destabilized pitching staff and things can turn around.
Player of the series: Jose Reyes going 6 for 14 with a double, 2 runs scored and 1 stolen base. He needs to take initiative and steal at will.
Washington Nationals Series…The Home Opener was a wash. It was cold, wet, foggy and disappointing to know that there was no chance of the Mets pulling off a sweep after losing the first game 6 - 2. The Mets forgot how to hit with runners on base and didn't attempt to steal a base. Dickey pitch below average ball and the stadium didn't sell out. The announcer at the Citi Field did say it was a sell-out, but if you watched the game there were plenty of empty seats. All around it was a sad, dull and gloomy first game in Queens. One to forget about so we'll stop here until something positive happens.
Hey, who let the 'positivity train" roll on the number 7 line outside Citi Field? This is what the fans needed to witness the previous day. 10,000 less fans got to appreciate the Mets offense live on Saturday night. Starting pitching was once again suspect with Chris Capuano making his first official start going a hard 6 innings and giving up four runs. Surprisingly he struck out 8 Washington batters, but yielded two long balls in the process. However the most surprising feat set on Saturday night was the return of Carlos Beltran's two, yes TWO dingers in consecutive at bats raising his average to .240 and perking up interest for future trade bait. Reyes stole his third base of the season while Pagan added his fourth and when those two put pressure on the opposing defense they can wreak havoc at any given time. Eight runs on eight hits was enough to take the Nationals 8 - 4, as the Mets extended the lead to four in the bottom of the 8th inning after bringing in F. Rodriguez. Getting the final out in the Top of the 8th solidified K-Rod towards his first save of the 2011 season. Still in an inning and a third he walked two and struck out one.
Player of the series: If I have to give it to someone I guess Beltran for his two HRs on Saturday or K-Rod picking up his first save since punching his girlfriend’s father in the nose.
* For details on the rubber match of this series scroll down past the Yankee review, past the Fantasy section and a little further passed Adam Hammer's "Loose Lips" and witness the Nationals @ Mets getting a live Dr. Kas Dissection Operation. This is where Dr. Kas is watching every pitch and talks bluntly throughout the game. This NEW segment will pop up randomly throughout the year. My blog site is cheap as shit and i wish I can blog it live, but not yet my friends...not until I'm taught correctly.
The Future (week two):
Projected Pitching Match-ups
Game 10: Rockies @ Mets on Monday April 11th at 7:05pm
(Jason Hammel 1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. (Mike Pelfrey 0-1, 15.63 ERA)
Game 11: Rockies @ Mets on Tuesday April 12th at 7:05pm
(Esmil Rogers 1-0, 1.23 ERA) vs. (Jon Niese 0-1, 6.55 ERA)
Game 12: Rockies @ Mets on Wednesday April 13th at 7:05pm
(Greg Reynolds 0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. (R.A. Dickey 1-1, 2.45 ERA)
Game 13: Rockies @ Mets on Thursday April 14th at 1:05pm
(Jhoulys Chacin 2-0, 2.77 ERA) vs. (Chris Capuano 1-0, 6.75 ERA)
Game 14: Mets @ Braves on Friday April 15th at 7:30pm
(Chris Young 1-0, 1.46 ERA) vs. (TBA)
Game 15: Mets @ Braves on Saturday April 16th at 4:10pm *FOX
(Mike Pelfrey 0-1, 15.63 ERA) vs. (TBA)
Game 16: Mets @ Braves on Sunday April 17th at 1:35pm
(Jon Niese 0-1, 6.55 ERA) vs. (TBA)
Game Nine thru Thirteen – The Mets really disappointed me this weekend losing the series against Washington. Colorado is way better and yeah, so is Atlanta. The deal with Colorado is that we know they have the bats to put up runs…great, just what the Mets need, I know…but who are these opposing pitchers? Esmil Rogers and Greg Reynolds both pitched well last time out, but it was against the Pirates. The Pirates have improved and gave the Rockies some good battles, but we can only hope the Mets are angry and understand that they need to win games early to get fans to the stadium.
Game Fourteen thru Sixteen – Atlanta, another division rival. I don’t want them to only take one out of two. This isn’t Philly and you didn’t pounce on the Nationals so they need to travel to Tomahawk City and lay down the lumber. David Wright has hit 12 HRs in his career at Turner Field which is second to only Citizens Bank Park when he is away from home. He needs to hit opposite field and hit with runners on. Get Pagan out of that 5 hole and continue to steal bases at will.
(A “weak” long prediction 4-3)
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New York Yankees
(5 - 4)
2nd place/1.0 GB
The Past (week one pt. 2): Minnesota Twins Series…Any time three games are played and all three are decided by one run you got yourself an exciting series of baseball. I feel bad for the Twins, even though they took one game out from under the Yankees in game two of this series, but I still feel bad for them. Why? Maybe it's because of all the heartbreaking ways they always seem to lose in the playoffs and at Yankee stadium during the regular season. The Yankees usually put the “ka-bosh” on the Twins season and it sometimes just comes down to pure luck. Bad luck in fact, of always having to face the 200 million dollar team every year in the ALDS. Or simply put, maybe I'm just a softy and tend to like some small town teams.
Game one was a mirror image of how the Bronx Bombers want to win games in 2011, the “underdog” year. Just like C.C.’s first game against the Tigers, Ivan Nova came out on Monday night pitching with heart and solidifying his shot at being in this high profile rotation. He pitched 6 strong innings getting the defense to turn a couple double plays, keeping a one run lead in tack for the 1-2-3 closing group troop of the bullpen to come in a put a stamp on another win. All was well with Joba, Soriano and the greatest closer to ever play the game, Mariano Rivera, who picked up his 3rd save in as many chances. The Yankees got out to an early lead, held it and put another one in the win column.
Tuesday night C.C. was rock solid, going 7 innings of two hit ball locating 67 strikes in 104 pitches. The problem was he should’ve went 8 innings, but manager Joe Girardi wanted to use his set-up man again and it failed for the first time this year. Soriano couldn’t locate the strike zone and mustered up 4 runs with 3 free passes and could not get out of the inning. That damn pitch count haunts a team again. Mo did come in after the Twins tied the game up and pitched another scoreless frame, but Matt Capps held the Yankees hitless for two innings and Joe Nathan picked up his second save of the season since returning from Tommy John surgery last year. Big Tex added his fourth HR in five games in the 1st inning, but it wasn’t enough and the Twins finally took one. The hard hitters from Minnesota needed an extra inning to do so in their 5 – 4 win in the chilly Bronx, but must be pleased with another close battle with an American League top team.
A day of rest took place instead of a game three and both teams’ bullpens got a relief of their own. A make-up date was not announced so the Twins will have to travel back up to New York sometime this year for one game…sounds tiring.
The series rubber match was just as exciting as the first two games with A.J. Burnett becoming the first Yankee to win two games this year. Surprised? I thought so. He pitched well, giving up only two runs in 6 innings while striking out five Twins batters and walking two. He kept the ball in the park and once again Girardi went to his 1-2-3 punch with Joba, Soriano and Mo. Mariano looked great for the fifth straight appearance and fourth save in as many tries. With the 0 – 6 Boston red Sox on deck and the Yankees first trip away from home we hope the strength of the bullpen holds up, but most importantly it would be nice to see them not have to be used so frequently. It’s a long season Joe and the three big boys in the bullpen have been used in all four victories. In this last game of the series a terrific accomplishment was met sending a message to all opposing teams when the Yankees 2, 3 and 4 batters went 0 for 9 and the win was still pulled out. Like I said all three games were very well fought with each game decided by one run which makes for edge of your seat style viewing and a welcome mat for the 1st long week of a new baseball season.
Player of the series: Mariano Rivera getting two more saves on his way to topple Trevor Hoffman’s record and pitching 3 scoreless innings in as many games.
Boston Red Sox Series…Let the hit parade begin in Boston. Coming into this series with the Yankees at 0-6 you know it was important for Boston to get in the winning column. Well, their best chance I think would be against rookie pitcher Ivan Nova in game two of three game series. Was I ever wrong again…The answer for the Red Sox was Phil Hughes. Or should I say the struggling Phil Hughes? The second year full time starter is now the biggest question mark being talked about in the Evil Empires locked door offices. “They” say his velocity is down, how about his confidence and spirit? He served up batting practice for a team that needed a win badly and gave up 6 runs in 2 innings without a strikeout. His ERA jumped to 16.50 in two starts and now his next start is in a query state. I say give him the ball one more time and see if he improves on anything. On the up-side, the Yankees never shut down. They scored at least one run in each of the first 5 innings coming back from an early deficit, but even a solid performance out of the bullpen from Bartolo Colon wasn’t enough to keep the Red Sox winless for the season. A-Rod jacked his third bomb of the season, while Mark Teixeira slowly came back down to earth going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. The Yankees lost a game with 20 hits between the two teams 9-6 and errors in the field did not help the situation at Boston’s home opener.
Now to the rookie for game two. Ivan Nova already had one respectable start under his belt this season taking care of business earlier in the week against the Twins in the confines of his home turf and hometown fans. Going into a disgruntle Boston city and the classic Fenway Park would be a different story…and it was. He started off adequate getting through 3 innings giving up 1 run. As he took the mound in the Bottom of the fourth he had the luxury of enjoying a 5-1 lead. Not good enough, not against a division rival. He missed the strike zone falling behind on batters and the red Sox began teeing off. Dustin Pedroia went 6 for 9 in the first two games against the Yankees, dubbing him as the “little monster”. He blasted 3 doubles in game two (2 off Nova) and was a complete annoyance getting on base four of the five times he stepped in the batter’s box. Regardless of all this Boston hype, the Yankees once again spread out their runs as they will continue to do throughout the season because this Yankee lineup is stacked from 1 to 9. Every god damn batter is a threat and runs will be scored with this group of guys in tack. With 3 runs in the fourth (knocking out Boston’s second year starter who is having his own set of Phil Hughes problems, that’s what we will call them now) and 2 runs in the fifth, adding 1 in the 6th and another in the seventh they collected enough runs to take this game home. Home runs blasted over the Green Monster at Fenway with Russell Martin hitting two on Saturday and Cano and Granderson hitting one each of their own. I feel like I’ve repeated myself too much in week one, but the Yankees and White Sox are battling for best offensive team in 2011 straight up. The series is what all television executives want, especially at ESPN headquarters and that’s tied at one a piece going into Sunday Night Baseball…live across the country.
Sunday night was a nice pitching duel between C.C. and Beckett, who looked like his old self for the first time since 2009. As I sit here in the Bottom of the 7th, I see a Boston team that can’t hit in the clutch and a Yankee team who is having their first time struggle at the plate this year. Beckett has stuck out 9 Yanks and surrendered only one hit with A-Rod missing in the lineup with flu-like symptoms. C.C. struggled walking four and giving up nine hits, but only yielded one run. He pitched out of trouble and Joba Chamberlin saved his ass in the 6th inning getting Youkilis to ground out with the bases loaded. It’s 1-0 Boston right now in a game they should’ve blown open long ago. Presently Joba seems to be in trouble with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. By the way, the newly titled Dustin “the little monster” Pedroia has 3 hits again, now 9 for 12 in the series. BAM! Marco Scutaro doubles in two with the bases loaded, why only two runs you say? Well, Jason “old-ass won’t retire punk” is slow as shit and I hope the Red Sox lose by one run because of it. Joba’s out and now the Yankees need to stop the bleeding…
Boone Logan get the Yankees out of the inning with no more damage, but Beckett comes out in the 8th looking fantastic just hitting 100 pitches. Pap might take all night trying to close this one out, but I’ll be up. Big Papi add another Boston run in the 8th, but they take out Beckett anyway. Paps gets a 1, 2, 3 inning to win the 1st series between the two. Not the way the Yankees wanted it to go, but hey, it’s April.
Player of the series: Russell Martin and his two bombs to help with Saturday’s win.
The Future (week two):
Projected Pitching Match-ups
*with Phil Hughes start in question this will be the last week to get normal rotations in order. Sorry for the lack of information. It will be updated on Tuesday afternoon.
Game 11: Orioles @ Yankees on Tuesday April 12th at 7:05pm
(Chris Tillman 0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. (A.J. Burnett 2-0 4.09 ERA)
Game 12: Orioles @ Yankees on Wednesday April 13th at 7:05pm
(TBA) vs. (TBA)
Game 13: Orioles @ Yankees on Thursday April 14th at 7:05pm
(TBA) vs. (TBA)
Game 14: Rangers @ Yankees on Friday April 15th at 7:05pm
(TBA) vs. (TBA)
Game 15: Rangers @ Yankees on Saturday April 16th at 1:05pm
(TBA) vs. (TBA)
Game 16: Rangers @ Yankees on Sunday April 17th at 8:05pm *ESPN
(TBA) vs. (TBA)
Game Eleven thru Thirteen – Baltimore looks revived and complete coming in at 6-3 and they won’t have to face C.C. who killed them last year. With Mark Reynolds, Nick Markakis and Valdi Gurerro powering this lineup, you can safely say it won’t be easy…but you can say that the Yankees will win the series at home. The Yankees will benefit from a day off on Monday hopefully giving A-Rod the chance to get healthy. The Tex-man was 0 for 12 in the Boston series and that can’t continue. I think he likes it at home anyway…T-E-X…phone home.
Game Fourteen thru Sixteen – This will be exciting. Welcome in the rematch of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium and the Rangers look as good as ever. Their pitching is extremely suspicious which will make this an offensive showdown with every sense of the word. Nelson Cruz has 5 HRs and Kinsler has 4 HRs. Josh Hamilton is batting over .300 and both teams will beat up on the opposing pitchers…so if you enjoy home runs, base hits and a knock-around the diamond type game THIS is it! Enjoy it, because we won’t see these two teams battle in the Bronx till mid-June.
(A “weak” long prediction 3-3)
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Living in a Fantasy 1-2-3:
Who Killed It? – 1. Now honestly, I know some or maybe even most of you out there put this old man who usually bats low .200 AVG probably sat Carlos Quinten on the bench this past long week and I’m sad for you. There was no signs of foreseeing a kind of Fantasy week this White Sox would have, but I’d put him in until he eventually cools down…and he will. Sell high or use and abuse. With the line-up support he can get if Beckham* and Dunn (already a bit banged up) are hitting the ball this is one fool to watch closely. 2. Howie “motherfucking” Kendrick! This guy was drafted in some leagues and left to die in the free agent pool in most. I’d like to believe the latter part of the previous sentence, but in two of my Fantasy Leagues I had the pleasure of playing against this bastard (who for some reason is listed as eligible at 1st base in my Yahoo Sports League. Never seen him play there in my life, but okay) He’s the same a Carlos Q-man, try and sell quickly or use the prick because reality will set in soon. Yes he’s been a .300 hitter in the past, but 3 HR’s in week one…F-you Howie! 3. In Angel’s land there has been one positive that stretched over from last year. Jered Weaver is a remarkable 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA posting 15 strikeouts on Sunday afternoon to help his bid in this section of the all-important Fantasy world.
Who Thrilled It? – Odd week in this category, but I’m making it easy on myself. 1. First off the K.C. Royals are staying in here like last week until they begin to slow down. To finish off week one they split a two game series with the hard hitting White Sox’s never backing down and then won the series against another division rival and another top of the line type offense in the Detroit Tigers. For a team with questionable pitching they have now won 2 series and split one going 6-3 for the extended week. 2. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the Cleveland Indians are in the midst of a 7 game winning streak. They took all three from Boston in their home town and then traveled to Seattle and outscored that sorry bunch 20-8 over the course of a three game series there. It’s thrilling and surprising as the Indians sit on top of the AL Central.
Who’s on Deck? – 1. Zach Britton, SP for Baltimore has been lights out. He is 2 – 0 with a 0.66 ERA in two starts. Another plus is that he doesn’t have to face the Yankees lineup next week. 2. Gordon Beckham is a youngster on the Chicago White Sox who was supposed to break through last year, but he was stumbled by injury and an impatient hitting style. So far in 2011, it looks to me that he has calmed down and put his swing at the right pace. He had a monster first week batting .333 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI’s. He already has 4 multi-hit games. 3. Jose Tabata of my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates had a week to remember. Batting in the lead-off spot he has come full circle in becoming the type of lead-off hitter every team needs. He’s posting a .342 batting average with 2 HRs, a game winning hit in the 14th inning on Friday night and 5 stolen bases…Hot Hot Hot!
Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips
- “Tim McCarver reminded us that Curtis Granderson is completely ineffective against lefties. The next pitch, which was less than 2 seconds later, was hit for a home run, by Granderson, off a lefty. While McCarver might be somewhat correct, how about a momentary retraction, you old wrinkled bastard.”
- “Stadium police beat the crap out of a guy at PNC Park over the weekend. They hit him so hard the Pirates have signed him to the team.”
- “Manny Ramirez stopped playing baseball in 2009, but on Friday he officially files the papers.”
Best Series You Missed –
Nothing really tickled my fancy this week. Boston/Yankees was good, not as nail-biting as I thought. Arizona stealing two games from Cincinnati was probably the most shocking and Kirk Gibson seems to be getting the deathly hot state in order. Stephen Drew returned to the lineup on Friday night going 6 for 12 (.500) with two doubles and 4 RBIs.
The most irritable and annoying game was Colorado at Pittsburgh, it only took 5 hours and 11 minutes for the Pirates to win in the 14th inning. Whew!
Best Series for you to Catch –
SERIES 1: Dodgers @ Giants Monday thru Wednesday for some rivalry city. Let’s see if Giants can come back after losing 3 out of 4 in the Opening match-up between the two.
SERIES 2: Texas @ Yankees Friday thru Sunday is the rematch of the ALCS. Real exciting offensive teams that can have you captured and captivated for 4 hours at a clip…let’s hope it’s only 3 though, huh.
The Doctor’s Dissection Operation
NATIONALS @ METS Live 1:10 pm Sunday afternoon...
Chris Young vs. Jason Marquis
- Chris Young pitches a 1-2-3 first.
- Reyes bunt single to start off the bottom of the 1st. Willie Harris strikes out swinging on a ball the catcher couldn't hold on to so Reyes takes second base at will. D. wright smacks a line drive to center and Reyes comes around to score. 1 - 0 Mets quickly. Ike Davis then hits the infamous "New York Met Dribbler" for an infield single. Usually this hit is made with the bases loaded and no one out and ends up in a 1 - 2 - 3 double play, but not today. Tie goes to the runner at first and Ike's safe with an infield single. Next up Pagan in that miserable 5th spot...base hit identical to David Wright's hit two batters earlier. Wright scores and its 2 - 0 Mets. Duda and Emaus, fly out and ground out to end a four hit two run Mets 1st inning.
- Mets fashion, C. Young gives up a walk and a base hit to the 4 and 5 batters on the Nationals...1st and 2nd and no outs...edge of your seat already? Young gets the next batter on strikes. Big call by Nationals manager Riggleman with a double steal. It works moving up the runners, and then works by taking the double play out of the equation when Ivan Rodriguez grounds out to second base bringing home the Nationals first run of the day. The Nationals leave a runner on third. 2 - 1 Mets going into the bottom of the second.
- 2 outs and nobody on, Jose Reyes is called safe after a grounder off of Marquis's glove. He was clearly out, but the Mets get the call. That's two base hits for Reyes in two innings that didn't leave the infield. Doesn't matter in the long run as Willie Harris goes down looking making Jason Marquis look like he actually has some decent stuff...I'm not falling for it.
- The opposing pitcher leads off against Young; let's see if he pulls something...no such luck, he strikes out. Back to the top of the order...Desmond gives Young a tough time fouling off a few, but 1, 2, 3 the Nats go down.
- Wright and Davis go down quickly and it looks like Marquis has calmed himself and the Mets lineup down a bit. Pagan goes down swinging and Marquis baffles the Mets in the 3rd and looks as if he's on the way to the All-Star game...Haha!
- 3 batters up, 3 fly balls, 3 outs.
- Mets 6, 7 and 8 batters are a dud. No hits, not excitement, no nothing.
- Top 5th here we go, Chris Young walks one, but gets the rest out...my eyes are getting heavy from the lack of hits.
- Two quick outs for Jason Marquis, making it 9 Met batters in a row. And just as I finish a strong yawn...base hit Willie Harris...four pitch walk to D. Wright and the old Marquis shows face...BOOM! After taking strike one Ike Davis hits in his second run of the day with a broken bat single to center. All three RBI hits have come on base hits to center field today. Mets up 3 - 1 after 5 innings.
- Two more innings out of Chris Young and Met fans will be very happy. He's up to 90 pitches though so this could be his last inning. Damn pitch count bull shit...
Another 1, 2, 3 inning with a strike out and two fly outs making it a total of 13 put-outs by the fly-out and Chris Young takes a one hitter into the 7th looking real special...Like its 1999 all over again.
- Duda duda day walks to lead off the Bottom of the 6th and then steals slowly (really tagged out) on Brad Emaus's strike out. To no avail as Thole and Young do nothing with a Duda Day sitting on second then third.
- Top 7th...Go Young! 19 batters up, 18 batters down...two strikeouts and fly-out number 15 of the day as Chris Young continues his Sunday stroll. I'm not tired anymore as the Mets take a two run lead into the 7th inning stretch.
- New pitcher for the Nats, Chad Gaudin takes the mound. Jose Reyes flies out weakly to right. Willie Harris and David Wright are both frozen on a called strike three.
- To the 8th and no more Young after a fantastic outing. Do you take him out? I don't. First batter is Pudge Rodriguez and almost immediately he slams a double over Duda's glove. Carrasco is in for the Mets shaky relief pitching staff. He then gets Nix to fly out and then walks the big fella, Matt Stairs "professional pinch-hitter" on a very close call. Next play...one out, runners on 1st and 2nd and for some reason Angel Pagan is playing so deep he's in the parking lot. Terry Collins must think of Ian Desmond as a guy who hits 30 HRs a game...what happens? Bloop base hit so shallow even Pudge can waddle his way home. Hairston Jr. moves to third and the game is now in question...Rick Ankiel, the former big league pitcher for the Royals now playing as an outfielder for the past four or so years makes contact with a ground out to second base bringing in the tying run. There goes Chris Young's fine performance. No win decision today. Mets bullpen...ready, set...terrible! Tyler Buchholz comes in to stop the bleeding and walks his first batter. WOW! Sure looks like a Met game. That strike zone is so hard to find...maybe if relievers didn't take so long between pitches...and another walk to Adam LaRoche who is batting .167. What are the Mets scarred of? Its Washington...and now after being held to 1 run and 1 hit for 7 innings the bases are loaded...spring training powerhouse Mike Morse strikes out on three pitches and the Mets escape further damage.
- 3 - 3 in the Bottom of the 8th bitches, you still with this? Let's hope so...I'll be doing this for real live next time...this is the practice run...
Former Yankee Tyler Clippard on the mound for the Nats and Ike Davis up first...he gets fanned. Angel Pagan, in that 5th spot of the order that doesn't suit him one bit...weak groundout to second. Now comes the bottom of the lineup...and of course Duda Day goes down on strikes.
- Top 9 and this is not a game the Mets want to lose. Seven innings of great looking baseball for nothing. Buchholz still in and still walking batters with his third walk so far to lead off the 9th. Pudge sacrifices Espinosa over to second and Terry Collins comes out for another pitching change. Enter, 37 year-old Tim Byrdak...the suspense is killing me...will the Mets fumble the ball for a terrible defeat or climb back out of the shit, bare down and win this series...?
He throws five straight sliders and strikes out Lance Nix...2 outs and out comes manager Terry Collins again. Third pitcher of the inning, closer Frankie Rodriguez, tries to get the last out. White knuckles as the runner on second takes his lead...he gets the bastard to fly out to right.
- Come on Mets let's win it in the 9th! Set a nice win for your closer...let's do it! Clippard still in for the Nats get pitch hitter D. Murphy to pop out. 1 dead. Josh Thole looks like a chump, like Spider vs. Rocky or maybe even just Spider washing dishes in the last Rocky movie. He strikes out...2 dead. Beltran comes in to pinch hits for K-Rod's spot in the lineup and grounds out weakly barely running to 1st base. The Mets have had no base runners since the 5th inning. Sad my friends...sad.
- We go to extras 3 hours and twenty-two minutes after Chris Young's first pitch. Blaine Boyer and his 0 - 1 record and 7.71 ERA comes in for the Mets retiring the first batter to a fly out to right. The game lost its excitement again...however, Daniel Murphy is now playing second base so that could wake the fans up here, in a bad way though. 1, 2, 3 inning as Boyer mows’ him down.
- Top of the lineup for the Mets, let's go already...base hit Reyes...no you better steal you bastard...Willie Harris shows bunt, even though I think they should steal, then bunt Reyes to 3rd. Quick Willie forgot the fundamentals of bunts and strikes out large. Finally two pitches into D. Wrights at bat Reyes steals...on the play Wright grounds out and Jose continues running safely to 3rd. The Nats intentionally walk Davis for 1st and 3rd with two outs and Angel Pagan is up...in that 5th spot...With too much pressure on his shoulders he grounds out to 1st base. Boo-hoo, we got ourselves 11 innings of ball and Washington still only has 3 total hits. Jesus Maryann Joseph...help these Mets.
- Top 11 and LaRoche gets a base hit to right regardless of the Mets shift. Then Jordan Zimmerman (a pitcher) shows he is capable of bunting better then (position player) Willie Harris. Runner on 2nd. The feisty Espinosa then clearly leans into a pitch for a hit bats-men and with no complaint from Terry Collins the play stands...what comes next you ask? Base hit Pudge, who has been all over this first episode dissection and gets the game leading base hit. The Nationals take the first lead of the day at 4 - 3. Right under Murphy's glove at second, cause he's not a second baseman by a long shot. Next up, revenge from Lance Nix hitting his first HR of the year and now the Nats are putting the nail in the coffin. A 3-run shot hurts the Mets chances of taking the series and Blaine Boyer fails like the Mets bullpen of late. By far one of the ugliest innings I've seen this year, oh no wait there were some bad ones in Philly as well, but this is not how I wanted this piece to end. The Dissection was a failure in the fact that the Mets pushed out one hit since the 5th inning. A sad, cold and cloudy day at Citi Field that started off with a ton of promise pitching 1 hit ball himself for 7 innings. They lose the series to Washington and that right there is unacceptable.
And now for your reading pleasure…
***
The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin
- Man will learn to control the weather with a large hammer.
NEXT WEEK
Monday April 11th
(Week Three April 11th – 17th)
“Importance of Winning”
Last Quip by Doctor KAS - “Joe Torre came into my job today, honest. We didn’t officially shake hands but I did notice the stench of cancer fill the office building.”
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