I decided to let the beginning of the Mets game record last night for about an hour, allowing me to start watching the game while fast forward through the commercials for what turned out to be the first six innings. I have to say, I was loving the way the Mets were playing ball through the first six. They were hustling, hitting, playing defense. Most importantly, they were fired up. You could feel the electricity coming off the team and off the crowd through the TV. I know the seventh inning wasn’t the best inning of the year, and the Mets allowed the Phillies to tie the game with some shotty defense, but the intensity and focus the team is playing with is undeniable. It seems that Carlos Beltran’s comments after losing in Pittsburgh have done something to the collective psyche of this team. Win or lose, it’s the kind of baseball that makes me a lot less disgruntled as I watch it.
That being said, the Mets did do a lot wrong last night offensively. They left sixteen runners on base, including ten in scoring position while not scoring any runs after the 4th inning. They seemed to have runners on base to start off every inning. They loaded the bases on numerous occasions. They just couldn’t get that one hit to win the game. To be fair, David Wright should have gotten said hit, but was robbed by Jason Werth on a tremendous diving catch in right field. If the ball drops, or gets by Werth, speedy Fernando Martinez, who had a pinch hit single ahead of Wright on first base, scores easily to give the Mets a walk off win.
The Mets final mistake of the night came in the top of the 11th inning. It came on the second pitch of the inning as Bobby Parnell tried to beat Chase Utley on the inner half of the plate with a 97 mph fastball. It’s a pitch that will get your average hitter to foul off if he’s lucky enough to make contact. It’s a pitch that even your superstars will have trouble catching up to. It’s a pitch that Utley excels at hitting over right field fences. He’s got some of the fastest hands on an inside pitch I’ve ever seen. It’s like Derek Jeter seven years ago, but with serious power. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve seen a replay of an Utley home run off the same pitch. How does it get missed in the scouting report? How do you not pepper all three of the monstrous left handed hitters coming up in the 11th inning with pitches low and away?. Ryan Howard took such a pitch for a ride right after Utley’s homer, but it didn’t make it out of the park. Utley has been making the fans in those right field seats his personal home run catchers for the entire series. It was a pitch that didn’t make sense in my eyes, and I said so as I watched Brian Schneider set up in.
The Mets look to salvage the series tonight as the team’s two worst pitchers face off in what should be a high scoring affair. Tim Redding will try and build off his last start as he battles Old Man Baseball Jamie Moyer. I’m setting the over under for runs scored tonight at 15 and will make a bold prediction that the Citi Field home run record of seven total in a game set on Tuesday might not be safe. An interesting side note about the home runs Tuesday that was mentioned in the game yesterday, was that it took over thirty years for seven home runs to be hit in one game at Shea. Maybe Citi will heat up with the warmer weather and become more of a hitter’s park. (I hope not)
Let’s Go Mets!
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