Another Johan Santana start, another live game commentary...
Pregame:
I'm excited to see both Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran back in the lineup. Gary Cohen is back in the booth. Not that Kevin Burkhardt is bad, but I obviously prefer Cohen.
First inning:
Santana dealing to Jacoby Ellsbury to start the game, two guys who were supposed to be traded for each other at one point. And Ellsbury leads off with a single to center. Picks up his first K, sitting Lowrie down with either a changeup or a fastball, Keith and Gary can't agree. Brady Clark loses a sky high ball in the sun and wind, and Jason Varitek is on. 2 on, 1 out. A 57-footer from Santana, and Brian Schneider shows off his defensive ability with a great stop of a ball in the dirt. There's his second K, with a changeup low and in to Kevin Youklis. Clark redeems himself, coming in on a fly ball to end the inning.
I absolutely hate when Jose Reyes swings at the first pitch of the game. At least get one look at the guy before you ground out, please. Clark singles to right-center, beautiful swing. David Wright is putting together a nice AB here, but unfortunately goes down swinging. Welcome back, Beltran. Ball in the dirt to Varitek, and Clark takes second. Great base running, very heads up. Beltran grounds out to third, inning over.
Second inning:
Fly ball to right, and a quick out for Santana. He seems to be topping out around 90-91 mph today. Combacker to the pitcher, and my heart was in my throat. Santana knocks it down while in the air, and gets the out at first. Honestly, got a little scared there. Making quick work here, strike out to end the inning. That was fast.
And now a "welcome back" for Mr. Delgado. He looks comfortable in the box, moving his legs all around. However he feels, he strikes out. 1 away. Damian Easley has the Shawn Green syndrome. It always looks like it takes everything he has to hit the ball. Pops up to the SS, 2 away. Ryan Church, facing a lefty. Pay close attention, this might be a rare sight. Jon Lester is pounding sliders in on Church, trying to get him to chase low and away. Church keeps fouling away, which I guess is a good sign. After working the count to 3-2, Church hits a high pop up not far outside the batters box. He didn't look that bad against a lefty, so maybe he'll get his shot during the season.
Third inning:
Santana allows the exact same hit, a single to left-center. Back to the top of the lineup. Santana is working Ellsbury low, and gets him to ground into a fielders choice Delgado to Reyes. Delgado fielded that perfectly and looks loose and limber out in the field. Keith just revealed he had a B- average in high school. I'm in good company, I guess. Clark looks lost out there, taking Lastings Milledge-esque routes to the balls. Pagan puts this one away. Santana loves to end the inning with a K, as he gets V'tek to chase low and in.
The leader in left, Angel Pagan, comes to bat and works the count full before striking out. I guess if you're going to K, at least work the count full first. Lester's curveballs are fooling Schneider, who goes down swinging on a slider away after having his knees buckled by some nasty curves. Was that so hard, Reyes? Take pitches and wait for the one that suits you, and if not, you walk! Easy as pie. Reyes takes off, but Church chops out to the pitcher. Inning over.
Fourth inning:
The legendary Ralph Kiner is in the booth. These are my favorite innings of the game. Santana retires Youk on a deep fly ball to straight away center. Ground out to short, Santana gives chase. Just stay on your mound, Johan. Let your defense do their job. There is that nasty changeup again. Making Kevin Cash look silly. Matt Wise is up and will pitch the 5th inning. Shallow fly ball to right, Church doesn't think twice and makes the catch to retire the side. Santana's final line: 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 4 K's.
Beautiful level swing from Wright, and singles over the short stop for his first hit today. Beltran grounds into a double play, 5-4-3. If he was fully healthy, I think he could have beaten that throw to first. The ball beat him by a step or two, but he is nowhere near running full speed. Delgado is taking a bigger step at the plate than I remember. His front leg is moving a whole lot more this season. Delgado gets caught looking up and in, and that's the inning. The pitchers really went blow for blow today.
Fifth inning:
Wise is in. Promptly gets a high fly ball to right. Wise has a pretty sick changeup too, it just dies right before the plate. And another fly out to Church. 2 away. Chris Carter puts one into the gap between Pagan and Church. Great cutoff and throw to get the ball into second and hold Carter to a single. Ellsbury chops one past Delgado, who was guarding the bag. First and second, 2 out. And another fly out to RF, Church puts away all three this inning.
Hideki Okajima is in for the Sox. My neck hurts just watching him. Easley uses all his might...and grounds out to the shortstop. Church ground out to the pitcher, 2 away. "And starting in left field, for you 2008 Mets...Angel Pagannnnnnn!" And as I write that, he pops out to short.
Sixth inning:
Wise stays out for his second inning. Anderson Hernandez in at 2B and Fernando Martinez is out in RF. Ground out to Delgado, and he lumbers to the bag himself to make the first out. Reyes to Delgado, 2 away. And that's the inning. Good work from Wise in 2 innings.
Schneider's been flashing his wood lately. Knocks one deep into the gap, it's caught by Ellsbury but nice to see some pop from him. What the heck was Reyes doing? Reyes chases in the dirt and strikes out. That was not a good AB for him. Not at all. Clark bloops one into center to pick up his second hit today. Wright blasts one to the warning track, and that's the inning.
Seventh inning:
Pedro Feliciano is in to pitch. I went to grab some water, and there are two outs already. Feliciano is making quick work of the Sox in the seventh. Jose Valentin, who is manning first, chases down a ball popped foul to end the inning.
Javier Lopez is pitching for the Sox. He has a crazy windup. Beltran flies out to dead center. Valentin taking his first turn at the plate today. Valentin flies out to left, and Carter has a bit of trouble out there so it wasn't only Clark having issues. AHern is up, and Jay Horowitz and his giant hat are in the dugout. I must be dreaming. Hernandez just singled to left. Now FMart getting his AB and works the count full before striking out. Boy, he was late on that ball.
Eighth inning:
Willie Collazo is in for the Mets and quickly gets a ground out to short, one away. Lazy ground ball to Hernandez at second, quickly two outs. Hot shot by Lowrie to Dan Murphy, but "plays it off to the side like a matador" says Keith and there is one aboard. Collazo executes a perfect pickoff, and gets Lowrie leaning off first. Inning over.
Pagan doubles, deep into the left field corner. He made a hard turn at second, but had no chance of making it to third. Mets have a chance here in the bottom of the 8th. Cancel hits a beautiful poke down to first base, advancing Pagan. One out, runner on third. Hot hitter Argenis Reyes is up with another chance to bring home a run. Reyes grounds one to first, Youklis comes up to make the play and can't get the ball out of his glove. Pagan comes home to score while Reyes is called out for running outside the base path to first. 1-0 Mets, bottom of the 8th. Chris Aguila end the inning by making an out of some sort.
Ninth inning:
7,355 attending today. Biggest crowd ever at Tradition Field. Brian Stokes is in and quickly allows a double down the right field line. Exact opposite of Pagan's double in the 8th. Running on contact, the runner advances to third on a grounder up the middle. Gosh, this seems so vaguely familiar. I feel like I just saw this inning somewhere... Stokes is getting up to the 94ish range. Almost throws it over Cancel's head...great play by Cancel to get up and catch that ball and prevent the run from scoring. And Stokes is wild again, and Cancel saves his behind again. After an 11 pitch AB, Brandon Moss hits a pop up deep to right, which easily scores the run. Quick ground out to end the inning. 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 9th.
Murphy pops up in foul territory, one away. Here comes Endy Chavez in his first AB today. Endy "lofts" one down the line, but the wind blows it foul. Could have been a double even for the ailing speedster. Chavez chops one to right, two out. This game refuses to end. Valentin walks after a looooooong AB. AHern is back up. Hernandez lines out to the SS. We're going to extras. 1 more inning, that's all.
Tenth inning:
Stokes is back out there for the final inning. Ground ball to short, and A. Reyes makes a sloppy throw but Valentin makes a nice play and tags out the runner. Chopper over Stokes' head, A. Reyes fields it cleanly and makes a crisp throw to first. Ball rocketed down to first and Valentin makes a beautiful spinning/diving play and flips the ball to Stokes who came over to cover first. Nice play by Valentin at a position he will be used at...if he makes the team.
Yikes. Martinez was fooled on that high changeup and looked even worse on that looping curveball. One away on the K. What a play by Joe Thurston. Diving grad and an even better throw to retire Jose Feliciano. Cancel hits a foul pop, and the game is over.
1-1 Tie.
