“I don't laugh at those. It's a nightmare and I wake up sweating. But it's a part of baseball. In the course of 162, everybody gets their breaks and all those things even out, for the most part.”
-Jerry Manuel on Aubrey Huff’s error (similar to Luis Castillo’s error a few days earlier)
It’s never, ever easy.
The New York Mets (33-29) beat the Baltimore Orioles (27-37) by a score of 6-4.
Mike Pelfrey set down the first 11 batters that faced him before giving up a single to Nick Markakis in the fourth inning. Pelfrey got into trouble in the fifth, but struck out Brian Roberts with the bases loaded before any damage was done.
Pelfrey let up two runs over 5 2-3 innings, both coming on a Markakis home run to right field in the sixth inning. Pelfrey allowed five hits, walked three and struck out two.
Not a spectacular start, but Pelfrey did just enough. He needed 109 pitches as he worked through the last few innings on the bump.
Sean Green relieved Pelfrey and threw 1 2-3 hitless innings. Green hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 innings.
In May, Green was awful. In June, he’s been spectacular.
Bobby Parnell entered for the bottom of the ninth and allowed two hits to lead off the inning before being removed in favor of Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod walked in a run and induced a ground ball, allowing two runs to score, before striking out Adam Jones to end the game to notch a win for the Mets and a save for himself.
Whewwww. Is anyone else worried about Parnell? I am.
Fernando Martinez started the Mets off in the fourth inning with a walk. After Brian Roberts booted a would-be double play ball by Carlos Beltran, the Mets strung together four hits and a sacrifice fly to plate four runs against Jeremy Guthrie.
The Mets again got on the board in the seventh, with what ended up being the winning runs. The bases were loaded with two outs for David Wright. Wright skied a ball to shallow right field, which send first baseman Aubrey Huff back. Huff attempted to make an over the shoulder catch, but the ball fell to the grass, allowing Alex Cora and Martinez to score.
Cora, Wright and Schneider each had multiple hit games.
Again, whew. Wright didn’t bust out of the box on the ball, as he should have been standing on second when this play was done. There needs to be a better attention to detail.
It shouldn’t have been this close, but a win is a win.
The Mets head to Camden Yards to take on the Baltimore Orioles for three games.
Join in for some barstool banter as Mike Pelfrey takes the mound.
(Chat removed, as usual.)
Yesterday, I posted a little homage to Tom Seaver being traded away on June 15, 1977. And if you were alive, you probably remember what happened on June 16, 1978.
If you don’t remember, here’s the painful reminder…
Tom Seaver: W 4-0, 9 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (15 GB, 9 FB)
That’s right. Seaver threw his first career no-hitter as a member of the Cincinnati Reds exactly one year and one day after being traded away by the New York Mets. The Reds bested the St. Louis Cardinals that day.
Ironically, Keith Hernandez (who the Mets acquired on June 15, 1983) was playing first base for the Cardinals that day. He went 0-2 with a walk.
I’m sure we’ll hear about it during tonight broadcast.
Back from a long day into the city. Mets are set to take on the Orioles in Camden Yards tonight. I believe my uncle that lives near Baltimore will be at the game. That being said, I hope the Mets win (of course!).
Here’s the lineup, via Bart Hubbuch:
Mike Pelfrey takes the mound for the Mets.
If you follow my Twitter feed at all, you probably know I’ll be spending the better part of the morning in New York City filming a segment for Mets Weekly on SNY.
Obviously, I want to share this experience with you as much as possible, so below will be a nice little widget displaying my Twitter feed. I’ll be tweeting as much as possible.
I’ll be back in the afternoon, so look for some real posts around then. Otherwise, enjoy.
One of the players I wouldn’t mind seeing on the Mets right about now just landed on the disabled list.
Javier Valentin, who plays first base and catches, has been put on the DL with a right shoulder strain. Valentin had been hitting .260 with three doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI.
It seems the Buffalo Bisons have also been hit hard by the injury bug, with eight players on the DL.
From The Dish:
Valentin becomes the eighth Bisons player currently on the disabled list. RHP Dillon Gee, INF Andy Green, OF Bobby Kielty, INF Mark Kiger, RHP Carlos Muniz, C Mike Nickeas and INF Argenis Reyes are all currently on the team's DL.
Just like the big club.
Here’s an e-mail I got from my friend Ben today…
This whole Castillo thing - "have you/will you ever see anything like it" - made me wonder just how rare the circumstance is. So I did the research - when do you think the last time this happened: walkoff error, batting team trailing, two outs? Answer: August 9, 2000. AP recap can be found here (scroll to Rockies/Pirates); the fly ball is described as "routine." Maybe not a Castillo duplicate - the box score says it was more of a line drive than a flyball (and the recap notes the ball was hit hard enough to roll to the wall), but this "most improbable" way to lose a game just happened 9 years ago. Of course, the Subway Series and the increased media attention will certainly make this one much bigger. After all, I don't think I heard anyone say Luis "pulled an Alex Ramirez."
August 9, 2000, the Rockies beat the Pirates by a score of 4-3. The Rockies scored two in the 9th inning after a “routine” fly ball off the bay of Juan Pierre deflected off of outfielder Alex Ramirez’s glove and skipped to the wall.
Here’s the box score, via Baseball Reference.
Here’s what the AP report said, courtesy of The New York Times:
Todd Walker drew a one-out walk from Mike Williams (2-3). After Walker stole second, Ben Petrick reached on shortstop Mike Benjamin's error. One out later, Juan Pierre hit a routine fly to right that deflected off Ramirez's glove and rolled all the way to the wall, allowing the tying and winning runs to score.
Yikes. Not one, but two errors in the 9th inning to let the game slip away.
Maybe not to the degree of Castillo’s flub, being the Subway Series, and being against the Yankees, but still pretty interesting.
Here’s what first baseman Kevin Young told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"You feel bad for Alex," Young said, "but, hey, we're all in this together. People are going to make mistakes. He catches that ball 499 times out of 500. It just so happened this is the one he missed."
Sound familiar?
Great find, Ben!
The Stat of the Day blog picked up on this as well. In all, this is the 11th time this has happened since 1954.
For about a week, we’ve heard that Gary Sheffield has an ailing right knee and will get an MRI on it. That MRI was always said to be today. Now, Evan Roberts on WFAN said the Mets called him up and told him that Sheffield was not getting an MRI and one was never even planned.
Huh??
Yesterday, in the three short innings Johan Santana was on the mound, everyone noticed how his velocity was way down. He was topping out around 88 mph and according to Joe Janish, letting his arm drag behind slightly.
After the game, Santana and Dan Warthen revealed the pitcher had been dealing with blisters. Santana also said he had been sore for the past month, specifically in his back.
Where was all of this…hmm…as it happened? Why is this just coming out now?
Why did it take up until Thursday, two days before John Maine’s start in the Bronx, for him to land on the DL? Where’s Angel Pagan? He left and landed on the DL with a strained groin two weeks ago. Is he ready to return? Is he actually fully healthy if he is?
The team doctors have been called into question for a while now, but it should be specifically worrying when it’s Santana they’re dealing with. The ace of the pitching staff and one of the three most important players on the team, he should be handled with the utmost care.
Better safe than sorry. But maybe not safe in the hands of the Mets doctors.
