The Mets may finish third or fourth, they may win only 75 or 80 games, Oliver Perez may frustrate the hell out of us, Petey may be on his last legs, Jerry Manuel may not be any better than Willie Randolph, Omar Minaya may continue to overvalue aging guys from the Dominican, the Wilpons may continue to meddle and sow dysfunction, and Luis Castillo may wear out a path with grounders to shortstop, but WE BEAT THE YANKS 4 GAMES TO 2! Suck it, Yankees!
Game 4 of the Subway Series was played Friday afternoon at The Stade, a make-up game for an earlier rainout. The Mets got out to 1-0 lead early on a gentlemen named Dan Giese whose likeness will not be appearing on any monuments, but gave the run right back in the bottom of the first. Carlos Beltran lined a two-run homer into the short porch in right in the 3rd to make it 3-1, but once again, the Mets couldn't consolidate, as Mike Pelfrey allowed a bunch of dinks and dunks for three more Yankee runs. Giese got into more trouble in the fifth, loading the bases on two walks and a David Wright single. That brought in another non-immortal, Edwar (My Parents Forgot The Last D) Ramirez. He allowed a fielders choice to Beltran, and then Carlos Delgado smacked a double that Bobby Abreu chased like a radioactive rabbit in the right field corner as two more runs scored.
Ramirez started the 6th, but gave up a single to Brian Schneider and a walk to Jose Reyes and was relieved by Ross Ohlendorf, who may not even have a uniform number for all I know. Wright singled to drive in Schneider and then Beltran walked, setting the stage again for Delgado, who hit a Mantle-like blast into the deep recesses of the right-center bleachers, possibly conking one of those "roll call" idiots right on his malformed noggin. That made the score 11-4, and the competitive section of the game was over. Delgado added a three-run shot off LaTroy Hawkins in the 8th to make the final score 15-6. He finished with a team record 9 RBI.
The nightcap at Shea was an unfortunate mess. Pedro Martinez was once again solid for a few innings, and then completely jumped the rails and gave up a total of six runs over the last two and two-thirds he was in there. Reclamation project Sidney Ponson was fantastic for the Yankees, lasting six innings and allowing no runs on five hits and four walks. Scotty Schoeneweis had another in a series of bad games and gave up the last three runs as the Yanks won 9-0.
Thanks to the wunderkind of FOX and MLB, I was unable to watch Saturday's game. Instead I was forced to watch the Cubs and White Sox, presumably because I live west of the Mississippi. Of course, I didn't watch it, because I don't care about those teams, and thus missed all the lovely advertising. Here's an idea: I paid over $100 for MLB.TV, so how about you let me watch that, and you can include all the advertising you want? There's nothing else to do between innings anyway. No, instead, you drive away the very people you want to attract with a blackout. Good job!
I listened on WFAN, and was not pleased. Once again, the Mets couldn't score enough runs for Johan Santana, and lost for his fifth straight start. It started well, with Ramon Castro hitting a titanic homer to left center off Andy Pettitte in the 2nd. That was the last lead the Mets would have, though. Santana started off the 4th with walks to Jeter and Abreu, and both players eventually scored. The Yanks added a crucial insurance run in the 6th when Robinson Cano hit a two-out single with the bases loaded to score A-Rod, who of course had also walked. David Wright led off the bottom of the 6th with a home run, but it was exactly two batters too late. If the Johan had gotten Cano out, Wright's homer would have tied it, and the Mets may not have seen Mo Rivera, but as it was, they did, and they were baffled like most everyone else is. 3-2 Yanks.
Sunday's game was on TBS, for some reason, so I got to enjoy some hi-def action for a change. Jason Giambi's mustache looks even more spectacularly 70's-porn-ier in HD. Ron Darling's pre-game chiron asked, "Which Oliver Perez will show up?" It turned out to be Gallant and not Goofus for a change, and the Yanks had no answers. Perez plowed through the Bomber order, walking none and allowing only three hits and a run (a huge Wilson Betemit homer) in seven innings. Pedro Feliciano had a 1-2-3 8th, and Billy Wagner made some hearts palpitate by allowing a leadoff single to Peter Eater Jeter, but escaped unharmed for his 18th save. Delgado hit another home run in the winning effort. The final score was a tidy 3-1.
The Phillies lost a late game in Texas, dropping their lead over Florida to one game. Despite our under-.500 first half, we're still only three out. A couple good weeks, and we could take charge of this thing. Unfortunately, Petey is a shambles right now, Pelfrey and Perez are still not consistent, and Johan is not getting any run support. The offense has been picking up, but Alou is out indefinitely, and even though it was nice to get Ryan Church back, Trot Nixon and Endy Chavez are both lousy corner outfielders on offense. Maybe we can get Xavier Nady back from the Pirates, but I doubt it. Omar has traded every decent player away, so this is probably the team that we go with in the second half.
But we beat the Yankees 4 game to 2! 2008 isn't so bad after all.
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