Santana does it all
The bouncing broken-bat single may have been good fortune finally smiling on Shea, but everything else about Johan Santana's performance Tuesday night was a direct result of his athletic prowess and competitiveness.
Santana is the ace and he performed like one, and not only on the mound. Sure, he threw eight innings with a career-high 125 pitches, battling the capricious strike zone of umpire Phil Cuzzi along the way. But Santana also reached base twice and scored two runs, once on the aforementioned broken-bat hit, and again when he beat out an attempted double play in the sixth, keeping the bases loaded. One batter later, Jose Reyes hit a bases-clearing triple and the Mets had their 6-2 lead.
Santana struck out 10, allowed seven hits and walked only two. He almost willed the team to victory in an absolutely critical game. And with the Braves (finally) beating the Phillies, the Mets moved to 1 1/2 games of the division lead with a game in hand Thursday.
Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn't hold off the Brewers, who won on a walk-off homer by Prince Fielder. The white hankies were flying in Milwaukee, and the up-to-now moribund Brewers -- still 1 game behind the Mets -- may have some momentum on their side. Here's hoping they don't.
David Wright had a clutch two-run single in the fifth that finally put the Mets on the board and tied the score at 2-2. In the sixth, Ramon Castro of all people legged out an infield single that scored Carlos Delgado when Chad Gaudin threw the ball away.
Pedro Feliciano came on in the ninth and got one out before letting two runners on. Luis Ayala stepped in and got a ground out and a game-ending popout.
Oliver Perez throws for the Mets on Wednesday against Carlos Zambrano, and we expect Ollie to come up big in another huge game. Meanwhile, can Paul Maholm beat C.C. Sabathia? And can Jo-Jo Reyes beat Brett Myers? Light a candle, sacrifice a goat, do what you have to do.
Santana is the ace and he performed like one, and not only on the mound. Sure, he threw eight innings with a career-high 125 pitches, battling the capricious strike zone of umpire Phil Cuzzi along the way. But Santana also reached base twice and scored two runs, once on the aforementioned broken-bat hit, and again when he beat out an attempted double play in the sixth, keeping the bases loaded. One batter later, Jose Reyes hit a bases-clearing triple and the Mets had their 6-2 lead.
Santana struck out 10, allowed seven hits and walked only two. He almost willed the team to victory in an absolutely critical game. And with the Braves (finally) beating the Phillies, the Mets moved to 1 1/2 games of the division lead with a game in hand Thursday.
Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn't hold off the Brewers, who won on a walk-off homer by Prince Fielder. The white hankies were flying in Milwaukee, and the up-to-now moribund Brewers -- still 1 game behind the Mets -- may have some momentum on their side. Here's hoping they don't.
David Wright had a clutch two-run single in the fifth that finally put the Mets on the board and tied the score at 2-2. In the sixth, Ramon Castro of all people legged out an infield single that scored Carlos Delgado when Chad Gaudin threw the ball away.
Pedro Feliciano came on in the ninth and got one out before letting two runners on. Luis Ayala stepped in and got a ground out and a game-ending popout.
Oliver Perez throws for the Mets on Wednesday against Carlos Zambrano, and we expect Ollie to come up big in another huge game. Meanwhile, can Paul Maholm beat C.C. Sabathia? And can Jo-Jo Reyes beat Brett Myers? Light a candle, sacrifice a goat, do what you have to do.
posted by Gaspo @ 6:35 AM
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