The Game

When Orlando Hernandez went down with a shoulder injury last week it was too late for the New York Mets to recall Jorge Sosa from their Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans. After his first start with the big club, the Arizona Diamondbacks rued that Sosa’s return to the major leagues couldn’t have been postponed further.

Sosa’s first start couldn’t have come at a worse time for the reeling Diamondbacks, as the Mets winning streak at the stadium formerly known as “BOB” stood at twelve games, dating back to 2004. Sosa was making his first start of the season but had pitched strongly in New Orleans, going 4-0 with an incredible 1.13 ERA. Interestingly, Sosa would be pitching in front of a Mets defense with several players who would be working hard to make his stats look good for a change, instead of inflating them. Chief among those players was Carlos Delgado, who had hit .500/.529/1.321 (the 1.321 is his SLG, not OPS!) against Sosa in his career.

Scouting reports as well as 2007 minor league statistics suggested Sosa had regained the promise he showed in 2005, when he sported a 13-3 record with an impressive 2.55 ERA for the Braves as a combination starter-reliever. But maybe he was a pitcher reborn, because the Jorge Sosa who took the mound for the Mets at Chase Field looked nothing like the Jorge Sosa of old. Instructed in the minors by Mark Brewer and several other pitching instructors, Sosa learned to be more deceptive with his delivery to decrease the response time of hitters and to throw his slider consistently for strikes. Both would prove invaluable as Sosa baffled the Diamondback hitters over 6.1 innings.

While the Mets sent a journey-man to the mound looking to regain past potential, the Diamondbacks countered with a proven commodity, 2006 Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb, who entered the game with a 2-1 record and a 3.21 ERA and revenge on his mind. Webb sought an end to his streak of futility against the Mets: While he boasted a miniscule 1.99 ERA, his career record against the Mets was a snake-bitten 1-5.

On paper the matchup seemed lopsided in favor of the Diamondbacks, and if the first inning was a precursor, it would have eventually reflected that in the final box score. After Webb set down the Mets in order in the top half of the first, Eric Byrnes led off with a single to left and after a one-out walk to Orlando Hudson, Sosa was able to strike Tony Clark out swinging. In a pivotal moment in the game, with runners on first and second, Stephen Drew flied out to the warning track. A simple out, but if the ball had been a few feet higher, it would have been a three run home run and likely would have changed the entire complexion of the game.

The next inning the Mets made the Diamondbacks regret their missed chances as Delgado led off the second with a double to center field and with one out Shawn Green hit a 1-0 opposite field home run to left to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Mets.

No further scoring occurred until the 6th, though the Mets were able to load the bases in the 4th. After a Delgado single, Webb issued walks to Paul Lo Duca and Damion Easley, but Endy Chavez grounded out to Clark to end the inning.

In the 6th, Webb issued back-to-back walks to Delgado and Carlos Beltran to start the inning. Lo Duca followed with a base hit to left that Scott Hairston misplayed, overrunning the ball and allowing it to roll all the way to the wall. Delgado and Beltran both scored on the miscue, and Lo Duca wound up on third, making the score 4-0. Green singled Lo Duca home in the next at-bat to make it 5-0 and then proceeded to manufacture a run as if he were Jose Reyes. Green stole second base, advanced to third on an Easley groundout and then scored on an sacrifice fly by Chavez to make the score 6-0. That rounded out the scoring for the Mets and signaled the end of Webb’s evening.

In the bottom of the 7th, Sosa ran into a bit of trouble. After getting Drew to fly out, Sosa allowed a double to Hairston and a walk to Chris Young. With that, Sosa’s night was done as Willie Randolph made the call for rookie right-hander Joe Smith. Smith entered the game and induced Chris Snyder to hit a would-be double play ground ball to Easley. Easley flipped to Reyes at second for the first out, but Reyes was unable to get the ball out of his glove to make the throw to first to end the inning. Reyes wasn’t charged an error on the play (can’t assume the double play), and Miguel Montero hit a two-out double on a flyball that Chavez took a questionable route on. Two runs scored on the play, but Smith was able to escape the inning without further damage by striking Byrnes out swinging.

Pedro Feliciano came on to pitch a 1-2-3 8th inning, and in the 9th, Aaron Heilman bounced back from previous rough outings. After a deep fly ball by Drew was almost effortlessly caught by Beltran, Heilman retired the next two Diamondbacks to end the game, 6-2.

The Haiku

Sosa no Chan Ho
Green slugs, so does Carlos Two
Mets alone in first

The Boxscore

The Credits

Recap by Kalyan Pokala
Haiku by Howard Megdal