The Game

The Mets had high expectations heading into Saturday afternoon’s game against the cross-town rival New York Yankees. After all, they had just dropped three of four in a series against the last place Washington Nationals. When the Mets bats had seemingly gone missing, the put up seven runs in a 7-4 victory over the Bronx Bombers.

The day started out on a familiar note; Jose Reyes struck out to start out the game on a pitch over his head. The next two hitters, Ryan Church and David Wright, struck out to conclude the frame. By the end of the 1st, it looked as though opposing starting pitcher Andy Pettitte would be dominant throughout the game.

Things didn’t look any better in the bottom of the 1st. The Mets sent ace Johan Santana to the mound to face off against a Yankees offense missing two of its key hitters: Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. Santana started out his day by allowing a free pass to leadoff hitter Johnny Damon, and a two run home run to shortstop Derek Jeter. Just like that, the Mets were down by two runs, and it looked as though Santana would have another shaky outing.

This actually wouldn’t be the case for the rest of the game. Though Andy Pettitte was stellar through the first three innings, he’d slowly begin to lose velocity by the 4th. The inning started out with a check-swing single off the bat of Ryan Church, followed with a line drive single from David Wright. The next hitter was Carlos Beltran, and he’d waste no time to drive in the team’s first run of the day. Beltran hit a single to left field, which Church would score on easily, with the weak arm of Johnny Damon in left field. Moises Alou would be next to hit, he’d draw a walk on a 3-2 breaking ball from Pettitte. Andy now had to face Carlos Delgado with nobody out, being threatened with a big inning. Almost expectably at this point, Delgado failed to get the run in from third base, by popping out to Derek Jeter. The next hitter, designated hitter Damion Easley, worked the count to 3-0 before striking out. The next hitter, Brian Schneider, would be the Mets only chance to get a run in. He worked a productive at-bat, walking to bring in David Wright from third base to even up the game. The Mets wouldn’t be finished that inning either, as Luis Castillo hit an infield single to give the Mets the lead. Heading into the bottom of the 4th, the Mets were up 3-2.

Johan Santana would proceed to cruise with the lead, not allowing another run until the 7th inning. This is the value of Johan Santana; he can be counted on to defend a lead, and gives you at least six innings every time he takes the hill. Today he’d last 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits to go alongside four earned runs. He did allow three home runs today (he’s allowed 11 home runs on the year now), which is a bit concerning. However, if this Mets offense picks up on the momentum from today’s victory and scores more runs for their pitchers, Johan won’t have to be sheer perfection every 5th day. His win today with his 5th of the year.

The Mets offense came alive today, after the uplifting 4th inning. In the 7th inning, after former Atlanta Brave Kyle Farnsworth entered the game, Jose Reyes hit a breaking ball into the short porch in right field for his 3rd home run of the year. Kyle then walked Ryan Church, and gave up a deep home run to the opposite field to David Wright. In the 9th inning, Carlos Beltran lined a triple into center field off of set-up man Joba Chamberlain. Moises Alou would strike out looking on a questionable call, which Carlos Delgado would counter with an RBI single, to pad the Mets lead to 7-4. This would be more than enough for Billy Wagner, who would work a four out save for his ninth save of the season. The Mets would improve to 21-19, and the Yankees record would fall to 20-23.

Sunday night Chien-Ming Wang will take the mound to face off against the Mets offense, as Oliver Perez will pitch to try and improve his record to 4-3.

The Haiku

What controversies?
All bottom-feeders beware
Mets beat last-place team

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal