The Haiku

Murphy finds his bat
Two new weapons: Replay, and
Runs for Santana

The Game

The depleted New York Mets completed a three game sweep of the hapless Washington Nationals by the final score of 7-4 at Citi Field on Wednesday night. The win, coupled with the Phillies’ loss, gives the Mets a half game lead in the NL East race.

On a night where Johan Santana wasn’t his usual stellar self, the Mets actually picked him up for a change instead of vice versa. Santana started off as his normal, dominating self… striking out the side in the top of the first. He was even given some rare run support early on thanks to, who else, Gary Sheffield and his first inning two run double. The previously struggling Daniel Murphy (more on him later) stretched the lead to 3-0 on a third inning RBI single. The weirdness started in the top of the fourth inning as Johan Santana suddenly broke out his best Ollie Perez impression. After walking Ryan ZImmerman to start the frame, Johan let up the longest home run in the young history of Citi Field to Adam Dunn (loved him in ‘The Burbs’). But it didn’t stop there, Santana would go on to walk three more people in the inning including the Nats’ pitcher. The last of the walks in the fourth, which was issued to Cristian Guzman, forced in the game tying run.

As if Santana and his wildness weren’t weird enough, the game got even stranger in the bottom of the sixth. After Gary Sheffield’s leadoff walk, Daniel Murphy hit a fly ball to deep right field that, at first, appeared destined for the seats. However, the ball fell to the ground in the right field corner, Adam Dunn hit the cut off man, and Sheffield was cut down at the plate for the first out of the inning. Not so fast though… for the fourth time in five days, the Mets came out on the winning end of an umpire home run review as it was ruled Murphy’s ball hit the right field overhang before plummeting to the ground. After watching the replay about 382 times, I still cannot tell if the ball hit the sign. That being said, with the rash of bad luck and injuries that this team has had of late, this team should gladly take any break that may come their way. Murphy’s homer gave Santana (who had just pitched his final inning) and the Mets a 5-3 lead. Murph came through again the following inning- this time with a two run double to make it 7-3 New York. And, most importantly, the Mets’ bullpen was able to make the lead hold up for Mr. Santana who certainly deserves a few of these wins with all of the hard luck losses he’s taken over the past 13 months. Frankie Rodriguez, in a non-save situation, closed out the game by giving up a meaningless run in the ninth before shutting the door for good. The Met pitching staff recorded 15 strikeouts in the game, but that is just as much a testament to the Nats’ undisciplined lineup than anything else. The streaking Mets, who have now won five of their last six, will enjoy a day off on Thursday before teeing it up on Friday night against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

The Boxscore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Washington 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 5 0 NY Mets 2 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 x 7 11 1

Washington AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Guzman, C, SS .340 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 1 2 Johnson, 1B .337 5 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 0 Zimmerman, R, 3B .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 Dunn, RF .283 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 Willingham, LF .228 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 Belliard, 2B .164 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 2 Maxwell, CF .150 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0   a-Harris, PH-CF .261 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nieves, C .283 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 11 3 Zimmermann, J, P .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2   Villone, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   Wells, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Colome, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Hanrahan, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   b-Hernandez, A, PH .278 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .269 32 4 5 0 0 1 4 7 15 24 11 a-Grounded out for Maxwell in the 8th. b-Lined out for Hanrahan in the 9th. BATTING HR: Dunn (16, 4th inning off Santana, 1 on, 0 out). RBI: Dunn 2 (42), Guzman, C (12), Johnson (26). GIDP: Belliard. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 8. FIELDING DP: (Guzman, C-Belliard).

NY Mets AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Pagan, CF .323 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0 Castillo, 2B .295 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 Wright, 3B .345 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Sheffield, LF .295 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 1 0   Putz, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   b-Valdez, PH .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Rodriguez, F, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Murphy, 1B .262 4 1 3 1 0 1 5 0 1 4 0 Castro, R, C .253 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 15 0 Martinez, F, RF .000 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Martinez, R, SS .121 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 Santana, P .067 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0   a-Tatis, PH .275 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Parnell, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Feliciano, P, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Reed, LF .298 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals .285 33 7 11 4 0 1 7 7 12 27 5 a-Hit into a double play for Santana in the 6th. b-Grounded out for Putz in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Sheffield (5, Zimmermann, J), Castro, R (5, Zimmermann, J), Murphy (5, Colome), Martinez, R (2, Hanrahan). HR: Murphy (4, 6th inning off Zimmermann, J, 1 on, 0 out). RBI: Sheffield 2 (19), Murphy 5 (17). Team RISP: 3-for-16. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING CS: Castillo (2). FIELDING E: Murphy (4). DP: (Putz-Martinez, R-Murphy).

Washington ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Zimmermann, J (L, 2-2) 6.07 5.0 8 5 5 2 8 1 24 Villone 0.00 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 Wells 6.35 0.2 1 2 2 1 0 0 3 Colome 11.25 1.0 1 0 0 1 2 0 5 Hanrahan 5.64 1.0 1 0 0 2 2 0 6 Totals 5.67 8.0 11 7 7 7 12 1 40

NY Mets ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Santana (W, 7-2) 1.77 6.0 3 3 3 6 11 1 27 Parnell 2.21 0.2 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 Feliciano, P 2.41 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Putz 3.42 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 Rodriguez, F 0.79 1.0 1 1 0 0 1 0 5 Totals 3.86 9.0 5 4 3 7 15 1 39

Zimmermann, J pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Wells pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Team ER: off Washington 7, off NY Mets 3. BB: off Zimmermann, J 2 (Castillo, Sheffield), Villone 1 (Martinez, R), Wells 1 (Castillo), Colome 1 (Sheffield), Hanrahan 2 (Pagan, Castillo), off Santana 6 (Zimmerman, R, Zimmerman, R, Maxwell, Zimmermann, J, Guzman, C, Belliard), Putz 1 (Willingham). IBB: off Colome 1 (Sheffield). SO: by Zimmermann, J 8 (Pagan, Murphy, Castro, R, Martinez, R, Santana, Wright, Santana, Wright), Colome 2 (Wright, Castro, R), Hanrahan 2 (Reed, Wright), by Santana 11 (Guzman, C, Dunn, Willingham, Maxwell, Zimmermann, J, Guzman, C, Johnson, Nieves, Zimmerman, R, Willingham, Maxwell), Parnell 2 (Guzman, C, Zimmerman, R), Feliciano, P 1 (Dunn), Rodriguez, F 1 (Zimmerman, R). Balk: Colome. Pitches-strikes: Zimmermann, J 100-66, Villone 9-2, Wells 14-7, Colome 17-9, Hanrahan 31-17, Santana 120-73, Parnell 12-8, Feliciano, P 4-3, Putz 12-6, Rodriguez, F 20-14. Umpires: HP: Sam Holbrook. 1B: Adrian Johnson. 2B: Larry Vanover. 3B: Dan Iassogna. Official Scorer: Howie Karpin. Weather: 60 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, In from CF. T: 3:21. Att: 40,171.

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal