The Haiku

Utley homers trump
Wright’s sinking liner that Werth
Turned into an out

The Game

Dear Mom and Dad,

What did I do that was so wrong when I was a young child that you decided to raise me a Mets fan? Whatever it was, I regret it so much because here I am at 31 years old and I am still being tortured on a daily basis by this team. How can a team turn a complete fan base bipolar over the course of one game? For the first six innings of Wednesday night’s game, the Mets had their fans feeling high on the fact that this shorthanded ballclub, after taking game one against the hated division leading Phillies on Tuesday night, jumped out to a 4-1 lead and knocked Philly’s best starter out of the game after five. Our blossoming right hander Mike Pelfrey outpitched and outhit Cole Hamels in front of a raucous Citi Field crowd. Big Pelf also showed some fight as he exchanged words with Chase Utley during an at bat. So the positive vibes were palpable and we were nine outs away from closing the division deficit to one game with a chance for a three game sweep on Thursday. But, the Mets then realized they couldn’t let their fans continue to ride this high. The top of the seventh inning featured three Philly runs that tied the game thanks in large part to two balls that were botched by New York’s two alleged gold glovers (Carlos Beltran leaping for a ball that could have been caught standing up and David Wright flubbing a bouncer). So the good vibrations were slowed down considerably as the game, now tied at four, moved along. I could recite every painful detail:

-the Mets leaving 16 men on base,
-the umpires blowing YET ANOTHER call in the fourth that cost the Mets a run,
-New York’s inability to score a run against the Philly bullpen (including two scoreless frames from, wait for it, Chan Ho Park),
-Jayson Werth’s game saving diving catch with two outs in the bottom of the tenth. If that ball gets by him, game over. And teams just don’t lose games when players make game saving catches like that… right Endy Chavez?

I could go on and on, but why bother? When Chase Utley lead off the top of the 11th inning with his second homer off the game (and the first homer Bobby Parnell has allowed in his big league career) the outcome had been decided. This one hurt. But just when you think you’ve been tortured enough by the Mets (still not over the loss to the Dodgers where Church missed third base), this team finds a new way to punch their fan base in the stomach. Can’t wait to see what Thursday has in store for us as Tim Redding gets the start for New York. If I were Brian Stokes, I would come to the stadium prepared to pitch as the matchups of Redding vs. Utley, Howard, and Ibanez do not look too appealing on paper. Octogenarian Jaime Moyer will oppose Redding in the series finale. How about you throw us a bone here and let us ta ke this important series? Haven’t we suffered enough? Thanks.

Love,
Chuck Buono

The Boxscore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E Philadelphia 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 5 9 0 NY Mets 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 16 1

Philadelphia AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Rollins, SS .226 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 Victorino, CF .289 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Utley, 2B .303 5 2 3 0 0 2 2 0 0 4 4 Howard, 1B .258 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 2 Ibanez, LF .325 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Werth, RF .261 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 Feliz, 3B .303 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 Ruiz, C .287 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1   Park, P .091 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1   Madson, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Hamels, P .143 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   a-Dobbs, PH .200 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Taschner, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1   b-Bako, PH .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   Durbin, C, P .250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Eyre, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Romero, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Coste, C .239 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Totals .263 41 5 9 0 0 2 4 2 3 33 17 a-Singled for Hamels in the 6th. b-Struck out for Taschner in the 7th. BATTING HR: Utley 2 (15, 4th inning off Pelfrey, 0 on, 1 out; 11th inning off Parnell, 0 on, 0 out). RBI: Utley 2 (41), Feliz (30), Rollins (21). GIDP: Rollins. Team RISP: 2-for-7. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Victorino (10). FIELDING DP: (Feliz-Utley-Howard).

NY Mets AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO PO A Castillo, 2B .271 6 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 Cora, SS .297 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 5 Beltran, CF .342 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Sheffield, LF .258 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   Rodriguez, F, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   b-Martinez, F, PH .222 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Parnell, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wright, 3B .354 5 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 Tatis, 1B .264 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 2 Church, RF .272 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 4 0 Santos, O, C .277 5 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0   1-Valdez, PR .200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Schneider, C .212 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pelfrey, P .150 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3   Green, S, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   a-Murphy, PH .244 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   Feliciano, P, P .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0   Reed, LF .323 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Totals .279 47 4 16 1 0 0 4 5 5 33 16 a-Struck out for Green, S in the 7th. b-Singled for Rodriguez, F in the 10th. 1-Ran for Santos, O in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Pelfrey (1, Hamels). RBI: Cora 2 (8), Pelfrey (3), Castillo (14). S: Tatis (off Durbin, C). GIDP: Beltran. Team RISP: 6-for-19. Team LOB: 16. BASERUNNING SB: Cora (5), Wright 2 (16). FIELDING E: Wright (8). DP: 2 (Castillo-Cora-Tatis, Tatis).

Philadelphia ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Hamels 4.62 5.0 11 4 4 2 1 0 27 Taschner 3.74 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Durbin, C 4.31 0.2 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 Eyre 2.63 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Romero 0.00 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 5 Park (W, 2-1) 6.50 2.0 3 0 0 0 2 0 9 Madson (S, 3) 2.15 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Totals 4.63 11.0 16 4 4 5 5 0 53

NY Mets ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Pelfrey 4.68 6.0 6 4 2 1 2 1 24 Green, S (BS, 2) 5.47 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 Feliciano, P 2.16 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Rodriguez, F 0.61 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 Parnell (L, 2-1) 2.25 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 1 5 Totals 3.91 11.0 9 5 3 2 3 2 43

Pelfrey pitched to 3 batters in the 7th. Team ER: off Philadelphia 4, off NY Mets 3. BB: off Hamels 2 (Church, Church), Durbin, C 2 (Wright, Church), Romero 1 (Cora), off Pelfrey 1 (Victorino), Parnell 1 (Werth). IBB: off Durbin, C 1 (Church). SO: by Hamels 1 (Santos, O), Eyre 1 (Murphy), Romero 1 (Sheffield), Park 2 (Church, Beltran), by Pelfrey 2 (Hamels, Rollins), Green, S 1 (Bako). Pitches-strikes: Hamels 100-66, Taschner 13-8, Durbin, C 20-9, Eyre 5-3, Romero 25-10, Park 37-22, Madson 12-8, Pelfrey 105-67, Green, S 18-11, Feliciano, P 9-6, Rodriguez, F 21-14, Parnell 17-9. Umpires: HP: Randy Marsh. 1B: Dan Iassogna. 2B: Mike Winters. 3B: Lance Barksdale. Official Scorer: Howie Karpin. Weather: 63 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 10 mph, In from CF. T: 3:48. Att: 38,723.

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Chuck Buono
Haiku by Howard Megdal