Mets 4, Giants 3 (top of the 7th)
Just when I was wondering if there was a slower major leaguer on the base paths than the Sultan Of Surly Circa 2006, I look up to see Mets SP Brian Bannister limping, hopping, staggering home on Kaz Matsui’s 6th inning double to left field.
The amateur diagnosis from the Giants TV crew is a pulled hamstring. Between Bannister’s injury and Victor Zambrano’s continuing struggles, there remains every chance that Jose Lima will get another start in the big leagues.
Carlos Delgado hit a solo HR off Matt Morris in the 3rd inning, his 9th of the season. Cliff Floyd, still looking to bust out for real, has hit 3 line drives to the warning track in left with nothing to show for it. Except a day’s pay and the love of his teammates.
Aaron Heilman is currently pitching in relief of Bannister. Presumably, Bannister will require two pulled hamstrings before there’s any serious talk of Heilman returning to the starting rotation.
(UPDATE : Mets 7, Giants 7. After a two-out error by David Wright kept SF alive in the bottom of the 9th, Barry Bonds hit a 2-run HR to left field off Billy Wagner. For the Sultan, that’s career HR no. 711. For Billy Wagner, blown save no. 2 on the year )
You know what they say about guys with big feet. That’s right. At some point, you might want to stop giving them such great pitches to hit. Texas’ Kevin Mench (above) hit his 6th HR in as many games earlier today, a grand slam off Kiko Calero, in the Rangers’ 6-4 loss to Oakland.
8 innings of one-hit ball today for the Angels’ Jon Lackey (above) ; maybe the Tigers had to catch another flight.
Good news, Nationals fans. Not only does your team finally have an owner, but it isn’t the guy who barbeques dogs.
Am I the only one starting to get frighten visions of Chuck Knoblauch every time the ball is hit to David Wright?
Ha, you and Olbermann’s mom sitting on the first base line.
Nevermind Wright’s fielding problems: Darren Oliver has emerged as this year’s Pat Mahomes! (That’s a good thing, I don’t know if that came through)
Still wondering about Willie’s decisions to excessively walk Bonds the other night? Let’s face it – he tried everyone’s suggestion the last two games of the SF series – pitch to Bonds. And look how that turned out. More proof of the 50-50-90 rule (there’s a fifty-fifty chance that ninety percent of the time you’ll be wrong…)
Rumor has it that unusual seismic activity was detected in the vicinity of NYC late this afternoon, roughly coincident with Bonds #711. Look for a run on throat lozenges around the NY metro area Thursday as fallout from the collective Met’s fan primal scream that shook the ground. Of course, complete disaster was averted as the Amazin’s ended up being amazing and as the night wore on things got better still, with Rivera blowing a 2-2 tie to the vaunted D-Rays in the 10th inning. Choose your poison – having your ace closer blow a save to the Sultan of Surly’s 711th, or blow the game against a glorified AAA batting order.
well, I’m not so sure it didn’t work out for Willie on Tuesday. Sure, Barry hit a home run, but there was no one on board at the time and the Mets won. This afternoon…yeah, they could’ve walked Bonds, but La Russa aside, putting the potential tying run on base is an uncommon move.
re : the glorified AAA batting order that victimized Mo. There’s a couple of big league teams that could find spots for Carl Crawford or Jonny Gomes. Ty Wigginton has more HR’s and RBI’s than David Wright this month. If there’s anything about the Devil Rays that has bush league written all over it, it’s their pitching staff (Kazmir aside). The position players aren’t hopeless and if they had Cantu, Huff, Lugo and Baldelli healthy..fuck, I dunno. The Orioles would be looking at last place.
if you walk bonds in the first inning with score at zero, you probably also should walk him when he’s the tying run with two outs n the bottom of the 9th inning. cohen said walk him, hernandez said pitch to him. guess who was right (again). I guess billy martin would have told his pitcher to hit bonds in the head, a much faster kind of intentional walk and sends a message
well, there’s walking Barry, pitching to him and pitching around him. There’s also missing, which I think is what applies to Billy Wagner yesterday. The Sultan has been having difficulty with pitches low and away…none of the 3 balls he’s hit for HR’s fall into that category.
This is all worth arguing about, but guys have to make plays. Without Wright’s error, Barry doesn’t have a chance to tie it. If Wagner blows him away, nobody is questioning the manager. If Willie issues the intentional pass and Lance Niekro hits one out (ok, fantasy time), mr. that’s alotta meat gets chewed up on the FAN.
Castro/Chavez/Woodward : a combined 7 for 12. That’s not gonna happen very often.
i understand you’re putting the tying run on base, but first base was open, two outs. I think you have to walk him there.
the way bonds is running right now, a double might not have scored him from first anyway