Mets 1, Diamonbacks 0 (13 innings)
While this near-classic wasn’t decided until Jose Valentin’s game winning single in the bottom of the 13th, the CSTB Award For Gaffe Of The Night goes to ‘Zona’s Craig Counsell, the first big leaguer to challenge the right arm of Lastings Milledge (above).
When the Snakes weren’t running themselves out of an inning, however, they were genuinely impressive in a series they might’ve swept had a few plays turned out differently. Eric Brynes robbed the ice-cold Carlos Delgado of an extra base hit in the bottom of the 2nd, pulling down a liner as his back hit the center-field fence.
Brandon Webb was fantastic, as was Oh Fer May Pedro Martinez. Both clubs’ relief corps were nearly flawless (including a brutally fast Jorge Julio making his first Shea appearance since being dealt for El Duque). Were it not for the strong possibility of Luis Gonzalez and Tony Clark continuing to get major playing time (the former being a better bet than the latter), Arizona would genuinely scare me. Not the team, mind you. The state.
Cheer up, Kaz. Though it’s really looking like you’ve lost your job to thousand-year-old Jose Valentin, at least you have the love of Alyssa Milano.
Your ugly stat of the day : Rollins, Utley, Abreu and Howard were a combined 0 for 15 against not-quite-light’s-out Livan Hernandez, Mike Stanton and Chad Cordero.