Game 1: Yanks 2 Mets 1
Well before I get started on this one I want to officially say hi to everyone and to also add that it is an honor to be considered the Angel Pagan for Fonzie Forever. Thanks Brian for the warm welcome!
Now let me dive right into this game. I was very optimistic about this one. For some reason I just thought the Mets would win. I'm a foolish, naive woman at times I can admit this. Well the Mets did not win this one but Takahashi was a Yankee killer. Twice he had a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs and both times he struck out the batter, Derek Jeter in the 3rd and Nick Swisher in the 4th. And then with a runner in scoring position in the 6th "The Tic TAK" (yes that's my new nickname for Mr. Takahashi for he's as refreshing as that one and a half calorie breath mint!) struck out Cano to end his night on the mound. Overall, these were Tic Tak's stats
5 hits
0 runs
1 BB
5 K's
6 innings pitched
Why it took this long for Takahashi to start still boggles my mind!!??
Now to the Mets offense tonight, well there isn't much in this department to brag about. Sadly not much at all. In the bottom of the 5th Angel Pagan got the first hit off of Vazquez. It was just a single but thank goodness the Mets just got a hit. Besides this single really the only other offensive plays to mention came by Bay and Davis in the bottom of the 9th and I'll get to those right after the horrible 7th inning and the not as awful 8th are discussed.
It was a painful top of the 7th, a 7th inning I'm sure Alex Cora would like to forget. For some reason after Takahashi was taken out of the game Manuel decided to bring in Elmer Dessens to pitch. I didn't get this move but hey I'm just a girl who loves baseball and what do I know, I'm not getting paid the big bucks! Nick Swisher led off this inning with a single. I wanted to throw a pie in his face but nope I had no pies in the fridge. Then Francisco Cervelli grounded a ball to Cora, Cora threw to second but it was a terrible no good very bad throw, Reyes could not catch it and unfortunately this meant nobody was out and there were men on 2nd and 3rd for the youngin Kevin Russo. Russo hit a 2 rbi double and the Yanks just like that had a 2-0 lead over the Amazins. Vazquez then hit a beautiful sac bunt which moved Russo on down to third base. With 1 out Derek Jeter grounded to Jose Reyes, Reyes made a great snag, Russo was held up at third and Jeter was out at first base. With that out Manuel made a call to the bullpen and he brought Ollie Perez into the game. My jaw dropped at this point. Why bring in Ollie with an inherited runner on 3rd base! But Ollie proved me wrong, sigh. Well not at first but he did. With 2 outs he walked Brett Gardner and Jerry allowed Ollie to face Teixeira. This is when my big sigh of relief came in. Teixeira flew out to Pagan leaving men on 1st and 3rd and the inning was over!
In the 7th inning David Robertson pitched relief for the Yankees. Vazquez had to leave this one with a bruised right index finger. That will teach him to lay off the beautiful bunts. Alex Cora led off this inning and he singled. Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" didn't play at Citi Field but I busted out a few verses in honor of Alex. The Mets did threaten in this bottom of the 7th after Cora's single. Although Bay flew out for out number one, Ike got on 1st thanks to a throwing error by the man not named Jorge Posada, Francisco Cervelli. With 1st and 2nd and 1 out, Joba Chamberlain came in to pitch to David Wright. As Keith Hernandez remarked, "The crowd is getting jazzed up now!" and they were. Sadly Wright missed this memo and he relapsed, he struck out. With 2 out and 2 on everything was on the line for the Mets and Angel Pagan and with a full count, Pagan just could not stop the swing and he struck out. The inning was over.
In the top of the 8th Nightly Nieve, and Perpetual Pedro kept this game 2-0. Although Nieve gave up a lead off walk to ARod, Feliciano struck out Cano, Swisher popped up to Reyes and Cervelli said I can do that too Cano and he struck out to end the inning.
The bottom of the 8th was just a continuation of Joba Chamberlain greatness. Seriously is there anything more annoying than Joba doing well in a ball game??!! NO. He struck out Barajas, his third consecutive strike out and after that K Frenchy grounded out to Jeter and The Animal pinch hit and well flew out to end the inning. Just terrible.
Manny Acosta pitched a decent 9th inning and the stage was set for the Mets to come back against the Yanks. Mariano Rivera has struggled in his last few outings so I thought anything is possible, right!! In the bottom of the 9th, Reyes flew out to shallow left, Cora tapped back to the mound and just like that there were 2 outs. But then Canadian BAY-con hit a double with 2 outs and the few Mets fans in Citi Field were jazzed up! Seriously this crowd was all pinstriped fiends and that stung. I was very upset by this. Anyways back to the 9th, Ike Davis said yet again I've always batted cleanup since I was in the womb and he hit a double and Bay scored. The Mets were just down by 1 run and Davey was up! But with just one pitch the Mets were all done with the heroics. Wright grounded out to Cano and the ball game was over.
This game could have gone our way. We got great pitching from Takahashi and the relievers did pretty good too. Sadly sometimes it's just not in the cards and stupid errors happen even to great defensive players like Alex Cora. I can't stay mad at Alex for that error in the 7th, he's an awesome 2nd baseman and well life shits on you and it did just that for Cora and us Mets fans tonight.
And what's even more depressing I don't even have any booth highlights for us. For some reason the booth was very serious tonight. The only thing I learned was that Ron Darling likes fireworks and well as great as that is to know it really doesn't ease the pain of this loss. Also, for some reason SNY exiled Keith. He was out of the booth for most of the game; instead he was by the dugout making comments about this game and by comments I mean he just kept saying how he wished baseball was a game like golf where old fogies like himself could keep playing into their 50's and 60's. There just was no ongoing flow in the booth and my commentating heroes were just off of their games tonight. Keith, Gary and Ron I'm expecting you guys to come out strong tomorrow. Please.
Well tomorrow is a new day and maybe one of Manuel's last at Citi Field.
Pelf we need a great outing from you yet again, so do your thang!
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