Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Do Not Wake Them Up! The Phillies' Bats Continue To Pull A Rip Van Winkle And It's OH SO GOOD!


Game 2: Mets 5 Phillies 0

Before going into tonight's game, the Mets starting pitchers had gone 4-0 with an ERA of 1.55 since May 17th. And the Phils after this one helped to make these stats even better!

As Keith Hernandez said, "I have never seen the Phillies lineup so anemic."

And really how right is Keith! It's kind of AMAZIN. Over the last 18 innings the Phils have been shut out by Mets pitching. In fact this is something the Amazins have not done against the Phillies since July 17th and 18th of 1998. The two pitchers to have accomplished this feat back in 1998 were none other than Hideo Nomo and Al Leiter. R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi that's some good company to be in!

Now let's see how the Mets put themselves 1 game over .500, 24-23!

In the bottom of the 2nd Ike Davis led off the inning with a 408 ft off the wall double. Gary then remarked, "That was a bullet." And Keith chimed in with, "And on the first pitch." With Ike on second and no outs David Wright did something the Mets did not do all of last night's game, he struck out. But no need to fret folks Angel "CRAZY HORSE" Pagan was up next and he hit a ball past Utley for a 1 out single. Keith said, "That ball had eyes." OH it did! Now with men on the corners and 1 out Barajas was up. Crazy Horse stole second (his 6th stolen base of the season) and Rod said, "It's time for me to put a run on the board." Barajas flew out to left but it was just enough for Ike to tag up and score, Rod added another rib eye steak to his belt and the Mets had a 1-0 lead over the Phils.

In the bottom of the 3rd Jose Jose Jose led off the inning (his 183rd at bat of the season) with a solo homer! His first long ball of this 2010 season! The Mets now were up 2-0 over the Phils. Gary screamed, "He's back," and Reyes really did appear to be back to the Jose we all know and love tonight!

Hisanori Takahashi had another great start for the Metsies. He pitched 6 scoreless innings and struck out 6! I don't care what name that Ryan Seacrest announced tonight my American Idol is Hisanori Takahashi!

Then in the bottom of the 6th David Wright started this inning off with a bang. Davey hit a long fly ball to center, Victorino tried to make a diving catch but he could not and Wright had a lead off double! Pagan then dropped down a gorgeous bunt and he beat out Polanco's throw to first for an infield hit! With 1st and 3rd and nobody out Mr. Clutch Rod Barajas was up. Pagan stole 2nd (his 7th stolen base of the season) and right after I said to my Dad, "It would be quite awesome if Rod would hit a double down the left field line," Barajas said, "Danielle your wish is my command." What a nice guy! With Barajas' double, Wright and Pagan scored and the Mets had a 4-0 lead over the Phils. Barajas since leaving the Phillies has been a Phils KILLER. In his 31 at bats against them thus far he has 18 rib eye steaks and his batting average is .548; just insane! And this insanity was and is appreciated! With 1 out, Cora came up to pinch hit for Takahashi and he grounded the ball to Utley, Howard couldn't handle Chase's throw and with that Utley error Alex was safe at 1st base. Blanton now left the game and Chad Durbin came in for some relief action. Jose Reyes gave Durbin a very un-brotherly love type of a welcome and he singled, Barajas scored and the Mets were now up 5-0 over the Phils.

Mejia, Igarashi, and Nieve pitched great in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings. This triple threat was on fire tonight!

In the top of the 9th Werth led off the inning and Nieve was nasty, real nasty to him, and no Nightly Nieve didn't insult Jayson's beard. He did something even better he struck him out! Ben Francisco then grounded out to Wright and the last hope for the Phillies tonight was the pinch hitter Greg Dobbs. And folks this is when Reyes again proved he's BACK. Dobbs hit a sharp line ball at Reyes and Jose said OH I CAN JUMP very very high, he did just that and he caught the ball. This took a potential hit away from Dobbs and the ballgame was over!

The Mets win, the Mets win!

And now it's time for some booth tomfoolery!

At one point during this game the camera man got a very clear shot of R.A. Dickey filing his nails in the dugout. Of course the booth could not let this go and they went on for quite a while about Tricky Dick's manicuring ways. They are so silly.

In the 5th inning Keith shared a little too much information with us fans. As he said, "Boy it's hot. I am sweating through my clothes here." Ron and Gary just ignored this comment. I wish they had not but oh well.

Then during Utley's at bat in the 6th Keith tried to figure out what is going on with Chase's lack of offense. He is pretty sure it's Utley's hip and not just a slump. Keith then got distracted by Chase's hair, he forgot what he was talking about and he remarked, "He had his wings clipped. Who is his barber?" Oh Keith nothing gets past you. Keep it up Sherlock Hernandez! And really who is Utley's barber? He does good work.

AND in the bottom of the 7th the booth made me a little teary eyed as they talked about the late Jose Lima. They only had the nicest things to say about Lima Time. It also got Keith and Gary to realize that life is pretty short.

Keith: He was only 37. You just never know.
Gary: Enjoy every day.

So as Gary said let's enjoy every day and of course that's easier when the Mets win but even when the games don't go the Metsies way it's important we stay positive. This season has been a roller coaster ride thus far and although there have been some real lows these last two games have been some real enjoyable highs on this 2010 journey.


Let's keep the good times coming!

Pelf do your thang tomorrow.

And a sweep would be oh so sweet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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“Take me out to the….movies!



Alibi Ike



Baseball Classic Starring Joe E. Brown and Olivia de Havilland, Available from Warner Archive Collection Beginning June 1



To acquaint today’s fans of America’s favorite pastime with a true baseball classic, “No-Alibi” Ike Davis, New York Mets rookie first baseman, will be watching June 1st when Alibi Ike, Ring Lardner’s classic baseball yarn starring Joe E. Brown and Olivia de Havilland, will be available on DVD and digital download from the Warner Archive Collection (www.warnerarchive.com).

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Based on sports writer Lardner’s short story series that first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post magazine, Alibi Ike is about rookie pitcher Francis "Ike" Farrell who suddenly and miraculously shows up to help the Chicago Cubs win the National League pennant. (The Mets are hoping that Davis can someday have the same effect on his club). His nickname refers to Ike’s fondness for making excuses for anything and everything, frustrating his manager and Ike’s girlfriend Dolly Stevens (de Havilland).



Lardner may have patterned the Ike character after Leonard Leslie (King) Cole, who played in the early part of the 20th century for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees. Real life major league stars of that era who appear briefly in Alibi Ike include: Guy Cantrell, Wally Hood and Dick Cox (Brooklyn Dodgers); Cedric Durst, Mike Gazella and Bob Meusel ( NY Yankees); Don Hurst (Philadelphia Phillies); Smead Jolley (Chicago White Sox); Lou Koupal (Pirates); Wally Rehg (Boston Red Sox) and Jim Thorpe (New York Giants).



Alibi Ike also features Ruth Donnelly, Roscoe Karns and William Frawley. The comedy was directed by Ray Enright with a screenplay adapted by William Wister Haines from Lardner’s stories.



The Warner Archive Collection is the unique service which offers discs and downloads on demand of filmed entertainment classics from the studio’s massive library.

Warner Home Entertainment launched the Collection last March, inviting the public to purchase film and TV favorites directly from what is the world’s largest film vault of its kind. Using technology called ‘Manufacturing on Demand’ (MOD), Warner is able to turn out a wide range of product quickly, while limiting its marketing and production costs. Consumers visit www.warnerarchive.com to view DVD titles, order their selection online and receive a quality DVD, indistinguishable from a standard pressed DVD, in less than a week.



Contact: Jeff Freedman, FSPR, fsprjeff@aol.com, office: 310 277 2042