Game 2 of the day-night double header: Mets 3 Padres 0
Jon Niese vs Jon Garland
Day and night double headers are always something I quite enjoy watching. Unfortunately I was at work for most of the first game. I came home just in time to see Jesus Feliciano's major league debut in the bottom of the 8th. Sadly he waited 13 years to strike out. And well that game was something I'm not so upset I didn't get to see. After Blanco hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 2nd Mat Latos and the amazing Padre bullpen retired 22 Metsies in a row, BOO to that. The Mets lost game 1, 4-2. And Santana did not have his A or B game at all this afternoon. But that's okay because in game 2 Niese proved that anything Mat "One T in my name" Latos can do Jon "H's in J-O-H-N are for suckers" Niese can do better! Niese pitched a 1 hit complete game shutout and it was spectacular!
So now let's get to Niese's gem of a game and to the highlights in the booth! Keith took a 45 minute nap in between games so yeah the Gary/Keith action was stellar tonight!
Here we go!
Mets starting lineup:
Reyes
Feliciano
Wright
Davis
Carter
Barajas
Frenchy
Tejada
Niese
Top of the 1st:
Niese retired the Padres in order! Adios Hairston Jr., Headley and Gonzalez!
Bottom of the 1st:
Reyes led off this inning with a single. He also did this during game 1, cool beans. Jesus Feliciano who was making his first major league start was up next. Gary made it known that Jesus has absolutely no power, he's a singles hitter. Feliciano could not prove Mr. Cohen wrong and he grounded out, but Reyes advanced to 2nd, yay. Keith then said something about Feliciano that cracked me up. My Dad and I were laughing for a couple of minutes about this, no joke. Keith said, "I'd like to see him run harder to 1st after 13 years in the minors." He really didn't put in that Jason Bay hustle to first base at all. With Reyes still on 2nd and 1 out David Wright was up, Reyes stole third, his 15th stolen base of the season! Sadly Wright struck out and Davis flew out and Reyes was stranded on 2nd, BOO.
Top of the 2nd:
Niese again retired the side in order, yay! Say hello and goodbye to Jon's signature cutter Scott Hairston, Torreabla and Salazar!
Bottom of the 2nd:
Chris Carter led off this inning with a double, his 3rd double of the season! Barajas then singled and with no outs and men on 1st and 3rd Frenchy bloop singled and The Animal scored! Frenchy got rib eye steak number 34 and the Mets had a 1-0 lead over the Padres! But then all the fun ended thanks to Ruben Tejada. With no outs and men on 1st and 2nd Ruben sandwich grounded into a 5-4-3 triple play, ick ick ick.
Top of the 3rd:
Denorfia who looks a lot like a Jason Bay/Ike Davis hybrid to me led off the inning with a double. Denorfia was that one pesky zit on a beautiful face tonight, ugh. But it's okay Denorfia was stranded at 2nd! To get out of this inning unscathed Niese struck out Zawadzki and Garland and then Hairston Jr. flew out for out number 3, oh yeah!
Bottom of the 3rd:
During Niese's at bat a magnificent conversation between Gary and Keith took place about the spelling of the name JON:
Gary: It's Jon Niese vs Jon Garland. Those J-O-N-S take great pride in being J-O-N-S. They don't want to be confused with J-O-H-N-S.
Keith: Ok!
Gary: No disparagement meant but it's a special club.
Keith: Wasn't there a Jon Voight?
Gary: Jon Voight was a J-O-N except not George's car. That was J-O-H-N.
Keith: You were a "Seinfeld" watcher?
Gary: Yeah, isn't everybody?
Keith: Quite a few people watch it.
This "Seinfeld" talk was great I just wished Gary busted Keith's chops a bit and said I've seen every episode but the one you were in! Ok back to the game, Niese was walked. Yay JON! Reyes then bunted, it was a hit and on a throwing error by Torreabla, Niese was now on 3rd and Reyes was on 2nd. Feliciano then went 0-3 in his major league career thus far, damn that stupid come-backer and the runners stayed put. Next, Wright grounded out BUT Niese scored! Davey got rib eye steak #40, Reyes moved on over to third and the Mets had a 2-0 lead. At this point Reyes' uniform was dirrrrty. My Dad joked about this and then Gary could be my Dad and he remarked, "Reyes looks like he has played a couple of games in the 3rd inning."
With Reyes on at 3rd and 2 outs Keith mentioned that Garland was dipsy-doosing Ike, whatever that means. But I'm ok with dispy-doosing because Isaac Benjamin Davis rbi singled, Reyes scored and the Mets were now up 3-0 over the Padres. That rib eye steak of Davis' was his 20th, YAY! Carter grounded a ball, the force out was made at 2nd and the inning was over.
Top of the 4th:
Niese was grooving! He retired Headley, Gonzalez and Scott Hairston in order!
Bottom of the 4th:
J-O-N Garland wanted to show he's an elite J-O-N too and he pitched his first 1-2-3 inning of the night. Barajas, Frenchy and Tejada all grounded out, BOO!
Top of the 5th:
Niese continued to murder it! He retired Torreabla, Salazar and Denorfia in order!
Bottom of the 5th:
The Metsies didn't score but Reyes got his 3rd hit of the night, another single YAY! And Keith and Gary had some words with Burkhardt. All of a sudden out of nowhere Kevin joined in on their convo and that made Gary go, "Hello Kevin." And Keith said "I thought you didn't work double headers Kevin!" Poor Kevin haha, he was Rodney Dangerfield tonight. But Gary then thanked Kevin for opening this game for them because that enabled Keith to get a few more Z's during his nappy nap between games.
Top of the 6th:
Niese retired the Padres once again in order! Au revoir Zawadzki, Garland and Hairston Jr.! Also in this inning Mr. Hernandez informed Gary and well everyone watching that he's in no way making the road trip to Baltimore. He decided he's having a bbq! Keith said it's going to be a very selective bbq, boo to that. I want an invite! At this bbq because Keith is now all healthy he'll be serving fish and veggies. And that fish he'll grill it like a champ because he said "I know what I'm doing!"
Let's skip ahead to the top of the 8th:
Going into this inning Niese had retired 15 straight Padres in a row and well he decided I'm going to make that 18! Goodbye Torreabla, Salazar and Denorfia! Niese had struck out Salazar and that was his 6th K of the night! Also, I must note that Keith remarked that he hates the Padres current uniform, he called it a "STINKER" to be exact.
Bottom of the 8th:
Ryan Webb just like Edward Mujica in the 7th kept the Metsies scoreless. Sheesh why is this Padre bullpen so awesome? Really I am just amazed by them, but I don't want to gush about the opposition so let me move right along to the 9th!
Top of the 9th:
Tonight was Niese's 18th major league start and going into this inning he had just given up that one hit to Denorfia and he had retired 18 Padres in a row since then and he wasn't done. He was going for the 1 hit complete game shutout! The last Met to do this was Aaron Heilman on 4/15/2005. So Niese let's do this! Ron Darling's Dad's former player Zawadzki was out #1, yay! Nick "No relation to Todd or Randy" Hundley was the pinch hitter and he popped up in foul territory, and Isaac Benjamin Davis made the grab! Niese was one out away from pitching the Metsies 26th complete game 1 hitter EVER! Drum roll please! Jon got Hairston Jr. to pop up, Barajas made the catch and after retiring 21 Padres in a row Niese joined Aaron Heilman and proved he's definitely an amazing J-O-N!
This game was a joy to watch. One of my faves of the season for sure! So the Mets were 5-1 on this home stand, not too bad at all! And starting tomorrow they are off to play the Orioles. Gary and Keith were talking about how the Mets should sweep the terrible, horrible Orioles but you know what I hope the Metsies don't underestimate Baltimore. Anything can happen in a series and there's no reason to enter this series lightly at all.
So R.A. Dickey and the Amazins go out there at Camden Yards tomorrow and win on the road and stick it to Baltimore, stick it good! And Dickey may I suggest for your pre-game reading session Jack Kerouac's "On The Road!"
1 comment:
Damn right, it was a well-pitched game, and the Gary/Keith talk was top notch, as always.
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