The last time the Mets won back to back games on the road was on July 25th and 26th of 2009. And nothing changed tonight.
The starting pitchers in tonight's game were Johan "My middle name is no decision" Santana Vs. Clayton "I like pitching like I have a dinner reservation at 6PM Western Time" Richard. Yeah I totally stole that Clayton Richard line from Gary Cohen.
And Jerry switched up the lineup tonight, here's what it looked like:
Reyes
Pagan
Bay
Davis
Wright
Francouer
Cora
Blanco
Santana
And now to the highlights, low-lights and the booth tomfoolery! I've got good booth action for us tonight because oh yes we need to smile after this 11 innings disaster of a game!
Top of the 3rd:
The Mets didn't score in this inning but Reyes got his 13th stolen base of the season and this stolen base was the first given up by Richard in 2010! And to make things even better Kevin Burkhardt was back in the stands where he rightfully belongs and he interviewed Roger "I was the starting pitcher for the first game in Mets history" Craig. The Roger Craig who had a 10-24 record with the expansion 1962 Mets. I guess we have to look on the bright side we aren't in as bad of shape as that squad that went 40-120. Gotta glass half full that shit! And interesting to note this former Brooklyn Dodger and former Met also managed the Padres back in the late 70's. Hmmmm so who was Mr. Craig really rooting for tonight???!! BTW Roger sounded a lot like John Goodman, that was freaky.
Top of the 4th:
Bay singled to lead off this inning. With one out and Bay on first Wright was up to bat and before Gary and Ron could say how amazing David has hit against left handed pitchers this season, Bay stole second. And oh David is slaughtering the southpaws. Before tonight's game he was hitting .419 against them, the second best batting avg. against LHP in the National League. So with that being said David continued to prove that he eats left handed pitchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner and he bloop singled! SO now with 1 out there were runners on the corners for Frenchy and Jeff said "I want Gary to say what a revelation over the last week I've been" and Jeff rbi singled, Bay scored, the Mets had a 1-0 lead over the Padres and Gary in fact did say those exact words about Francouer! And with that hit Frenchy now has a 7 game hitting streak, YAY.
Bottom of the 4th:
This inning was all about Kevin Burkhardt. Kevin decided he wanted to channel his inner SoCal. To do this Kevin was sitting in the famous beach beyond the outfield in Petco Park barefoot. Because duh that's what it means to be a Californian, no shoes! So the little Burkhardt footsies were out for all of San Diego to see.
Although Kevin's lack of footwear was fun and well the fun is not over I am sad to report that in today's game Ron and Kevin did not have matching ties. Kevin since he was all about being Southern Californian had on his SNY blue polo shirt. And Ron and Gary didn't have suit jackets tonight. There goes my theory that when Keith isn't in the booth they go all fancy shmancy. OH well.
Top of the 5th:
Kevin continued to chill with the children at the beach. And he still had no shoes on. A game of Simon Says usually takes place in this beach zone with the kiddies and well Kevin was very eager to play. Unfortunately I don't know if he ever got to play or if those little kids who stole his shoes ever gave them back. Yeah I'm pretty sure a bunch of 8 year old bullies took Burkhardt's shoes away from him and he just conveniently used the story that he wanted to go all SoCal tonight to save face. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Bottom of the 5th:
After a camera man showed two children sharing pink cotton candy in the stands Gary revealed that he loves cotton candy, blue cotton candy that is.
After 7 innings in the books Johan Santana had given up 5 hits, 5 walks, 0 runs and he struck out 3 Padres. All in all it was not an easy night for Santana, he was at times all over the place but he still got the job done, the Mets were up 1-0 over the Padres and basically Johan gave the Metsies a great opportunity to win this game and this series in San Diego. Unfortunately the bullpen decided to rebel and not go along with this plan, sheesh.
Bottom of the 9th:
Rodriguez came in to try to get a 4 out save in the bottom of the 8th and he was almost there, he now just had to get those last three batters out and well that didn't happen. The pinch hitter to lead off this inning was Tony Gwynn and he singled. Great start to this inning, NOT! Then with that scary pinch hitter Matt Stairs up to bat, Gwynn stole second, still not good at all for the Metsies! But oh happy day Krod struck out stairs! With 1 out and Gwynn on at second Hairston Jr. also struck out! And the last hope for the Padres came in the form of the toughest little dude on the planet, David Eckstein. This guy is ridiculous. Eckstein singled up the middle, Gwynn scored, the game was now tied and it was time for the dangerous Adrian Gonzalez to win this game for the Padres. Gonzalez singled and Eckstein was told to run David run home. The Padres wanted to win this one right now, I get that logic. But oh YES the Mets pulled off a great play, Bay handled the single beautifully, he threw to Wright who threw to Blanco and Henry made the tag at home and Eckstein was OUT and it was time for extra innings.
Bottom of the 11th:
KRod pitched in the 10th but when it came to the 11th inning Jerry Manuel decided to let us relive our nightmares from game 1 and Valdes came into pitch. And Valdes yet again could not contain the San Diego offense. Gwynn led off the inning with a double, horrible. But then the Padres pinch hitter was their pitcher Jon Garland and he bunted terribly, he hit it right back to Valdes and Valdes got Gwynn out at third and there was 1 out. Hairston Jr. was up next and he hit a foul ball that was caught by this Mets fan. This was a fun moment during this awful inning. After this lover of the Mets caught this foul ball he was booed by the Padre fans and he basically said with the flip of his backwards cap which now faced forwards "Eff you San Diego." Unfortunately moments later the Padres said "No eff you," to all us Mets fans.
Hairston Jr. singled, BOO. With 1st and 2nd and 1 out Eckstein was back to wreak some more havoc on the Mets. But nope that didn't happen and instead Valdes pegged him in the knee. Eckstein really had the wind knocked out of him and it appeared for a moment that he wasn't going to be able to make it over to first base. However no person should ever underestimate Eckstein, he's a tough little shit all right. He got on up and moseyed on down to Ike at first like a champ. Now the bases were loaded for Gonzalez and because these Mets games are so predictable he hit a grand salami and this ball game was over. Horrible, horrible, horrible. But having said that I'm really just concerned at this point with the status of Kevin's shoes. Is he still barefoot in the park?
Tomorrow is a new day. And well the Metsies are flying back to NY to face the Marlins on Friday. Dickey will be our man on the mound, YAY! And folks it's now time to predict what book he'll be reading before his start. I'm thinking maybe "The Old Man In The Sea."
And Keith please be in the booth for this upcoming series I have missed you man!
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