Game 1: Mets 5 Orioles 1
Dickey vs Guthrie
Tonight marked the start of a 9 game road trip against the American League for our Metsies and they decided to have a pre-game meal at Alice's Restaurant and they ordered off the menu cheeseburgers all around with a side of winning a series opener on the road!
Besides this great dining experience I'm pretty sure before today's game R.A. Dickey told Kevin Burkhardt "I just finished reading Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' so yeah we're gonna survive Camden Yards and I'm gonna get my record to 4-0!" And what do you know reading is fundamental and Dickey did all of that! So now let's get to the highlights of the game, and the Gary/Ron/Kevin shenanigans!
The Metsies starting lineup:
Reyes
Pagan
Wright
Davis
Bay
Carter (DH)
Barajas
Frenchy
Tejada
Top of the 1st:
Today was Reyes' 27th birthday and he said "Yeah 27 is awesome" and he led this inning off with a double! Pagan then grounded out but the birthday boy moved on over to 2nd base. Then Dave said "Old man get ready to run" and Wright singled! Reyes scored, the Mets had a 1-0 lead over the Orioles and Davey got his 41st rib eye steak of the season! Davis was up next and during his at bat Wright advanced to 2nd on a throwing error by Guthrie. Ike then struck out, boo. Jason Bay was then robbed of a double by Adam Jones who made a spectacular catch and the inning was over.
I'm going to do a little fast forwarding now, after 3 innings played Dickey looked amazing on the mound and he had struck out 4 Orioles, YAY. Gary Cohen remarked, "He's got his knuckle ball dancing around Camden Yards!"
Top of the 4th:
With 1 out Isaac Benjamin Davis singled! Bay was up next and during his at bat Kevin Burkhardt told us a tale about Jason. During the summer of 2000 Jason wasn't so sure being a pro baseballer was in the cards for him and he went on an interview at a smelting factory that his Pops worked at. Jason got super dressed up for the interview, he wore jeans and a polo shirt and he ended up getting the job! Gary then said, "Always helps to have a plan B!" But who needs a plan B, Bay got drafted by the Expos that same year and to make a long story a little less long he had his daddy tell the boss man his son didn't need the jobby job job after all. Kevin Burkhardt then gained major cool points (well at least I think he's cool) when he said how this Bay and Daddy Bay story reminded him of the movie TOMMY BOY. I always think Chris Farley when Bay is at the plate Kevin Burkhardt, whoa!!!!! By the way during this story Kevin was seated in no man's land in Camden Yards, like you think SNY could get him a better seat or something but oh well Kevin's been Rodney Dangerfield lately so why mess with a good thing right??!!
Ok back to Bay's at bat. On just 4 pitches Bay was walked and then it was time for Chris Carter to do something he's never done before! With men on 1st and 2nd and 1 out The Animal got his first major league homer, a 3 run homer to be exact, YAY! The Mets were now up 4-0 over the Orioles!
Gary then said, "DH-ing really agrees with Chris." And I just really wish that after Chris Carter hit that spectacular 3 run bomb off of Guthrie he sang as he crossed home plate, "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant!" Yes the whole night I kept joking around that the Mets were facing Arlo Guthrie and not Jeremy Guthrie, yep that's how I roll! Sadly Barajas and Frenchy both flew out to end the inning.
Bottom of the 4th:
Tejada led this inning off with a single, Markakis was then walked and Wiggington then singled, AHHHH! The bases were loaded with no outs for Luke Scott. Dickey proved in this inning that he is Houdini, he can surely get out of any jam, he's a true magician! Dickey struck out Scott. Then he struck out Jones! And for the final out Matt Wieters popped up, Wright made the catch and the Orioles didn't score, YAY!
Bottom of the 5th:
Besides Moore leading this inning off with a single the most notable moment came when Kevin Burkhardt returned to talk about something, I don't remember exactly what it was. Gary remarked, "Kevin you got a better seat this time?" And Kevin did not, but he justified his terrible seat by saying that he still had a great view of the game and of Utah Street!
Bottom of the 6th:
With 2 outs and Nick Markakis on 3rd Dickey struck out Adam Jones! This strike out was Dickey's 8th K of the night, his new career high, YAY! In this inning and basically the entire night the Orioles and Barajas couldn't handle the Dickey knuckle ball. Gary even said this, "It has truly been a cha cha cha for that knuckle ball tonight. Barajas is having a lot of trouble with it." Then Burkhardt remarked that before today's game he had commended Blanco and Barajas for how great they have been dealing with R.A.'s knuckle ball. So he said people might now refer to him as a jinx. So yeah Kevin I will blame you for Barajas' problems tonight.
Top of the 7th:
Before Carter's lead off at bat in this inning Gary and Ron mused about what Chris was doing to mentally and physically prepare for his at bat. Gary said "He's probably doing some yoga in the hallway." Or pilates? I envision Chris as more of a pilates man but maybe that's just me. Carter struck out to lead off the 7th but then Barajas got a 1 out single! Sadly the Mets didn't score this inning and all the talk in the booth was about Rod and his woes catching tonight. Ron said, "Instead of Gatorade he's having Dramamine in between innings." Gary even remarked at one point, "It truly has been like trying to catch a butterfly with chopsticks!"
Bottom of the 7th:
With 2 outs and men on 1st and 3rd Miguel Tejada was up. Dickey threw a wild pitch, it got away from Barajas, Wieters who was on 3rd scored, Patterson advanced to 3rd and the Mets lead was just 4-1 now. Tejada thankfully then popped up and the inning was over. Ron then made a funny about Rod, he said, "I've never seen a catcher look more in his baseball glove to see if he has the ball than Barajas tonight!"
After 7 innings in the books Dickey was done for the night and boy did he have a gem of a start!
7IP 1R 1ER 7H 1BB 8K
Top of the 8th:
During this inning the camera man got great shots of Rod and R.A. talking, laughing and drinking off all of Rod's catching woes. Well Barajas was drinking something. It might have been water or Gatorade, maybe it was something else!! I don't want to be a rumormonger but he sure could have used some alcoholic beverage after those last 7 innings, whoa.
Bergesen pitched in relief this inning. Pagan led off with a double and then Davey rbi doubled! Pagan scored and the Mets were now up 5-1 over the Orioles! Now let's jump ahead to Carter's at bat. With 2 outs and nobody on Chris was hit by a pitch and Ron was unsure if there would be a pinch runner for The Animal or no pinch runner at all. Gary commented, "He's going nowhere, you'd have to break that foot off." Gary was right, Chris is a super trooper and he stayed in the game. Barajas lined out to end the inning.
Bottom of the 8th:
Gary made a real funny to start this inning off, "With Feliciano in the game Barajas can breathe again!" Perpetual Pedro gave up a lead off infield single to Markakis. This was the 5th straight inning the Mets had allowed a lead off hit by the Orioles, ugh. Wiggington then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, yay! However Pedro likes to make us fans sweat lately and Luke Scott with 2 outs was on 2nd with a ground rule double. Jones then singled but Scott was held at 3rd base. And then Wieters hit what looked like a 3 run homer but it went just foul, like really just just just foul. The Metsies lucked out big time. And then Wieters waved the white flag and he struck out, yay the inning was over!
Top of the 9th:
The birthday boy proved with age comes greatness and he got a 2 out single. Then moments later he stole 2nd, his 16th stolen base of the season! But the Metsies didn't score and it was time for KRod to come in for a non-save situation!
Bottom of the 9th:
KRod struck out Moore and Izturis and wow there were 2 outs, yay! But then Frankie like Feliciano likes to make things not so much fun at times. Patterson who had struck out 3 times already tonight decided he didn't want to wear a Golden Sombrero and he doubled, BOO. But then KRod struck Tejada out and the inning was over! The Mets won and it was time to go celebrate Reyes' birthday!
Dickey was incredible tonight and now after 5 starts he's 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA. Seriously Jerry Manuel I like this idea of starting Dickey out in a series opener to confuse the bats of the opposition, I like it a lot. Hopefully Takahashi will have his A game tomorrow night! Let's go Mets!
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