The Twilight Zone/Game 4: Mets 4 Giants 3 (10 innings)
Santana vs Sanchez
So folks I'm sorry I haven't written up about this "twlight zone" of a game. I was having a great afternoon with a friend and I got home just in time to catch the bottom of the 8th. And then I saw the rest of the game and I was really speechless. This has kind of just been a shitty week in Mets baseball and in life for me so yeah I had to take some time before I thought long and hard how to approach this writeup. And then my Dad and I talked about this one yet again this morning and my Pops said "Didn't that 9th inning remind you of Leslie Nielsen in "Naked Gun?" You know when he's umping that baseball game?" And yes my Dad's a genius. That's exactly what this 9th inning was like! So now let's watch this scene from "Naked Gun." Then I'll discuss Phil Cuzzi and K-Rod a bit more.
Oh and I have another trivia question. So here it is, "What is David Wright's classic line from that Lincoln MKS commercial he's in?" This is the part of the commercial where he's in the car and the window starts to open and David busts out a little soliloquy. Ok the answer will be revealed later. Good luck!
Oh Frankie I Want To Kick You In Your K-Rod...
So really I've come to the conclusion that if Santana is pitching a gem of a game 8IP, 8H, ER, BB, 5K there is no reason to not let him pitch the 9th inning too. Really do we need to deal with these K-Rod shenanigans when the ace on the mound can finish the game. Really pitch count smitch count! That's just my opinion on the matter. I mean if it's an 8-3 game like it was Saturday night K-Rod is amazing. He strikes out the first two batters and then he gets Aubrey Huff to ground out to end the inning. He's a superstar 1,2,3 dynamo when the game is already pretty much won by the opposing side. But when it's these close games when you need your closer to just save the game K-Rod is a mess. I've thought for a while it's those goggles of his but I don't know. Regardless I hope some Metsie brought K-Rod's goggles over to Alcatraz and well left them there before their flight to Arizona.
Top of the 9th: Mets 3 Giants 1
In this inning K-Rod did the thing he's best at, walking the lead off batter. Yep he walked Sandoval. But still this is nothing too "twilight zone" crazy. Mets fans know what to expect from K-Rod. This is what we have dealt with all season long. Then on an 0-2 count Uribe singled. Then Eli Whiteside sac bunted beautifully and there were now men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs for Travis Ishikawa. The first "twilight zone" moment happened now. The home plate ump Phil Cuzzi called ball two on Ishikawa and K-Rod and Blanco were pretty positive that ball was a strike. Blanco did something catchers never do, he turned around to face Cuzzi. Cuzzi flailed his arms, made fists, he basically made a motion that led Gary Cohen to announce that he thought Blanco or K-Rod or both had been ejected from the game. This was not the case though. Possibly Cuzzi just got mad at someone in the dugout. Keith and Gary had no idea what was going on and I didn't either. I still don't know what happened really! Then Ishikawa singled, both Renteria (pinch runner for the panda) and Uribe scored and this game was tied. K-Rod blew another save and Santana yet again got a no decision. Then Andres Torres hit a double and because of Jeff's arm in right Ishikawa was held at 3rd and the Mets still had a chance to not lose another walk off game.
So now the 2nd "twilight zone" moment of this game happened. With men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out Freddy Sanchez grounded a ball to Wright. Dave threw home to Blanco in an attempt to get Ishikawa out at home and he was OUT. But oh no Cuzzi took a long time to say he was in fact SAFE. Whoa the Mets got a break. This led Keith to say, "He was SAFE." And Gary remarked, "Phil Cuzzi has just had a terrible day." And Keith added, "Terrible throw by Wright." And yes Cuzzi has been learning his craft from Leslie Nielsen and yeah Dave's throw was awful. But in Wright's defense he was hit in the knee by a ball Pat Burrell hit earlier this game. Speaking of Burrell, I mean he's a Mets killer, he always has been but I never thought he actually might want to kill an actual METSIE. Now I'm sort of unsure what goes on in that head of Pat's!
Ok but back to this 9th inning. Aubrey Huff was up with 2 outs and men on 1st and 3rd. And now "twilight zone" moment number 3 happened. Huff dribbled the ball right in front of home plate, Blanco got it, threw to Ike and yeah Gary Cohen announced the inning was over. But nope that wasn't so. The 3rd base umpire Mike Estabrook overrode Cuzzi's ruling and he said it was a foul ball or that the ball hit Huff's foot. I'm unsure really. This led Keith to say "Fair ball, it didn't hit anything!" And Gary remarked, "That's not his call anyway!" Well Estabrook's call was the call that counted because well I have no idea why and this inning was still being played. Gary then said, "This is like "The Twilight Zone! I don't understand." The count was now 0-2 on Huff and then Frankie threw ball 1, of course he did this, and Sanchez advanced to 2nd (defensive interference was called). Somehow Huff grounded out to Ike and this inning was over. I still have no idea what transpired. Btw K-Rod had thrown 27 pitches in this inning.
I have never seen anything like this ever! I mean each Mets game is like a learning experience. And this kind of education sucks. My head still hurts from this one.
The 10th Inning, A Slight Departure From "The Twilight Zone"
Thank goodness in the top of the 10th Isaac Benjamin Davis got a 2 out rbi double that scored the go ahead run and the Mets held on in the bottom of the 10th. Of course I was prepared for K-Rod to yet again lose this game for the Metsies in the 10th but somehow he didn't totally fuck up! He quickly on just 4 pitches got Posey to ground out and Burrell to fly out but then he sucked yet again. Frankie gave up a 2 out double to Renteria. Then he intentionally walked Uribe. Seriously why would Manuel have K-Rod put the winning run on base? Gary and Keith didn't get this managerial move and I didn't either. Now it was up to Eli Whiteside to either win this one for the Giants (well they had really won it already in the 9th) or to let the Mets really really really catch a break in San Fran. After Whiteside just got a piece of the ball to make the count go to 1-2 Gary remarked, "Here's the good news about that last call, Phil Cuzzi made it himself. Mike Estabrook was nowhere to be seen." Miraculously after making the count 3-2 K-Rod struck Eli out and this game was finally over! The Mets won, they avoided the sweep and oh boy thank god they are leaving San Francisco! Oh and after this inning K-Rod had a pitch count of well 47. Oye.
OH and here's the answer to the trivia question! Wright says the following, "The game has officially been changed!" If you got it right go on and get yourself a Lincoln MKS. Or well if you are poor like me go buy yourself an ice cream!
So tonight is a new night and the Mets will be playing the D-Backs. It has been advertised that Beltran and Reyes will both be in the lineup and Pelf will be on the mound. So let's hope for a great outing from Pelf! He can do it! And yeah some great hitting from our Metsies would be delightful! And well there better be NO Leslie Nielsen umpiring. That would be splendid!
Have a fun day folks!
To Arizona and beyond!
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