Game 1: Reds 8 Mets 6
Pelfrey vs Wood
Pyrotechnics Night started early! By early I mean the 5th inning. I'll get to that shortly!
It was also Military Appreciation Night!
The starting pitcher for the Reds was supposed to be Harang but he was scratched from the game due to back spasms. These back problems are contagious, whoa! It seems to be the year of the back and thumb injuries in MLB lately.
I knew the Reds were going to be trouble and why did I have to be right! I'm usually wrong a lot and I was hoping I would be wrong to the nth degree tonight. But nope that was not the case and as Keith said during this game the fans "cannot always get what they want." And I say that's not fair Keith Richards Hernandez. Yeah Mr. Rolling Stones Song I wanted a Mets victorino and our snubbed all star Mike Pelfrey to pitch a great game! But boo to my dreams being crushed by Joey Votto.
With that being said I had a feeling Joey Votto would be a menace to Citi Field and gosh darn it my woman's intuition was on today. This is rare folks. I'm not proud of this. Earlier I actually voted for Votto to be put on the NL all star team. Yeah I agreed with Gary Cohen that Votto being snubbed was ludicrous so I decided I'll vote and I'll try to help the cause to get him the final spot on the NL all star team. He does deserve it. I can admit that. But I actually thought by me doing this whole voting thing maybe Joey would return the favor and stink it up tonight. I assumed my vote meant me and Votto had some sort of a deal. Well I guess we didn't or if we did he duped me royally. I've been had by a Canadian! Horrible.
Let me just get to this bummer of a game and especially the early start to pyrotechnics night (in the 5th inning)! And Keith was back! Here we go!
In the top of the 1st Pelf seemed to be cruising along, he retired Phillips and Cabrera pretty easily but then well Joey Votto was up. This was the first time he proved we had no such thing as a deal! The Canadian got a solo homer and his Reds had a 1-0 lead over the Metsies. After Votto hit this homer Keith pretended he was Pelf, he did a fake voice too and he said "He's so strong I guess I'll try to remember that..."
In the bottom of the 1st our Canadian tied this game up. You'll see how in just a second or two. With 2 outs, it was the 10th pitch of Wright's at bat, Davey had been battling Wood like crazy and David proved why he's an all star and he singled! Keith after this 97th hit of the season for Wright said, "When you are hot you are hot. Isn't that a Ray Steven's song?" And Gary said, "Yes it is. He's a funny guy." If Ray's so funny I could have used him to entertain me after this game! Anyways back to the action. After Wright's delightful single, Isaac Benjamin Davis also singled and it was time for Canadian BAY-con to do his thang! According to some stats I saw today during his career Bay has played his best ball against the Reds. Who knew? Check out these amazin numbers: .342BA, 21HR, 70RBI. And this time around Jay Bay proved that those numbers don't lie. Bay singled, Davey scored and like I said our Canadian put us right back in this ball game, 1-1 EHHHHHHH yeah! Bay now has 42 rib eye steaks this season and he had 11 of those rib eye steaks in the last 8 games! Go Canada!
While I'm on the topic of our Canadian there was a new Metsies commercial for Mets.Com on SNY starring Bay. It's an ad to get fans to come out to Citi Field. "Better seats, lower prices direct from the Mets. Direct from the source." Bay is wearing sunglasses in it, and he looks kind of silly.
I'm sorry Jason but those sunglasses made me laugh. But this was good I needed to get a few laughs in because I had no idea what I was in store for. Wild shit was soon going to go down. Oh it was. I'll just add this in Jerry Manuel gets ejected. But we are getting to that in just a moment.
And to pyrotechnics night in the top of the 5th. Brandon Phillips led this inning off with a single. Cabrera also singled. Then Votto was walked and there were no outs and the bases were loaded for Scott Rolen. Get ready to say FUCK folks! The home plate ump called strike 3 on Rolen, he said Scotty foul tipped it, Barajas held onto the ball and it was the first out of the inning. This call immediately brought Dusty Baker to the field. Dusty said Scott Rolen was in fact hit by the pitch (supposedly his forearm got nicked) and there was no foul tip action. Well this led the umps to huddle up and they did something I did not think was in the rule book. They changed the home plate ump's ruling and they decided to say Rolen was in fact hit by the pitch and this meant with the bases loaded Phillips would be walked in, he would score and the Reds now regained the lead over the Metsies 2-1. Gary and Keith at this point counted down the seconds until Jerry Manuel would get ejected. I did too.
He fought for his squad out there and Jerry made me proud. He had to get this ejection to ignite his team. Yay Manuel! So now there were still no outs and the bases were loaded for Gomes. He lined out to Tejada for out numero uno YAY! Then Big Pelf struck out Bruce, 2 outs YAY! But then that Drew Stubbs who had hit 3 homers against the Cubs yesterday was up. Earlier I was watching "Pardon The Interruption" on ESPN and Bob Ryan (Tony Kornheiser had the day off) was talking to Mike Wilbon about Drew Stubbs and Mike admitted he had no idea who Stubbs was. Well I'm sure Drew will be known after these last 2 days by all baseball fans (well those that at least watch ESPN). On an 0-1 count to Stubbs ball 1 was called and Pelf flipped out. He was pretty sure it was strike 2 as did Keith, Gary and myself but it didn't matter what we thought. This call by the ump made Pelf just lose it and the Reds just piled on the runs. Stubbs doubled and the Reds lead was 4-1 over the Mets. Keith at this point said this was a "funny inning." Oh yes I was laughing, NOT. I assume Keith meant funny strange. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Then Corky Miller who has the funniest name and the best mustache in all of baseball doubled. The Reds were now up 6-1 over the Amazins, ugh. And the big WTF moment was now about to happen. The pitcher Travis Wood tripled. Yes if you haven't said FUCK a few times already during this recap say it now, I give you permission to do so. This triple scored CORKY and the Reds lead was 7-1 over the Mets. Wood was the last batter Pelf would face and Jerry brought in Valdes to face Phillips. I guess it was good Tatis was put on the DL today and Raul was recalled, ugh. Valdes got Brandon Phillips to ground out and the side was finally retired and this horrid top of the 5th was finally over YAY!
In the bottom of the 5th the Mets showed once again when shit hits the fan they are resilient and they fight on back. The lead off batter was Angel Pagan and he allowed me to say one of my favorite things ever for the 5th time this season "It's back back back it's PA-GONE!" Keith didn't say this but he remarked, "That was no field mouse homerun!" With this Pagan bomb the Metsies were now down just 7-2. And they would continue to chip away at this lead! After Tejada grounded out Wright tripled! Then Isaac Benjamin Davis dribbled on up the 3rd base line, Wood couldn't handle it there was no play to make (he was charged with an error), Wright scored and the Mets were now down 7-3. Bay then flew out. Ok maybe those stats from up above do LIE, oh well and there were now 2 outs and Ike was still on at first for Frenchy. And Wood walked Jeff, yay! But Dusty Baker decided Frenchy would be the last batter Wood would face and he brought in the reliever Jordan Smith to face BRod. Barajas who was super pissed from the overturned Rolen call in the top of the 5th took his aggression out on the ball and singled! Ike scored and the Mets were now down by only 3 runs, 7-4! And then "Mr. I love to get hits with RISP" Alex Cora did just that, he doubled, Jeff and Rod scored and this game was a game again! The Metsies had cut the Reds lead to just 1 run, 7-6. This was awesome. Then Jesus Feliciano was the pinch hitter and he popped up and the inning was sadly over and Alex was stranded at 2nd.
In the top of the 6th Forgotten Fernando was back! Nightly Nieve made an appearance and well that meant Joey Votto would prove how much he deserves to be in the all star game yet again. With 1 out he homered, his 2nd of the night and the Reds lead was now 8-6 over the Metsies. Gary then shouted, "Think he's an all star? YEAH!" And Keith remarked, "He's so strong. Good kid too." Yeah yeah good kid. A kid who owns the Metsies behinds, sheesh. I knew at this point Votto and I had no deal! I was certain of it.
Well this homer by Votto sucked but what didn't suck in this top of the 6th was Gary telling us fans that Halladay pitched a complete game and the Phils won 3-1 over the Braves. Yes I know I hate to root for the Phils but in this series I mean we have to right?! Well at least that was my plan. I would cheer on the Phillies, they would win and the Mets would win and well gain a game on the Braves. But nope the Mets didn't understand my plan I guess. They didn't get the whole we need to win too part of it, ugh.
Nieve despite giving up the Votto homer was pretty dynamite tonight! He retired the next 8 batters he faced! In fact he fanned the side (Bruce, Stubbs, and Miller) in the top of the 7th. That was splendid!
So the game was still 8-6 going into the bottom of the 9th and the Mets had a chance to tie this one up. Francisco Cordero the Reds closer gave up a 1 out walk to David Wright. And usually when a closer walks a batter in the 9th that's trouble. Or at least that's what KRod has taught us. And he taught us wrong. Closers can get out of jams after walking a batter, who knew?! Cordero got Ike to pop up and it was all up to Bay. And with 2 outs and Wright on at first Jay Bay flew out to that annoying Laynce Nix and this game was over, and the Reds won. And I'm sure many Metsies fans did not want to stay for Pyrotechnics Night after this game, ugh. Keith said "I'm booking after this one. I'm outta here."
Well before I end this recap let me get to some additional funny moments from the booth because we need to laugh. This game was just not pleasant.
Keith said he had a wonderful 4th of July. Everyone in Sag Harbor had a smile on their face. Keith too had a smile on his face the entire weekend! Well I guess he didn't watch the Strasmas game!
Like I said before Corky Miller has a great stache.
Keith said he liked it too and Gary replied, "I didn't think you would. It's not quite up to your Carl Pavano standards." I don't know what Cohen is talking about. This mustachio is crazy good! But of course to pull it off your name has to be as comedic as CORKY Miller.
At one point Keith said, "I will expound after this pitch..." I don't remember what he expounded on but I just liked hearing him use the word EXPOUND.
Keith in the 4th inning or so noticed men walking on the roof of Citi Field.
This shocked Hernandez. He had no idea people would walk on a roof in a middle of a game. Gary informed him that they must be doing this in preparation of pyrotechnics night. This led Keith to EXPOUND on some wisdom his father once shared with him. Papa Hernandez said, "Tell people you are rescuing in a fire 'Don't look down.'" Yeah that advice kind of had nothing to do with these men on the roof since there was no fire but it is good advice I guess if there was a fire.
Then Gary and Keith talked about death. The camera man got a great shot of the Brooklyn Bridge and Gary asked Keith, "How many people died building the Brooklyn Bridge?" Keith had no idea and Gary said maybe 40. Keith then was all "I'm from the West Coast and a lot of people died building the Golden Gate Bridge!" Then they both agreed this was a wonderful topic to discuss and they laughed. Oh Gary and Keith...
Well that's it folks. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully Joey Votto can stick to his deal with me. I mean seriously is it that hard to be a Canadian who can't hit. Jason Bay can teach him a thing or two. That was evil of me. Yeah I don't mean that about Jason I'm just pissed from this game and that call in the top of the 5th. I'll try this nice outlook thing again, take two. Tomorrow is a new day and Santana will be on the mound! Do your thang Johan! Let's go Mets!
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