Loretta foils Martinez's return as Mets fall to Astros, 7-3.

Posted on 01 Aug 2008 by Danielle

Though nearly everything leading up to Friday night's game revolved around Pedro Martinez -- his health, his arm, his state of mind -- most of the significant plays came long after Martinez had left the mound. It was then that the game was won. And for the Mets, it was then that the game was lost.

With Martinez watching from afar, Mark Loretta hit a pinch-hit grand slam off Aaron Heilman in the eighth inning to send the Mets to a 7-3 loss to the Astros.

After loading the bases with no outs in his second inning of work, Heilman recorded one out on a fielder's choice before serving up a lined shot over the left-field wall to Loretta. That hit snapped a 3-3 tie, which had kept both teams stalled since the fourth inning.

Martinez lasted five innings and 87 pitches -- seven more than his predetermined limit -- and left with the game tied at 3. Pitching for the first time in three weeks due to both an ongoing groin injury and the passing of his father, Martinez allowed a leadoff homer to Kazuo Matsui before settling down to retire seven straight Astros at one point.

Two more solo homers kept him from any chance at the win, but after Martinez escaped a jam in the fourth inning, manager Jerry Manuel allowed him to come back out for the fifth.

The Mets scored once in the first inning when Jose Reyes singled, took second on Endy Chavez's sacrifice bunt and scored on David Wright's base hit. They plated two more runs in the fourth, when Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Fernando Tatis and Damion Easley all singled in succession off Astros starter Brandon Backe.

Though the Mets also loaded the bases off Backe with no outs in the seventh inning, a series of three Astros relievers came on to quell the threat and keep the game tied.

Wright went 1-4 in the game, with an RBI single in the top of the first.

His average is now .290.

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Mets fall into second as bullpen falls apart.

Posted on 31 Jul 2008 by Danielle

The defeat knocked the Mets out of first place in the division. Philadelphia, which beat Washington 8-5, moved into first, a half-game in front of New York and 1 1/2 ahead of the Marlins.

The Marlins, who trailed 1-0, came from behind to win for the 32nd time, most in the NL. They overcame deficits during both victories in the three-game series.

Hermida started the hit parade in the fourth with a triple. One batter later, Jorge Cantu singled to tie the game 1-all.

Ross tripled two batters later on a two-out, 3-2 pitch to drive in Cantu and Willingham. John Baker added an RBI double, and Johnson also doubled home a run.



Johnson allowed eight hits and four runs in his fourth start since returning from reconstructive elbow surgery in August 2007. He last won on Aug. 28, 2006. The Marlins improved to 4-0 in his starts this year.

Pinch-hitter Damion Easley hit a three-run homer off Johnson in the seventh to cut the Mets' deficit to 5-4, but Dan Uggla hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Florida.

It was the 84th career homer for Uggla, who broke the major league record for most home runs by a second baseman in his first three seasons. Joe Gordon hit 83 with the New York Yankees from 1938-40.

Kevin Gregg allowed three consecutive two-out singles in the ninth, the third by Ramon Castro to drive in a run. But Jose Reyes flied out, and Gregg earned his 23rd save in 29 chances.

Pelfrey threw 42 pitches in a 24-minute fourth inning. The four-inning outing equaled his shortest of the season. He allowed eight hits and five runs. The Mets had been unbeaten in his past nine starts.

David Wright's consecutive scoring streak ended at thirteen games, but failed to produce for the night going 0-4.

His average fell to .291.

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Ollie remains strong as Mets top fish 4-1

Posted on 29 Jul 2008 by Danielle

Earlier in the year, the New York Mets never knew what they were going to get when Oliver Perez stepped on the mound.

But ever since Dan Warthen came around, Ollie has been nothing but phenomenal.

Despite not earning a win since June 29th, his ERA has dropped substantially over the course of the last two months. Tonight, Ollie allowed one earned run, five hits, and walked three, but struck out 5, lowering his ERA to 4.03.

The Mets first scored in the top of the first, when Evans and Wright doubled back to back. Had Jose Reyes not tried to stretch out a double into a triple, he would have scored as well.

And for a while, after three batters in a row reached base, one run scoring to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first, it seemed as though that error might have decided the game.

But Carlos Beltran, 1-3 on the day, singled to left, scoring Nick Evans... and Carlos "Esta en Fuego" Delgado continues to be red hot, homering to center field to score himself and David Wright.

Delgado remains the story of the month going 35 for 94 and batting .372, with 9 HR's and 24 RBI's.

In the month of July, the Mets are 18-7, batting .307 as a team.

Jose Reyes's stolen base marked the team's 100th SB of the season, which leads the NL.

David Wright was 1-3 in tonight's game, with an RBI, run scored, and a walk.

His average is back up to .294.

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Wright Watch: Jim Rome interviews David on Mets' surge, managerial change, and more.

Posted on 29 Jul 2008 by Danielle

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Wright Watch: Jim Rome interviews David on Mets' surge, managerial change, and more.

Posted on 29 Jul 2008 by Danielle

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Bullpen can't hold two leads, Mets fall to Fish 7-3

Posted on 28 Jul 2008 by Danielle

John Maine was cruising into the fifth inning... when all of a sudden, he was thrown into reverse.

He took a 2-0 lead into the inning, but after giving up a 2-0 count to Baker, Manuel traveled to the mound. One pitch later, the third pitch was crushed out of the park and Maine was pulled from the game. Later, shoulder stiffness was deemed the explanation.

There were plenty of transplanted New Yorkers in the crowd of 23,165, with chants of "Let's go Mets!" from the first inning on. But the cheers were all for the home team in the bottom of the eighth.

With Florida trailing 3-2, Josh Willingham led off with a double against Joe Smith, and Uggla followed with a tying single. Uggla took third when pinch-hitter Wes Helms singled off Scott Schoeneweis, and Ross followed with a base hit to put the Marlins ahead.

John Baker's sacrifice bunt went for a hit - Florida's fifth in a row - to load the bases. Schoeneweis retired the next two batters and was one strike from getting out of the inning, but a wild pitch let in a run, and pinch-hitter Robert Andino hit a two-run double.

New York had gone ahead in the top of the eighth. After Wright led off with a single, the Marlins went with their standard shift for Carlos Delgado, bunching three infielders on the right side.

Delgado topped a grounder to first baseman Jacobs, who threw to the pitcher covering first for the out. But with no one covering third, Wright kept running and advanced uncontested.

Carlos Beltran was intentionally walked, and the strategy appeared to work when Fernando Tatis hit a potential double-play grounder to shortstop Hanley Ramirez. But Ramirez bobbled the ball and was slow throwing to second baseman Uggla, whose relay to first was in time but wild, allowing Wright to score the go-ahead run.

The Mets bunched three hits to start the second for a 2-0 lead. Beltran reached on an infield single and came home when Tatis tripled over the head of center fielder Ross. Damion Easley followed with an RBI single.

David went 1-4 in tonight's game, with a single and a run scored. Wright scored in his 12th consecutive game, tying Beltran's team record set in 2006.

D-Wright's average is now .293.

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Wright Watch: David's solo home run

Posted on 27 Jul 2008 by Danielle

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Johan goes the distance as Mets win 9-1!

Posted on 27 Jul 2008 by Danielle

If there was ever a time the Mets needed a complete game from their ace, it was Sunday afternoon at Shea.

And Johan Santana delivered.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner pitched his seventh complete game, Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro hit two-run homers and New York pounded Kyle Lohse and the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Sunday to wrap up another successful homestand.

Santana allowed six hits and a walk in winning for just the second time since June 1, a maddening stretch during which he was tagged with four losses and four no-decisions. He also scored a run and drove in another while throwing his first complete game since a shutout of the Mets on June 19, 2007, when he was with the Twins.

His lone earned run was a home run by Albert Pujols in the eighth.

David Wright, Ramon Castro, and Fernando Tatis all went yard in this afternoon's game, with weather threatening all day long.

Up and down the batting order, which remained the same the entire game, there was production. Even from Mr. Santana, himself.

Reyes, Beltran, and "The Human Highlight Reel" both went 2-5, scoring once each. Beltran also had an RBI and an unbelievable catch that robbed Ryan Ludwig of a home run.

Carlos "Esta en fuego" Delgado had an off-day, for him at least, going 1-4, as did Damion Easley.

Ramon Castro was 1-2, with two walks and his sixth bomb of the year.

Johan Santana had an excellent game by any player's standards, going 2-4 with a VERY long single that was almost foul and almost a home run! Wright's single in the sixth knocked him in, but Santana's single in the seventh scored Tatis.

And on the subject of Tatis, there isn't a single player on the team who has been more clutch than Fernando. In a stellar 3-4 performance, he hit two doubles, his 7th homer of the season, and knocked in two RBI's. Not to mention, his BA is now .306.

David Wright had a very productive game, going 3-5 with his 20th home run of the season, 27th double of the year, two RBI's, and a run scored.

Making a play for .300, David's average shot to .294.

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Pelfrey's dominance continues as Mets open up two game lead on Philly.

Posted on 26 Jul 2008 by Danielle

Mike Pelfrey looks nearly unbeatable right now, and so do the New York Mets.

Pelfrey won his seventh consecutive decision and Carlos "Esta en fuego" Delgado homered again, sending the NL East leaders to a 7-2 victory over the slumping St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Jose Reyes added a two-run triple and Endy Chavez had four hits for the surging Mets, who have won 14 of 17. One day after gaining sole possession of first place for the first time since April 19, New York played as though it plans to stay on top the rest of the way.

Coupled with Philadelphia's loss at home to Atlanta, the Mets' victory gave them a two-game cushion in the division - their largest since an embarrassing collapse last September.

Argenis Reyes hit his first major league homer and drove in two runs as the Mets won for the 10th time in 11 home games. David Wright got New York started with an RBI double in the third off Boggs, who gave up 10 earned runs over six innings in his previous major league start, an 11-1 loss to Pelfrey on July 3.

Big Pelf pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run and seven hits. He struck out five and walked none.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander has quickly become a force, going 7-0 in his past eight starts. He hasn't lost in 11 outings since May 26 against Florida. Pitching more aggressively, Pelfrey has lasted at least seven innings in his last five starts. He's walked only one batter over the past four.

New York needed four relievers to close it out. Duaner Sanchez let all three batters he faced in the ninth reach safely - just as he did when the Mets blew a three-run lead Tuesday night against Philadelphia.

St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and grounded out with two on to end it.

Reyes' two-run triple to right-center with two outs in the fourth made it 3-0. Delgado added a two-run shot off Boggs in the fifth, his 20th homer this season and ninth in 25 games.

After slumping for much of the year, Delgado is batting .390 with six home runs and 18 RBIs in July.

Wright went 2-5 in the game, with a single, double, an RBI, and a run scored.

His average is now .289.

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Mets drop heartbreaker to Cards in 14, 10-8.

Posted on 26 Jul 2008 by Danielle

The Mets came back three times to tie the game throughout the course of the night.

But in the top of the 14th, it appeared as though they ran out of steam.

Schumaker singled with one out in the 14th against a tiring Aaron Heilman, working on his third inning of relief. Ryan Ludwick struck out before Pujols hit a 2-0 pitch into the bleachers in left field for his 19th homer of the year and first since connecting for No. 300 on July 4.

Brad Thompson worked two perfect innings for the victory.
One that came after struggling Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin blew his second straight save, surrendering a leadoff homer to Fernando Tatis in the ninth inning. Rick Ankiel leaped for it at the wall and crashed to the warning track, and for a moment the entire stadium wondered whether he had caught it.

Ankiel stood up and slapped his empty glove in frustration, and Tatis finished rounding the bases to tie it at 8. It was the fifth homer Franklin has allowed in his last nine outings.

The Mets had several chances to win it in extra innings.

Pinch-hitter Ramon Castro grounded out with runners at second and third to end the 11th, and New York loaded the bases with three straight two-out walks in the 12th before Kelvin Jimenez got Tatis to break his bat on a harmless bouncer back to the pitcher.

Carlos "Esta en fuego" Delgado hit a pair of homers and finished with three RBIs for New York. Jose Reyes also homered and had two doubles among his four hits a day after getting married.

The game lasted 5 hours, 9 minutes, and the teams combined to use 16 pitchers - 17, if you count Cardinals starter Braden Looper striking out as a pinch hitter in the 13th. Over 500 pitches were thrown in the game.

Filling in for Pedro Martinez, who is on the bereavement list following the death of his father, Brandon Knight made his first major league start and surrendered four runs in the first before shutting out the Cardinals over the next four innings and leaving with a 5-4 lead.

St. Louis went ahead in the sixth. Pujols, Glaus and Molina had RBI singles before Miles doubled in Glaus to make it 8-5, drawing a chorus of boos from the Shea Stadium crowd.

Delgado hit a two-run homer in the bottom half, his 11th in the last 26 games, getting the Mets close enough for Tatis to tie it in the ninth.

Knight allowed seven hits over five innings in his first appearance in six years, and the Mets will have to decide soon whether that's enough to stick around. He was picked for the U.S. Olympic team headed to Beijing in a couple weeks, giving him a unique no-lose situation little more than a year after he considered hanging up his spikes.

Knight looked like he was going to make it an easy choice early on, falling into a four-run hole after the first inning. But Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro struggled even more, giving up a pair of runs in the first, two more in the third and the homer to Reyes leading off the fourth.

Wright went 2-6 in tonight's marathon, with two singles, two RBI's, two walks, and two runs scored.

David's average climbed to .290.

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