New York Future Star indeed!
At least for one night, as unlikely hero Omir Santos scraped the top of the green monster with a fly ball double that, after replay review, was ruled a two-run homer which gave the Mets a 3-2 lead. Santos now has 15 RBI in 63 AB.
J.J. Putz then came on to close the game out, and while the television cameras searched futilely for any sign of Met closer Francisco Rodriguez in the ballpark, Putz’s 97 mph fastballs proved too much for the Red Sox and the Mets now find themselves on the verge of a series sweep, after having been swept out of Los Angeles.
Josh Beckett got in Mike Lowell’s way on a Gary Sheffield foul pop up, and the ball fell to the ground extending Sheffield’s at bat. Shortly thereafter Sheffield hit an RBI single, plating Carlos Beltran from second base and the Mets had an early 1-0 lead.
Mike Pelfrey promptly gave the lead away, giving up a two-run single to Kevin Youkilis in the bottom of the first inning. No more runs would score until the top of the 9th. Beckett recovered from Sheffield’s RBI single in the first to retire twelve straight batters. He allowed only 4 more baserunners before leaving after 8 innings. Pelfrey matched Beckett until he left after the 7th, and Pedro Feliciano not wanting to be embarrassed threw a scoreless 8th himself. That set up the 9th inning drama.
Jonathan Papelbon came on for the save but walked Sheffield to start the 9th. Two strikeouts later, Omir Santos stepped up to the plate and carved his place in the hearts and minds of Met fans everywhere, but especially those that made the trip to Fenway.
When summoned to pitch the 8th inning in his normal set up role, J.J. Putz often looks like this. But when called upon in a save situation, his adrenaline flows and he makes it happen. Unlike Papelbon, he overcame a leadoff walk and despite the scary line drive off the bat of J.D. Drew which was caught in right field, he finished off the Red Sox for his second save as a Met.
Warm,
touchin’ warm,
reachin’ out,
touchin’ me, touchin’ you.
Ugh. You guys can keep it.
Box score courtesy of Yahoo.com
| NY Mets | |||||||||
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | LOB | Season Avg | ||
| D. Murphy 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .248 | |
| A. Pagan rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .316 | |
| C. Beltran dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .364 | |
| G. Sheffield lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .260 | |
| D. Wright 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .353 | |
| J. Reed cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .317 | |
| O. Santos c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .270 | |
| R. Martinez ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .100 | |
| L. Castillo 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .274 | |
| Totals | 33 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | ||
|
|
| Boston | |||||||||
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | LOB | Season Avg | ||
| J. Ellsbury cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .298 | |
| D. Pedroia 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .327 | |
| D. Ortiz dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | .201 | |
| K. Youkilis 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .388 | |
| J. Bay lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .287 | |
| J.D. Drew rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 | |
| M. Lowell 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .281 | |
| J. Varitek c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .248 | |
| N. Green ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .303 | |
| Totals | 32 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 12 | ||
|
|
| NY Mets | |||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | Season ERA | ||
| M. Pelfrey | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 4.31 | |
| P. Feliciano (W, 1-1) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.65 | |
| J.J. Putz (S, 2) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.75 | |
| Boston | |||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | Season ERA | ||
| J. Beckett | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5.01 | |
| J. Papelbon (L, 0-1; BS, 1) | 1.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1.80 | |
| Pitches-strikes – M Pelfrey 111-70; P Feliciano 13-8; J Putz 15-9; J Beckett 117-78; J Papelbon 15-9. |
| Ground balls-fly balls – M Pelfrey 12-3; P Feliciano 1-1; J Putz 2-1; J Beckett 8-11; J Papelbon 0-1. |
| Batters faced – M Pelfrey 27; P Feliciano 3; J Putz 4; J Beckett 30; J Papelbon 5. |
| Game Details |
| Umpires: HP–Joe West. 1B–Ed Rapuano. 2B–Chad Fairchild. 3B–Paul Nauert. Time: 2:49. (Plus unknown delay totaling 0 minutes in the 9th). Attendance: 37,871. Weather: 55 degrees, clear. Wind: 8 mph, right to left. |
12 comments
trs86
5/23/2009-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
Great job Grave, thanks fcr manning the ship.
metsfan4decades
5/23/2009-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
The best win of the year thus far.
From Pelf, to Pedro, to J.J. to Santos, to Martinez, to Castillo, to Sheff. Just a great team effort all the way around.
Great Win !!
Uh, someone locate that Philly fan who has the pins stuck in the KRod doll….
mrose1120
5/23/2009-10:39pm at 10:39 pm (UTC -4)
woot
great game, great recap…
metsfan4decades
5/23/2009-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
And I know I’ve said this before to all of our elite authors but I love these graphics. It just adds that little something that makes it so much more. I find myself scrolling through the post to check out the pictures first, then going back and reading the post – lol.
mattcerrone
5/23/2009-10:46pm at 10:46 pm (UTC -4)
Love the Neal Diamond reference! LOL funny!
What a game! Howie on the radio saying it may have been their best win in the last 3 years or so.
Also, that had that Santos HR not been ruled a HR, that the game likely would have ended as Shef used Razor’s body to stop himself coming around 3rd and Francona was all over that. Could you imagine if the game had ended that way?!! On the heels of Church not touching 3rd in L.A…..
mrose1120
5/23/2009-10:47pm at 10:47 pm (UTC -4)
hey everyone, sorry to be a pain in the butt, but I could use everyone’s discussion/opinion over at http://www.nleastchatter.com/forum
metsfan4decades
5/23/2009-11:07pm at 11:07 pm (UTC -4)
Oh crap.
Sports Night saying it’s been reported that KRod collapsed outside of the clubhouse from the pain with those back spasms and was seen ‘tearing up’. Man, he must be in a world of pain.
Thankfully, I’m sure he’s got the top of the line treatment available for those. No word right now if he’s going on the DL immediately.
charliebfree
5/23/2009-11:47pm at 11:47 pm (UTC -4)
That was awesome birthday present Omir, thank you!
Mr North Jersey
5/23/2009-10:43pm at 10:43 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, where do they find some of these graphics I sure wanna know.
gravediggerhebner
5/23/2009-11:07pm at 11:07 pm (UTC -4)
I wanted to include some stuff about the stellar defense. Clearly R. Martinez, Castillo and Wright all deserved some praise but I’m still getting used to doing this and I’m not as speedy as I will be.
dentulous
5/23/2009-11:08pm at 11:08 pm (UTC -4)
jerry said it happened during batting practice and post reporter is saying it happened after the win in the clubhouse.
mrose1120
5/23/2009-11:11pm at 11:11 pm (UTC -4)
I think he’ll be ok, but I expect the Mets to try to baby him at least through the Nats series….and i’m fine w/ that