"That's the first fine mess I've gotten you out of"
Oliver Perez (2-2) returned from the disabled list and, despite 7 bases on balls, pitched well enough to keep the New York Mets in the game, and surprisingly enough the Mets out hit and out scored the Los Angeles Dodgers en route to a 5-4 victory. Perez threw 108 pitches over 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and those 7 walks.
"They scored how many runs?"
When Perez was pinch hit for in the bottom of the 5th, he had a 5-3 lead. The Dodgers struck first (and they struck last) but they didn’t strike enough. In the 1st inning Mark Loretta singled to drive in Orlando Hudson and give the Dodgers the early 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd the Mets tied the score when an infield single by Luis Castillo (what other kind of hit does he get?) drove in Jeremy Reed.
"They took the lead?"
In the 3rd inning, David Wright singled in Daniel Murphy (who had 2 doubles) to give the Mets the lead 2-1. It was their 1st lead since Thursday. Wright then scored on a Casey Blake fielding error, and later that inning Reed singled in Gary Sheffield to put the Mets up 4-1. The next inning the Dodgers cut it to 4-2 when Rafael Furcal singled in Matt Kemp.
"They tacked on an insurance run?"
In the 5th the Mets added an insurance run, which they needed, when Brian Schneider singled in Wright making it 5-2. The Dodgers cut it to 5-3 in the 8th off Sean Green when Furcal again drove in Kemp, this time on a ground out.
"Daniel Murphy did what?"
The 7th inning featured Murphy making an impossible defensive play. Loretta hit a sharp ground ball down the 1st base line which hit the bag and bounced high in the air a few feet toward 2nd base. Murphy ran to it and grabbed the ball at shin height, whipped it behind his back to Bobby Parnell who was covering the bag and on a “bang-bang” play Loretta was called out at 1B. Be sure to watch the late night sports highlight shows to get a look at the play.
"What a Frigate Surprise!"
In the 9th Met closer Francisco Rodriguez made it interesting, giving up a lead off home run to Manny Cheaterez to cut the lead to 5-4. KRod then walked Blake, and after striking out Loretta gave up a single to Russell Martin to put the tying run in scoring position before inducing Andre Ethier to ground into a game ending double play.
Please visit yahoo.com for the box score.
12 comments
gipperpdx
7/8/2009-11:13pm at 11:13 pm (UTC -4)
Frigate-A! A win!!!!
CaseStreet
7/8/2009-11:19pm at 11:19 pm (UTC -4)
LIC YMCA Bulldogs win 13-11 and NY Mets win 5-4 = Great Night for CaseStreet!
metsfan4decades
7/8/2009-11:25pm at 11:25 pm (UTC -4)
All I can think is ‘Whew’. We got extra base hits. We got runs. We held on for the win. Nice game, guys.
Ollie is truly a pitcher unlike any other I can recall in all my years watching baseball. 7 walks but he still manages to limit the hits, the runs and make the pitches when he has to. I mean, walk the bases loaded in the third but get the out he needs to end the inning? I remember a game last year (can’t remember against who), where he gave up only 2 hits, walked 8 though and got through 7 to come away with the win. I just can’t figure out if he’s constantly trying to strike guys out and being too fine or if his command is often just not there. Either way, he kept us in the game and a win is a Win!
Murphy’s play was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen. All luck there but wow, that flip behind his back which shouldn’t have had a chance in hell, found it’s mark. We’ll be watching that for a long time…
I love when the Mets win.
steveo
7/8/2009-11:26pm at 11:26 pm (UTC -4)
Krod has given me an ulser.Dude a little less drama please.
GravediggerHebner
7/8/2009-11:31pm at 11:31 pm (UTC -4)
When he was with the Angels it was the same way. That’s his thing. That he started off this season relatively drama free was an exception I think.
steveo
7/8/2009-11:37pm at 11:37 pm (UTC -4)
O I know I live out in vegas and seen every one of his nail biters last year on local tv but in this game I had my eyes closed
gategem
7/9/2009-12:31am at 12:31 am (UTC -4)
Many years ago the Orioles had a reliever, Tim Stoddard, like (but not as good as) K-Rod and Earl Weaver could not bear to watch it and would repair to the runway to the clubhouse and smoke a cigarette and await the games outcome.
lol Heb it appears you have finally gone off the deep end.
dirtysanchez
7/9/2009-12:03am at 12:03 am (UTC -4)
LMFAO!!! My friend you are unmatched at these things….well done! This has to be your best or at least top 5…hilarious!!
And one of these days…krod will kill me…im sure of it now.
gategem
7/9/2009-1:32am at 1:32 am (UTC -4)
Murphy finally turned on the inside pitch that has been giving him so much trouble. Has he entered a new phase where he has adjusted to how he is being pitched or is it a one time occurrence. It should be interesting to see.
prismo
7/9/2009-4:05am at 4:05 am (UTC -4)
Grave, this could be my favorite post-game yet. I was literally “lol”ing.
QnsNative718
7/9/2009-6:06am at 6:06 am (UTC -4)
hahaha, nice ostrich.
Man, this was one of the ugliest wins Ive seen for a pitcher, but a wins a win. Lets keep it rollin.
darknova306
7/9/2009-7:11am at 7:11 am (UTC -4)
Nice work, Heb. A good laugh was a great way to start my morning at work.
I guess the one positive thing I’ll say about Ollie after that game is that he didn’t have one of his typical implosion innings. He made the pitches he needed to despite walking the bases loaded… Still, I’m not encouraged by this start. 7 walks? Ugh. Yeah, that’s $12Million good. Gotta give him a few more starts before really forming an opinion on his return, but I’m not impressed so far. (To be fair, I didn’t want to see him in this team’s uniform again, so I’m biased)