The last remnant of core power production is felled
First it was Carlos Delgado. Then, Jose Reyes. Next went Carlos Beltran. And this evening, when David Wright was hit in the helmet with a 93 mph fastball by San Francisco Giant starter Matt Cain, the destruction of the New York Met core was complete. Nothing about the pitch suggested that it was intentional, which made Cain’s sarcastic doff of his cap to the booing Citi Field crowd later when he was removed from the game all the more classless and tasteless. Editorial: L7 did a song about a particular type of list, and Mr. Cain you’re on mine.
Back when all 4 core members were intact
The game was rolling along as a classic pitcher’s duel between Cain and Met starter Johan Santana. Then in the 4th inning Luis Castillo singled. Wright came up next and was hit by Cain. Fernando Tatis pinch-ran and took over at third base. Gary Sheffield hit a deep fly ball allowing Castillo to tag and cross to third, from where he scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Murphy.
Utter devastation
The Giants took advantage of a stunned and depleted Met team in the 6th. Bengie Molina’s RBI double scored Freddy Sanchez to tie the game at 1. A Ryan Garko RBI single drove in Pablo Sandoval to give the Giants the lead, and an Aaron Rowand ground ball out scored Molina for a 3-1 Giant lead.
Wright got a police escort to the hospital
While Wright was being taken to the Hospital for Special Surgery for further examination, Santana was taking things into his own hands. He threw a pitch that somehow managed to miss the the Giants # 3 hitter, the obese Sandoval, and both benches were warned by home plate umpire Brian O’Nora that no further hit-by-pitches would be tolerated. Sandoval took out his frustration on the next pitch hitting it off the facade of the second deck for a 4-1 Giant lead. Despite the umpire’s warning, Santana then hit Molina with a pitch, yet was not ejected. He was however removed from the game at that point by his manager.
Mets nuclear winter ahead?
In the 8th inning, Anderson Hernandez led off with a single. A Jeremy Reed ground out moved him to second base. Cory Sullivan singled to drive in Hernandez and Cain was removed from the game. As he headed to the Giants’ dugout to a chorus of boos from the partisan Met crowd, for some reason he doffed his cap. Editorial: I lost all respect for Cain at that moment. I believe his hitting of Wright with the pitch was accidental. But why doff your cap? For lack of a better phrase, in my opinion it was a “dick move.”
Cain may need some protection from fallout in Queens
Jeremy Affeldt relieved Cain and walked the only batter he faced, Castillo. Affeldt was replaced by Giants’ closer Brian Wilson who gave up an RBI single to Tatis and a sacrifice fly to Sheffield. That tied the game at 4-4 and ensured that both Cain and Santana would receive no decision. What was left of the Met roster was not able to carry any momentum from Cain’s foolishness and Molina homered off of Met closer Francisco Rodriguez in the 10th which eventually gave the Giants the 5-4 victory.
Owwie
I’m sure Yogi Berra would put it this way: “The doctors did a scan of David’s brain and it showed nothing.” According to the SNY post game telecast nothing abnormal appeared in a CAT scan of Wright’s head. Met fans can take heart in the organization’s recent fine handling of concussions.
Please visit yahoo.com for the box score.
26 comments
dirtysanchez
8/15/2009-8:02pm at 8:02 pm (UTC -4)
lol…great wrap up grave. What the hell is going on this year…
metsfan4decades
8/15/2009-8:05pm at 8:05 pm (UTC -4)
I saw the game and that was just downright scary…
Thankfully, cat scan showed no damage.
Johan is the MAN. He flat out admitted on the post game show that he felt like he had to protect his teammates. Unfortunately, he missed – or I should say he danced out of the way and Sandoval hit it out. But hey, I have to respect the intention by Johan.
They keep hounding him on the post game show about it. And he flat out said, ‘I don’t have to explain anything to you guys. I’ll always protect my teammates. It is what it is. That’s all I have to say’. You go, Johan.
Man….winning this game would have been a ‘feel good’ for so many reasons.
Not sure putting KRod out there in the 10th was a good idea. Any idea how many times before this season KRod actually pitched more than one inning?
metsfan4decades
8/15/2009-8:06pm at 8:06 pm (UTC -4)
Oh yeah, and Cain is a classless moron. Couldn’t agree more with you, Grave.
rustyjr
8/15/2009-8:17pm at 8:17 pm (UTC -4)
like i said – i dont think it was intentional but i think we rode him so far and booed him in every at bat that was his big fcuk you to us and yes he is classless
metsfan4decades
8/15/2009-8:13pm at 8:13 pm (UTC -4)
For those that don’t get SNY….They’re interviewing Cain now. Said ‘hopefully David’s all right’.
Asking him about tipping his cap when he left. I think that was Kevin B. asking him about that. He just looked at him and didn’t say one word.
Bobby O. thought it might have been a reaction of ‘look, I didn’t hit him on purpose’. Nope, I don’t agree. I saw it, it wasn’t any kind of remorseful gesture on his part. He’s just a jerk. And I’m glad they blew it for him and at least he didn’t get the Win….
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-8:27pm at 8:27 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, no reaction to the hat tip question shows that Cain is not completely remorseful, seems bizarre. Either you feel bad about hitting him or you don’t. Is he trying to get the rep Pedro used to have as a headhunter? So that he can get batters to back off a little more? His whole reaction from the hat tip to the interview is bizarre.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-8:25pm at 8:25 pm (UTC -4)
The league really needs to look at Cain’s reaction to this. I don’t think he hit David intentionally, I just think it was a purpose pitch that went a little too far up and little to far in. But his reaction counts, that hat tip is beyond classless. I believe this warrants a 6 game suspension.
GravediggerHebner
8/15/2009-8:28pm at 8:28 pm (UTC -4)
Well if Cain were to get suspended for tipping his cap, what would Santana get for throwing at Sandoval (and perhaps also for actually hitting Molina)?
And why are Met pitchers incapable of actually hitting batters in angry retaliation? All I could think of was Shawn Estes missing Roger Clemens.
whataputz
8/15/2009-8:53pm at 8:53 pm (UTC -4)
Why is tipping the cap classless? I didn’t really see his reaction seeing as I was at the game and just focusing on seeing if Wright was OK, but what do you want Cain to do? Walk up to him and kiss his forehead. It’s an occupational hazard on the best occupation in the world, it comes with the territory. I saw some report about a helmet that has been designed that can withstand a 100 mhp fastball, but players don’t want to wear it because it isn’t fashionable. All this was was a mistake that 95% of the time the batter either gets out of the way or is ok, and this was just a freak accident. Stop calling out Cain, and just hope that Wright is ok, and that he has no health problems as a result. No need to make drama when there is no need to.
GravediggerHebner
8/15/2009-8:55pm at 8:55 pm (UTC -4)
“No need to make drama when there is no need to.”
Tell that to Cain, he’s the one who did that when he needlessly tipped his cap.
There are many legitimate situations in which an opposing pitcher might tip his cap to an away crowd. This was not one of them.
whataputz
8/15/2009-8:58pm at 8:58 pm (UTC -4)
Its not like he mocked wright. He probably thought it was a sign of respect. I haven’t seen the video and never paid attention to Cain, but if it was simply a tip of the cap I really don’t see why that is so bad. He wasn’t tipping his cap to be disrespectful, if anything it was a gesture you took the wrong way.
GravediggerHebner
8/15/2009-9:02pm at 9:02 pm (UTC -4)
I find it humorous that you know what he was thinking, but I can’t possibly.
You A). didn’t see it, and B). weren’t offended by it.
I did, and was. If you have read some of the comments in this or other threads this evening you’ll note I’m not the only person who felt it was inappropriate.
Check out some other blogs, too. I am not alone.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-9:09pm at 9:09 pm (UTC -4)
I was greatly offended by it, as were most fans. It was definitely a mocking gesture.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-9:04pm at 9:04 pm (UTC -4)
They’re talking about the hat tip after he left the game. He didn’t tip it to Wright, that would be different. This was a mocking gesture towards the Met fans.
“I got your guy” is basically what most people got out of it.
metsfan4decades
8/15/2009-11:17pm at 11:17 pm (UTC -4)
Dude, even the FOX announcers called him out for it saying that was just totally not cool and uncalled for.
I find it amusing that you can have this opinion when you didn’t see it. How did you miss it being at the game. The boos were loud coming through the TV. Got louder when he tipped his cap.
whataputz
8/15/2009-8:55pm at 8:55 pm (UTC -4)
I’m sure Cain was the most nervous man on the field after that pitch.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-9:08pm at 9:08 pm (UTC -4)
Because he could have killed a man? You don’t throw at someone’s head. I don’t think he meant to hit him, but if you have a lack of control (as Cain does, 8 WP this season, 12 in ’07 to lead the league) you shouldn’t make your purpose pitch up and in, it should be in, not up.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-9:06pm at 9:06 pm (UTC -4)
I think Johan will be suspended too. And the Johan miss on Sandoval immediately reminded me of Estes. Damn it, why can’t we get anything right!?
metsfan4decades
8/15/2009-11:14pm at 11:14 pm (UTC -4)
No, it wasn’t intentional. It was intended to be a brush back pitch that got away. And if you’ve been watching all Met games, you’ve noticed that’s becoming the norm for David Wright lately. He’s had many close calls.
His cap tipping was truly claseless, but doesn’t warrant a suspension.
whataputz
8/15/2009-8:49pm at 8:49 pm (UTC -4)
I was at today’s game and was sitting right by the mets dugout and at first I didn’t even think the ball hit him. Tough loss. It clearly was not on purpose. That’s the game of baseball, stuff happens. Gotta love Johan throwing at Sandaval, but can you actually hit the man! Drill him and knock his butt down! Fu** throwing behind him, you drill our guy in the head, you better wear two helmets! No….obviously you don’t throw at a guys head, but hit him in the ribs.
sabermetrician
8/15/2009-9:05pm at 9:05 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed about Johan needing to drill him in the ribs.
whataputz
8/15/2009-11:54pm at 11:54 pm (UTC -4)
I thought you guys meant that after he tipped his cap to Wright after he hit him, not after he was taken out. Yes if that’s what it was then it was tasteless, but how could you not tell that’s what I thought had happened?
sabermetrician
8/16/2009-12:47pm at 12:47 pm (UTC -4)
I knew that’s what you meant, that’s why I made the comment. Sorry, if we got on you too much.
charlie_s
8/16/2009-12:22am at 12:22 am (UTC -4)
Mets should just shut everyone down, bring up all the kids and be done with it. Maybe some of those amazing little leaguers on ESPN can provide some fun to the big club.
prismo
8/16/2009-7:29am at 7:29 am (UTC -4)
But…Niese and Fmart are injured too. ;(
charlie_s
8/16/2009-8:33am at 8:33 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, but they’re like crusty veterans at this point anyway! You know, flash some talent, get hurt, and disappear.