Despite this, I definitely need another beer
New York Mets reliever Raul Valdes, who couldn’t retire any of the 5 batters he faced in his last outing, fared slightly better tonight. Slightly. Pitching the bottom of the 11th inning of a 1-1 tie, Valdes allowed a lead off double to Tony Gwynn Jr. Then San Diego Padres starting pitcher John Garland came up as a pinch-hitter to bunt Gwynn over to third base. He bunted the ball sharply on the ground to Valdes who threw Gwynn out at third and as a Met fan you thought they might get out of the inning. But the next batter Jerry Hairston Jr. singled. Then the grittiest son-of-a-female-dog you’ve ever heard of, David Eckstein, got hit in the knee by a pitch to load the bases. After he showed how tough he was by eventually taking first base, the one-true Padre Adrian Gonzalez hit a walk-off grand slam giving the Padres a 5-1 11th inning victory and a win of the 3-game series. The Mets finished their 6-game road trip to Milwaukee and San Diego 2-4.
Frenchy made it happen
The Mets took the lead in the 4th inning. Jason Bay led off with a single, then with 1 out stole second base. David Wright singled to shallow right moving Bay to third. Jeff Francoeur then singled driving in Bay to make it 1-0 Mets.
Another tremendous gut
Mets ace Johan Santana did not have his best stuff today, but he showed tremendous guts in working around 5 hits and a season high 5 walks, throwing a season high 123 pitches over 7 scoreless innings. He only allowed 1 base runner to reach third base. Hairston Jr. made it there with 1 out in the 1st inning, but Santana struck out Chase Headley, then got Nick Hundley to foul out ending what turned out to be San Diego’s biggest threat against him all game.
Mets relievers loosening
The New York Mets used 3 amigos in the 8th inning to preserve a 1-0 lead. Pedro Feliciano started the inning and allowed a lead off single to Headley. He was then replaced by Elmer Dessens who got Hundley to fly out to center field. The next batter, Scott Hairston, grounded sharply to third baseman David Wright who bobbled the ball momentarily, ending any chance he may have had of turning an inning-ending double play, instead firing to first base to get Hairston out as Headley moved into scoring position. At that point Mets manager Jerry Manuel made a double switch removing Francoeur, who had made the last out of the previous inning and Dessens, replacing them with Gary Matthews Jr. and closer Francisco Rodriguez. Rodriguez struck out Will Venable to end the Padres 8th inning threat.
New York secured a Super Bowl, but KRod couldn't get them a final four
Having finished the 8th Rodriguez came on to pitch the 9th and try to secure a four-out save. Tony Gwynn Jr. led off with a pinch-hit single and stole second base. Rodriguez then struck out pinch-hitter Matt Stairs and Hairston Jr. but couldn’t punch out grit king Eckstein who dribbled a 74-hop single up the middle scoring Gwynn with the tying run.  Gonzalez then doubled down the left field line and Eckstein rounded third base heading for home as Bay retrieved the ball. He fired it to Wright who turned and threw a strike to Henry Blanco at home who tagged out Eckstein sending the game into extra innings. The Mets did not score in the top of the 10th then Rodriguez surprisingly emerged from the Mets dugout to pitch the bottom of the inning. He allowed a 2-out walk but then retired Venable on a grounder to end the 10th, finishing his gutty 46 pitch, 2 1/3 inning blown save.
Now a couple asides.
Rookie Ken Griffey Jr. card
Good luck to Ken Griffey Jr. in retirement and thank you for all the great baseball memories. Despite the injuries that tarnished your career the Hall of Fame awaits you.
Armando Galarraga, almost perfect
Kudos to Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga for not beating the crap out of first base umpire James Joyce, who with 2 outs in the 9th inning of a perfect game that Galarraga was pitching tonight made an at best questionable safe call on a play at first, ending Galarraga’s bid to throw the 3rd perfect game of this season and the 21st in the history of major league baseball. He retired the next batter on a ground out to win a 3-0 complete game shutout which is nice but doesn’t have the same ring to it that “perfect game” does.
17 comments
tkfj
6/2/2010-10:57pm at 10:57 pm (UTC -4)
Krod is one of the most overrated closers in the game. Fact.
Krod has 3 blown saves. Fact
Krod made a terrible pitch on an 0-2 count to Eckencrappy and got burned. Fact.
Krod let Tony Gwynn Jr., get a hit. ha. Fact.
Jerry Manuel brought Raul Valdes in, Idiot.
Jerry Manuel brought GMJ in, Idiot.
Jerry Manuel is an idiot, Idiot.
Good night.
metsfan4decades
6/2/2010-11:16pm at 11:16 pm (UTC -4)
LOL. I think someone missed their nap today.
tkfj
6/2/2010-11:22pm at 11:22 pm (UTC -4)
I agree Krod must have. Should of dreamt about being a successful pitcher, who can close games down. Guess he didnt.
metsfan4decades
6/2/2010-11:24pm at 11:24 pm (UTC -4)
TK, you are nothing, if not entertaining.
I think you hit the record tonight for # of tag names in the Dugout. You’re gonna get carpel tunnel changing names so fast….
tkfj
6/2/2010-11:29pm at 11:29 pm (UTC -4)
TY, for having a sense of humor about my stupidity. I appreciate it.
metsfan4decades
6/2/2010-11:41pm at 11:41 pm (UTC -4)
As a Met fan, just gotta remember that ‘Mamma told me there were gonna be days like this’.
But yeah, it really did suck…
Mr North Jersey
6/2/2010-11:09pm at 11:09 pm (UTC -4)
Grave I normally enjoy your pics in your posts but I am not sure If I should slap you for that 1st pic u posted up above.
You have built up a lot of equity though so I will let that slide.
metsfan4decades
6/2/2010-11:12pm at 11:12 pm (UTC -4)
grave – I don’t know how you do it night after night. Best graphics/theme yet after such a disappointing loss.
Can someone tell me why the offense can’t ever seem to score runs for Johan? Anyone????
Johan took the high road on the post game show but did say something about pitching 150 pitches if he has to, to get him and the Mets a win.
This game is on the offense and KRod.
And you pretty much knew it was over when Valdes came in. He was very good earlier this season but his last two outings were awful. He’s pitching almost standing straight up. What’s up with that?
I’m sorry, Ceetar but after this road trip we absolutely cannot let Ollie continue to take up a spot in that BP. We need a couple of fresh arms and he’s one of the reasons we don’t have one right now. I still say come Sat., he might be drawing the short end of the stick.
I hate losses when the next day is an off day….
gategem
6/2/2010-11:30pm at 11:30 pm (UTC -4)
The answer to your question is that this is, at best, a mediocre ballclub with a hideous manager.
metsfan4decades
6/2/2010-11:13pm at 11:13 pm (UTC -4)
That poor kid…..Joyce will be getting a lot of hate mail.
I think MLB ought to reverse that call and give him the perfect game. It wasn’t even close.
njstuckintx
6/3/2010-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, they should.
But that would be 3 perfect games and a no hitter in 2 months time. Unheard of!
stickguy
6/2/2010-11:19pm at 11:19 pm (UTC -4)
glad I wasn’t around to see the end of this mess.
so, another 2-4 road trip. More jerry head scratchers.
Why exactly can’t they fire this idiot?
just leave him in california and go home without him.
it does sound suspiciously like Valdes may have some kind of injury. So that might be their out to get Neise back up. ANd if Valdes hits the DL (or the minors), and there are no other moves, that likely means Taka back to the pen, with DIckey staying in the rotation.
Although that is still just 4 SPs, but with days off, they can make a couple of rounds that way.
but geez, how is it the offense goes dead for Johan, when they aren’t hitting against other aces?
steveo
6/2/2010-11:23pm at 11:23 pm (UTC -4)
5- observations I’ve made being at this game 1- Johan will never get another win this year, I feel for this guy 2- krod sucks ass he really does, his freaky move throws batters off not his pitchs 3- Jerry manuel sucks sh-t, padre fans were asking what the hell he was doing 4- Raul Valdes needs to be dfad I don’t know how he had past success sitting 7 rows back from the plate as I did on monday this guy has nothing and only fools batters due to his suckyness(I think that’s a new word)the batters look as if to say did he just throw me a meatball? And 5 I can’t bring this team any luck and I’m soo happy that I only paid 45 bucks a ticket for these three games to sit behind home plate with the rich people .And finally its early enough here to get real drunk and forget this team
GravediggerHebner
6/2/2010-11:29pm at 11:29 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for your firsthand observations and enjoy the Gaslight District.
gategem
6/2/2010-11:41pm at 11:41 pm (UTC -4)
I lived in SD when I did work for Qualcomm. With all the activities that SD has to offer (mostly some of the most attractive girls in the world) I never did attend a Padres baseball game. I guess if Tijuana is now off the list of attractions you might have some time to attend a game. But with the way the Mets are playing on the road these days it’s a waste of your money and time to go out and watch them play. The Padres are now 11 games over .500 and must be a fun team to watch.
steveo
6/3/2010-12:01am at 12:01 am (UTC -4)
1st place Padres with 14000 people there, sad of course all 3 nights 90 percent were met fans
njstuckintx
6/3/2010-9:08am at 9:08 am (UTC -4)
It’s got to be difficult to dust properly in that get up. Not complaining, just saying.