Two RBI's tonight for the Dude!
The Never-Say-Die-Three-Straight-Win-Mets were in Citizens Bank Park to try to take another game from the limping fighting Phillies. Joe Blanton would stand in the way of Mike Pelfrey’s second replacement Miguel Batista who literally threw batting practice for the first three innings.
The Phillies struck first in the bottom of the first inning when, after a Juan Pierre walk, Hunter Pence went deep putting the Phillies on the board with a two spot.
Last night’s hero, Jordany Valdespin, made his first major leage error allowing Mayberry to reach second base on an errant throw. Shane Victorino hit a two RBI single and the Phillies had a four run lead by the end of the second inning.
The Met offense started with a Captian Kirk Nieuwenhuis double in the top of the fourth, he would later tag to third off a Wright sac fly to right field. Duda drew a walk and with runners on the corners, Daniel Murphy had a chance to put the Mets not only on the board but back in the game…..and he did, driving in Nieuwehhuis with a single to left field. The Met offense went back to sleep while Batista settled in and held the Phillies scoreless until the 6th inning when he put men on the corners with one out.
Batista went 5 1/3 innings and was lifted for Manny Acosta in the bottom of the sixth, who held the Phillies scoreless.
Valdespin drew a walk to open the seventh inning and Andres Torres hit a single to put the Mets in a position to get back in the game. Again, with two outs, the Mets began to score and it would Nieuwenhuis that would hit and RBI single scoring the Mets second run and chase Blanton from the game. With Torres on second and Kirk on first, Chad Qualls came in and gave up a RBI single to David Wright. Andres Torres scored without a problem but Kirk moved up to third and stopped. It was then that Wright got himself in a pickle between second and first and Kirk broke for home but ran back to third. There was an errant throw by the Phillies Pete Orr and Kirk scored the fourth run and Wright moved to third. Antonio Bastardo came in to face Lucas Duda who singled scoring Wright and give the Mets the lead for the first time of the night.
Ramon Ramirez came in with wind up pitching and scoreless seventh with the help of a great stab by David Wright. With Ramirez still pitching in the eighth, Daniel Murphy made a great play own but failed to throw out Polanco- who proceeded to second and third on two wild pitches It looked like trouble but Ramirez struck out Pete Orr for the second out to end his night. Tim Byrdak was called in to face Ty Wigginton and got him to fly out to shallow center.
The Mets picked up two insurance runs in the top of the ninth when Mike Baxter drew a walk and Andres Torres singled him to third. It would be Kirk Nieuwenhuis who would hit his second RBI of the night with a sac fly to Juan Pierre. Torres tagged to second on the play as well. Lucas Duda singled in Torres from third.
Frank Francisco had the night off so Jon Rauch had the honor and closed out the game for the win.
The Mets will go for the sweep tomorrow when Dillon Gee takes to the mound against Cliff Lee.
22 comments
SaltyGary
5/8/2012-10:36pm at 10:36 pm (UTC -4)
With Batista pitching tonight, this win was almost better than last nights. LGM!!!
Stickguy
5/8/2012-10:39pm at 10:39 pm (UTC -4)
this was fun. I am dumbfounded that they won a game Batista started. or that he managed to pitch into the 6th (albeit, not very well)
but man, winning sucks less than losing!
SaltyGary
5/8/2012-10:41pm at 10:41 pm (UTC -4)
Yogi got it right!
Stickguy
5/8/2012-10:42pm at 10:42 pm (UTC -4)
and loved to see Duda get 2 huge, 2 out RBI hits both off of lefties. That’s my boy.
Stickguy
5/8/2012-10:43pm at 10:43 pm (UTC -4)
and I know it is greedy, but damned, I want them to sweep tomorrow so bad, it hurts.
SaltyGary
5/8/2012-10:44pm at 10:44 pm (UTC -4)
Greed is Good!
Prismo
5/9/2012-9:45am at 9:45 am (UTC -4)
As coined by the Geico Gecko.
Stickguy
5/8/2012-10:44pm at 10:44 pm (UTC -4)
weird fact, and surprised that MLB lets them do this, but the Phils postgame show is broadcast from a Casino in Philly. Odd.
Mr North Jersey
5/8/2012-10:51pm at 10:51 pm (UTC -4)
It just feels so good whenever the Mets beat the Phillies.How about these Mets? They spot the Phillies 4 runs and come back to beat them 7-4. If you told me Batista would go 5 1/3 and only give up 4 runs 2 earned I’d sign up for that right away. Give it up to Capt Kirk & Duda getting 2 hits & 2 rbi’s tonight.
Positives for me has to be the pen who kept the Phils scoreless and so far in this series have pitched I believe 7 2/3 scoreless innings. Also Andres Torres who has been on base in every game he has played since coming back has hits in 7 of his last 8 games.
Last time the Phillies hid the brooms on us to avoid the sweep. Hopefully this time the Mets brought their own brooms.
LGM!!!
srt
5/8/2012-11:01pm at 11:01 pm (UTC -4)
Who had the Mets penciled in as a win with Batista on the mound?
Great game, great win. Only down side is TC telling us tonight that Batista will get another start. In his defense tonight, even though he’s not all that good, 2 of those 4 runs he gave up were unearned. Still…..watching him every 5th day in May – ugh.
Good to see Duda come up big in a couple of spots tonight. Wish Ike would follow suit.
I’m really liking this CF Andres Torres guy.
Not only is Wright’s bat alive and well so far this season, his defense looks much improved as well.
Let’s get the Sweep tomorrow!
srt
5/8/2012-11:03pm at 11:03 pm (UTC -4)
This one’s for you MrNJ:
Saw this comment over on BL from a fan somewhere around the 4th inning:
‘Enough. Switching to the Mets’ broadcast. I can’t stand listening to Sarge/TMac talk continuously. ‘
LOL.
Mr North Jersey
5/9/2012-12:26am at 12:26 am (UTC -4)
LOL OH How I can sympathize!
Stickguy
5/9/2012-7:32am at 7:32 am (UTC -4)
what do you watch on? MLB.tv basic? I have mlb.tv, but the premium upgrade ($20?) and that lets you pick the home or road feed.
Was only watching yesterday the Phils feed since it was on real TV, being local.
Mr North Jersey
5/9/2012-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
Stream Torrent (Free)
NJstuckinTX
5/8/2012-11:06pm at 11:06 pm (UTC -4)
Solid win. I love that Kapt K is ripping it. Just don’t go down the Dykstra path…
Now… The bad topic. Ike must go down. It was ugly. Now it’s down right approaching train wreck status.
Stickguy
5/9/2012-7:33am at 7:33 am (UTC -4)
I can support the Ike idea. When the big news is he hit a ball pretty far to CF (that was caught) it isn’t good.
trs86
5/9/2012-11:58am at 11:58 am (UTC -4)
True but I keep seeing some decent signs of hard hit outs.
gategem
5/9/2012-1:31am at 1:31 am (UTC -4)
Once again this team pleasantly surprises me. They may be doing it with mirrors but that’s okay. Whatever it takes to win without disrupting the master plan (whatever that is). I now wish to postulate 377 cliché’s to cover the situation.
The Phillies lineup is positively putrid and their relief pitching is not much better. They’re starting to remind me of the Mets of the early to mid 1970’s.
BTW to all you Phillies haters, at least you don’t have the Yankees. A team that no matter what befalls them will make the playoffs every damn year.
Stickguy
5/9/2012-7:34am at 7:34 am (UTC -4)
all rotation, 1 real bat, and a couple of RPs? Sounds like an interesting comparison.
Mr North Jersey
5/9/2012-11:40am at 11:40 am (UTC -4)
Charlie Manuel on what he thinks is wrong with his team.
“I think we’re tight. I think we try too hard,” he said. “We get in situations and that’s why we chase bad balls out of the strike zone when we’re ahead in the count. I think that’s why we swing at first-pitch bad balls and so on. I think we’re trying too hard. I think when we have to do something, that’s how they feel…that they HAVE to do it. If you just chip away…if you get behind by three or four runs and it’s early, chip away. Just play baseball. Add one at a time and we’ll be OK. If we just relax and do it because we enjoy doing it with the mindset that we’re going to do it. … I think you’ll see a more cool, collect team.”
http://blogs.mcall.com/phillies/2012/05/manuel-gives-reasons-for-struggles-and-answers-questions-about-team-meeting.html
Stick
5/9/2012-12:14pm at 12:14 pm (UTC -4)
screw them. hopefully getting obb’d off the field every night by their own fans will make them tighten up even more.
something thought that IMO plays into this is not having the old versions of Utley and Howard to lean on. no one else worried knowing those guys “had their backs”. Now, not so much.
in a way, the same arguement some people made about Wright, how he tried to do too much (felt too much responsibility/pressure) when there was no (or little) other hitting in the lineup.
Maybe Charlie though should go with the other option; his team (offensively) just isn’t that good.
srt
5/9/2012-4:35pm at 4:35 pm (UTC -4)
Did you see the post up on metsblog – with pictures – of Victorino grabbing Murph’s leg and trying to break up a double play last night?
Bush league…..