postGame: Mets 5 D’Backs 3
The Mets (31–33) defeated the D’Backs (35–31) by the score of 5 to 3 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a full recap, boxscore, stats, etc., go to SNY.tv.
Billy Wagner, you can exhale now – and you owe Carlos Beltran a beer, who hit a walk-off, two-run home run to win tonight’s game in the 13th inning.
- Mike Pelfrey pitched eight, count them eight, wonderful, dominant, scoreless innings tonight, all while letting his fastball fly. He looked great. Hell, he even got his first hit of the season, that’s how well things were going for him tonight. There is no other word to describe Pelfrey, who did his absolute best to get his team a victory.
- However, Wagner came on in the ninth, after Pelfrey allowed the first batter of the inning to reach base.
- I rarely second guess, but Pelfrey should have been given the chance to finish this game – and I’m not playing Monday Morning QB.
- Instead, Willie Randolph chose to go to his closer, who, to his credit, had been lights-out most of this season. But, not tonight. Wagner gave up a three-run home run, and the game was tied, the crowd erupted in to boos, and the bench looked devastated.
- In the ninth, with one out, and with Beltran at the plate with an earlier attempt at a walk-off home run, the stadium and bench was silent. In fact, even after Beltran drew a walk, moving the winning run to first, the crowd let out only a mild sigh, as Jose Reyes sat starring blankly at the field. It was like it didn’t even matter if the team won, which was scary to see.
- In the 13th inning, moments before Beltran’s home run, SNY captured a great shot of David Wright walking in from popping out, after which he began punching the bench with his right hand in absolute frustration.
- Fortunately, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman and Claudio Vargas picked up where Pelfrey left off, pitching four scoreless innings in relief, which allowed Beltran the opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 13th inning with a walk-off home run.
Judging by the team’s reaction – and the fan reaction – in the bottom of the ninth, this would have been a devastating loss.
Instead, it’s a dramatic, inspiring, walk-off win, which snapped a five-game losing streak.
Still, though, I still have a bad feeling in my stomach from the ninth – despite the win. The silence of the crowd and the bench in the bottom of the ninth, even with the winning run on second, was very, very eerie.
So, I’m happy, but it’s an exhausted, tired, skeptical kind of happiness – if that makes any sense.
The Mets complete their three-game series with the D’Backs tomorrow at 1 pm, with Johan Santana facing Dan Haren.
