Mets Game 81: Win Over Yankees
Mets 3 Yankees 1
If only we could get Dr. Perez show up more often than Mr. Hyde.
Oliver Perez was masterful, tossing seven innings of three-hit ball, walking none, striking out 8, and allowing just one run. He couldn’t have been any better, and was the pitcher we saw only one other time in his last seven starts. Ollie got into a rhythm early and totally dominated the vaunted Bronx Bombers lineup.
And it was a good thing, too, because the Mets offense was unable to plate runs despite piling people on the basepaths. The Mets collected 12 hits and 3 walks, but scored only three runs. One came on a bases-loaded infield hit by Luis Castillo, another on a solo homer by Carlos Delgado, and the last on a sacrifice fly by David Wright. It wasn’t like the Yankees had great pitching, either. Darrel Rasner struggled through most of his five innings of work, and reliever David Robertson was far from impressive in his two frames.
Notes
The Mets finish the first half of their season 40-41. Interestingly, although they are one game under .500, and the first-place Phillies are five games over .500, the two teams are closer than their records would indicate — because the Mets have only two more losses than the Phillies’ 39.
Who the heck was this particular Perez today? He was pitching like a man possessed, a fearless, nasty S-O-B going right after Alex Rodriguez with 96 MPH heat on the hands. It wasn’t just the velocity, but the ferocity on his face and the confidence that was oozing from every inch of his body. I would love to see more of this psychopath against teams other than the Yankees. Can we safely surmise that Ollie is a guy who gets “up” for certain teams / special games? If he could drop everything from his mind and focus on being a madman against everyone, he’d be a 20-game winner, easy. In fact I would take a focused and intimidating Perez over Johan Santana most days of the week. He was downright scary.
Endy Chavez was 3-for-4 starting in left field. Ryan Church, in his first game back from the DL, picked up where he left off, going 2-for-4. Castillo had three hits and Jose Reyes two.
Billy Wagner made us all toss Tums down our throats en route to his 18th save of the year. Wagner allowed a leadoff single to Derek Jeter, move him to second on a wild pitch, then gave up an A-bomb to A-Rod which luckily fell just short of the left field fence and safely into the glove of Chavez. However, Wagns then settled down to retire Jorge Posada on a popup and struck out Wilson Betemit to end the game.
Can’t believe the Mets are only 3 games out of 1st. I don’t know if I should view that as a glimmer of hope or a bad indication of how close we are to playoff contention. The Mets have 8 games on the road starting tonight with 2 very good teams, the Cardinals and Phillies. If they emerge from this trip any closer to the NL East lead, you gotta think that a 2nd half run is at least possible, if not probable. Then again, I certainly don’t have my hopes up, which is probably the proper mentality to have had all along.
1. Given the horrid schedule and drama of the first half, to be .500 especially at this point is not bad.
2. There is alot of room for improvement in the ‘team’, but i strongly think there is alot of baseball left. ironically i have noted the Yanks have struggled mightily in the first 1/2 at least 3 yrs in a row only to get to post season.
3. I think, just as the Tigers have, the mets could go on a tear at some point to push themselves in to a division lead. If Ollie is ‘fixed’ (see Metsblog), and pitching from mid rubber is the key, then maybe some rotation tinkering, improvement from Petey continued development of Pel AND some hitting (a little health too) and we could do this.
Can the Mets do it? Not if they play like they did the first half (or the 2nd half of last year). But if they play like THEY think they can, they will contend.
2009, however, I am less confident. They will need a new left fielder, first baseman, 2 starting pitchers and a closer. At least.