Game 43: Loss to Yankees
Yankees 2, Mets 1
Did you ever see a movie that you were REALLY excited to see? A movie that was REALLY interesting and totally lived up to its expectations for about 90 minutes, until something totally unbelievable and ridiculous happened that it totally took you out of the movie? You were suddenly aware that you were watching a movie and not just any movie, but a REALLY BAD movie?
Yeah, tonight’s game was like that. And Elmer Dessens was that unbelievable and ridiculous moment.
On a personal note, Dessens destroyed my fantasy team once and I wrote him off as a guy that really had no business on a Major League team since then.
That was in 2003.
Sorry for the tangent, but really, the Mets were lucky to get out of the 7th inning down 2-0. Say what you want about John Maine’s weird exit last night – but Maine deserves a spot on a team that employs Dessens in the bullpen.
Ugh. I digress (again).
Howie Rumberg of the Associated Press summed up this game in a paragraph:
Javier Vazquez pitched one-hit ball for six innings before becoming the latest pinstriped player to leave with an injury and the Yankees took advantage of more inept Mets play to win the opener of the Subway Series 2-1 on Friday night.
The only other thing you need to know is exactly how the scoring occured and Rumber has that covered, concisely:
Kevin Russo got his first hit of the season and first two big league RBIs and Mariano Rivera struggled to earn his first save after two subpar outings, helping the makeshift Yankees win their fourth straight game at Citi Field after sweeping the series last year.
Rivera gave up consecutive two-out doubles to Jason Bay and Ike Davis in the ninth inning, bringing a record Citi Field crowd of 41,382 to life before getting David Wright grounding to second for his eighth save in nine chances.
With both teams struggling – the Yankees because of injuries to several key players, and the Mets because of an anemic offense and a rotation in disarray – Vazquez and spot starter Hisanori Takahashi engaged in a fantastic pitchers’ duel for six innings.
The two big bright spots here are obvious – Takahashi continues to impress and Ike Davis is just… well, let’s not jinx it, although it does appear that second base is made out of kryptonite – or whatever Ike is allergic to.
Next Game
Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 3.02) takes the mound for the Mets on Saturday. Phil Hughes (5-0, 2.25) will start for the Yankees. First pitch at 7:10pm.
Enjoy this video of Opening Day at Shea Stadium, circa 1982. Sorry, I’m on a nostalgia kick:
Perez – hopeless…Maine – confidence gone…Santana and Pelf cannot hold this rotation together, the same old 'wait and see' mentality – got to be time to let Jerry move on and see if someone can't light a fire under the ass'.
Nice to see Takahashi perform well, but we should be getting excited about the main players, not just guys who will fill in here and there, before inevitably being mistreated and worn out/lost (see Nieve…Figueroa at al)
Nice outing by Takahashi… the guy throws strikes and doesn't fold with men on base, which is a nice change from some of the other recent rotation members. One wonders if he is going to be as efective the second time through the league, I wonder how much the oddity of his leg hesitation is helping him
The real tragedy of the last half of 09 and 2010 so far is that I think it has become fairly clear that a team structured around wright and reyes as your major guys is not a winning team. The 'window' to compete with those two guys may ALREADY be closed, and it may in truth have been open for only a year or two anyways (06 and 07). Its pretty tough to see these guys regressing like they are in the primes of their careers. Hot prediction: Reyes will be below the Mendoza line by the end of the weekend. The guy is totally lost out there.