Game-winning Hit

Starlin Castro's lunging, awkward swing produced a bloop hit that broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 11th last night. The Cubs went onto to a 2 - 0 win over the offensively challenged Mets at Citi Field. The game was not an artistic success -- while there was quality starting pitching from Bartolo Colon and Jon Lester, there was sloppy base-running on both sides and a decided lack of clutch hitting. And then, there was the botched suicide squeeze attempt (below). With a runner on 3rd base and one man out, Terry Collins chose to force the action. Unfortunately, rookie Darrell Ceciliani couldn't get the bat on the ball -- costing the Mets their best chance to score, as Ruben Tejada was thrown out trying to scamper back to the base.
On a holiday week with schools closed for the summer, the seats gradually emptied out -- and those premium seats which are never full, looked especially sparse by the time the game went into extra innings. Clearly, this was not a night for the Mets faithful to remember.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cy Fynalists

Image
The last two nights, Jacob de Grom (above) and Max Scherzer (below) showed why they're the leading contenders for the NL Cy Young Award. Wednesday, in what was likely his final start of the season, the Mets ace threw eight innings of two-hit shutout ball. That lowered his ERA to 1.70. His 10 strikeouts helped him reach 1000 for his career. And thanks to just enough hitting support from Domonic Smith and Michael Conforto, De Grom earned the victory to finish 2018 with a winning record at 10-9. Scherzer made his statement Tuesday night, when he won his 18th and became the fifth pitcher this century to reach 300 strikeouts in a season. Though he's giving up a half-run a game more than de Grom, the three-time Cy Young winner has been just as dominant, while pitching with more consistent support. Two division rivals contending for the league's most coveted pitching award -- and doing it on otherwise-disappointing teams. ( My image of de Grom is from the May 18th Mets/Di...
Read more

Moving Up the List

Image
2015 has been a renaissance season for Albert Pujols. Leading the majors with 29 homers, the 10-time All Star has passed some pretty imposing names on the all time power list during 2015. Hall of Fame names such as Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Fox, Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams. This blast came against the Yankees back on June 14th and brought on this round of high-fives once he returned to the Angels dugout.
Read more

Wayback: 1966 Yankees Scorecard

Image
  Hit the rewind button and browse through a souvenir collection of a lost Yankees season that marked the end of an era. Sure, there were plenty of familiar faces: below Mickey Mantle, Tom Tresh and Roger Maris smile for the cameras in spring training.  Full of optimism and not ready to believe that 15 year dynasty was over.  But it is was. Instead of bouncing back following a shocking sixth place finish in 1965, the Yankees staggered out of the gate in ‘66, losing 10 of their first 11 and 16 of their first 20 games as manager Johnny Keane was fired and a new reality settled in.  There were new faces as well.  Bobby Murcer and Roy White would see brighter days; but not for more than a decade.   Fritz Peterson and Dooley Womack would be bright spots during a dark time; veterans Bob Friend and Lou Clinton were past their peaks.  Ruben Amaro’s Yankee time would be marred by injury.   Check out the back page ad.  The Sinclair brand and symbol wou...
Read more