Live for Today

Game 22 - Mets

Mets 7, Phillies 4
Record: 10-12

Doing a little liveblogging from the MLC satellite office in Norfolk. And in the time it took me to type that, Jose Reyes grounded routinely to first. Nothing like setting a tone and sending a message. 26 outs left.

Chan Ho Park on the mound?? I . . . I'm gonna shut up. I want to say something, but I know it's gonna come back to haunt me.

After a four-pitch walk to Alex Cora, here comes Daniel Murphy. Really? Awesome. Love this kid. On a related note, David Wright has changed his at-bat music to Old 97's "The New Kid."

Home run, Daniel Murphy! 2-0, Mets.

I tell you again
Don’t get too settled in
Oh, you will be replaced
You will be replaced
By the new kid

Beltran walks, Dee-Dub walks on 4 straight. Good to hear you, Phillie phaithphul.

As an aside, I have the Phillie booth on Extra Innings tonight. They're fine, not bad, but not close to Harry Kalas. Weird not to hear him . . . and to know he's not just taking the middle innings off.

3-0 on Church. Makes you wonder what the hell Reyes was swinging at.

Two gifts from the man in blue. 3-2 count. Please, give to UNICEF instead.

And now a 3-6-1 DP. Only the New York Mets could get a mere two runs out of that debacle of an inning from Chan Ho. No, we couldn't possibly. All right, if we have to, we'll take 2. But that's it, okay?

Pelf on the hill for the Metmen, returning to the rotation after being injured/sucking. Pelf, in case it hasn't been made obvious, we need you.

And the Phils announcers show that a DW baserunning quirk helped the Phils turn the DP. Sweet, Dave.

Philly gets 1st & 3rd on an Utley plunk (heh heh) and a Howard hit, but Jayson Werth grounds out easily to third in the spot in the PHL order Pat the Bat used to occupy. Boy, am I glad Burrell's in the AL now. Inning over.

Tatis singles. Santos doubles. Ramon Castro gets on Orbitz for one ticket to Oblivion (airport code: OBL). 2 sac flies (including a near-the-wall shot by Pelf), and it's 4-0. THIS IS A LEAD OUR TEAM BLOWS.

Sorry.

But it's true. Up four runs early is like being down four late for the Mets.

Beltran walks (keep taking, lads), Wright offers a bad swing at a worse pitch and double to left-center. Booth boys illustrate that a half-decent curveball would've left D-W flailing.

Intentional walk to Tatis to get to Omir Santos. Wow. Castro now on Expedia. Nothing round-trip available . . .

Sac fly to shallow right. Awesome baserunning by Beltran to score, but he has the worst body English in baseball. He was clearly safe, but just got the foot in by a fraction of the second, then popped up and looked at the ump as if to say, "Was I safe? I honestly do not know." Get up clap your hands, make it no mistake that hell, yes, you were safe. Come on, dude. 5-0.

Shpeedy Shane Victorino singles. Pelf throws it away on a pickoff move for his first career error. Tatis looked as though 1B was not his natural position, although, to be fair, at this point in his career, I'm not sure he has a "natural" position any longer.

And Pelf gets dinged for three runs in bottom 3. Free passes hurt, but Pelfrey just wanted to fit in with the rest of the Mets' staff in the clubhouse. 5-3. The whole lead-blowing thing now seems pretty obvious, eh?

Mets come right back and go 1-2-3. A clockwork orange and blue.

Beltran doubles, and while stealing third, Dee-Dub singles him in. Bad acting job be damned, Carlos Beltran is starting to carry this club on his back, and I'm not sure I'd ever thought I'd say that. 6-3.

Raul Ibanez makes a second catch in left that Pat the Bat Not Glove . . . hmmm, no way.

David Wright tagged out trying to steal. Hey, gotta keep Chan Ho in this game somehow. Doing the little things, as they say.

And Tatis doubles again. Dave, what you're doing on the basepaths . . . I'm not seeing it.

The Phils walk Santos intentionally, reading the lineup card right this time. Pelf comes up, and Uncle Charlie yanks Chan Ho. Not a lot of faith.

And Pelfrey knocks one into right off Chad Durbin for another RBI! Ha! Charlie Manuel will explain it later with a fishing analogy that has no analogous merits. 7-3.

Jose Jose Jose proves that he doesn't just open up innings with outs (twice tonight), he ends them, too. That is versatility, friends.

Did You Know??? Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. used to be the Phillies' batboy. How about that?

Top 6, Beltran walks and steals with two down, DW grounds to third. Have a bad feeling about the bottom of this inning.

The Mets' 5-4-3 machine is missing 3's like Rob in our intramural days. Now with one out and runners on first & second, Jerry Manuel comes out and pulls Pelf.

. . . for Pedro Feliciano. Now I really have a bad feeling about this inning. Crap.

Weird play, and the Mets got lucky. Grounder to Reyes, who bobbles it and throws it hideously in the dirt near D-W and the sliding runner, skipping on by towards the dugout. But it stays in play, and Santos expertly snags it, so the runner can't score . . . unbeknownst to Greg Dobbs, who'd rounded second and found himself within a few feet of Chris Coste at 3B. After a horrible-looking pickle with nearly wild throws that was reminiscent of T-ball and followed not a single one of the fundamental rundown rules (let it suffice to say that they ended up tagging Coste out at home), the Mets are very fortunate too get that out.

And the Phils dribble that opportunity away. 7-3 after six, and only their dunder-headed play keep the Mets from proving my uneasiness more than just withdrawal symptoms.

Jerry Manuel bats Pedro Feliciano with one on and two gone in the 7th. Hmmm. And he walks! It brings Jose Reyes to the plate, who launches one to deep left pitcher's mound. 3 down. Jose knows how to book-end an inning tonight, baby.

Feliciano rewards Jerry's faith by hanging an 0-2 cheesy poof that leadoff hitter Chase Utley deposits in the right-field seats.

Did You Know??? Mets manager Jerry Manuel is going to be the Mets' batboy. How about that?

In Feliciano's defense, like Murph's HR in the first, that ball doesn't leave many parks in the majors, minors, or our men's softball league. In my defense, Pedro Feliciano does this to us seemingly all the frickin' time. 7-4.

Feliciano settles down and gets the Mets out of the 7th. Now someone get him out of the game before the 8th.

Uneventful 8th and top 9. Here comes Frankie. And down they go. A very nice lack of drama.