Mets Liveblog: 4/29 vs. PIT

10:44: 3 up 3 down, here comes Sosa, I’m too frustrated to keep writing about this, recap coming later.

10:31: Reyes singles, Castillo advances him to second, David flies out and Beltran grounds out, I’m so glad the heart of our lineup can win the game for us in the bottom of the 9th… 4-4 top 10.

10:20: Well, I’m speechless. Billy just blew the save, and it should have been 3 outs but Casanova allowed the runner to advance to 2nd on a passed ball. After Billy struck out the Nate McLouth, the next hitter grounded into what should have been a double play. So many missed opportunities tonight.

10:06: Well that didn’t take long. Delgado grounds out to go 0-4 on the night and immediately gets serenaded by a chorus of boos.

10:03: Whew. Duaner Sanchez loaded the bases and subsequently walked in a run, but managed to get a force out at home and a pop up to end the inning. 4-3 Mets, bottom 8.

9:50: Mets strand two in the bottom of the 7th, as Wright, Beltran and Church can’t move the runners aboard. Wright and Beltran have to start hitting with RISP.

9:32: Wild pitch down by Schoeneweiss, runner from 3rd comes home and is tagged out at the plate for the third out. Talk about a close call. On second look, the runner very well might have been safe.

 

9:28: Heilman out with 2 men on and 1 out…McLouth coming up, so Schoeneweiss comes in. Keep fingers crossed.

9:23: Unbelievable, here we go again.

9:19: Back from commercial and guess which of my favorite right handed pitchers is gracing my television screen. Hint, his name rhymes with “Bile-Man.” Everyone cross your fingers.

 

9:16: Gary Cohen just pointed out Feliciano’s uncanny resemblance to Governor Patterson. There will be a post about this later, it’s too good to leave alone.

 

9:11: And he does, getting Adam LaRoche to pop out to Reyes to end the 6th. Let’s hope that 1) the bullpen closes this one out for Johan and 2) Heilman and Sosa see no part of the mound tonight.

9:07: Santana hits Nady to load the bases…he’s out after 114 pitches. Santana’s line: 5.2, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO…Feliciano in to (hopefully) finish the 6th.

 

8:59: This is the typical conversation between two Mets fans. Me: “Johan’s about to throw his 100th pitch and we’re only up 2 runs, you know what that means?” My brother: “Yep, we’re gonna lose.”

 

8:50: With bases loaded and a 3-2 count Church takes strike 3, flips out, and yells expletives at the umpire that, thanks to the brilliant camera work of SNY, are clearly visible on tv. Delgado subsequently strikes out to end the inning. Time to boo him again?

 

8:45: Beltran walks to load the bases, Ian Snell is adios.

 

8:42: David hits into a double play…or not. Freddy Sanchez drops the ball, everybody’s safe, and Reyes scores. 4-2 Mets.

 

8:35: Well, Reyes is back. Jose just scorched one to the wall scoring Endy on a triple. 3-2 Mets. Reyes is 2-2 with a walk.

 

8:28: Nice 1-2-3 inning for Johan, he’s thrown 91 pitches through 5, 61 for strikes. Maybe not the 7+ innings that we would have liked, but not a bad night so far.

 

8:20: Church drives a homer with Beltran on first, his third of the year. 2-2 score.

8:10: Santana give up another solo shot, this time to Jason Bay. 2-0 Pirates middle 4.

 

7:41: Delgado gets the biggest cheers of the night from the crowd with some scattered boos as well. SNY paused to let us take it all in. I can’t wait until A-Rod says something stupid and everyone forgets about this.

 

7:37: Middle of the second…Santana has thrown a lot of pitches so far…40 through 2. One stat worth remembering is his K:BB ratio (in my opinion one of the most important for a pitcher). It’s 6.40, and first in the NL.

7:27: End of the first…Reyes led off with a bunt single then promptly was thrown out stealing 2nd for the 3rd time in 8 tries this year…Wright walked for the 21st time this year…Beltran showed some emotion as Adam LaRoche caught a hard hit ball to end the inning. By the way, Beltran’s batting song, “El Esta Aqui,” stinks.

7:16: Santana gets Jason Bay swinging to end the inning. 19 pitches for Santana in the first.

7:11: That was quick. Nate McLouth led off the first with a home run off of Santana–his fourth in four straight games and second straight lead off home run according to Ron Darling. Change up high and in, what do you know.

7:03 PM: Alright Mets fans, it’s a beautiful night at Shea and our ace is on the mound, let’s get ready for some baseball.

-Jonathan Kraft