Between a rain delay that actually lasted one minute longer than the entire Mets/Phillies game, and a near no-hitter broken up by the opposing pitcher, the New York teams had themselves quite a night last night.
Dustin Moseley gave up a tie breaking solo homerun to Billy Butler just a minute or so before the rain came, for the second rain delay of the night. The Yanks had overcome a 3-0 deficet by scoring 3 times in the 3rd, but Butler’s shot was the end of the scoring for the night as the bullpens for both teams pitched well after the game resumed. The Yanks had a chance to tie it in the 9th with runners at 1st and 3rd, but Royals closer Joakim Soria was able to get out of the jam for the save.
Over in Queens, R.A. Dickey threw a gem of a game, giving up only one hit to opposing pitcher Cole Hamels in a 1-0 win. It was the 2nd straight complete game shut out for the Mets, who lead the Lajor Leagues with 18 shutouts on the season. The Phillies haven’t scored a run in Citifield this year as of yet and are 0-4 in Queens. The lack of offense continued with only back to back doubles from David Wright and Carlos Beltran accounting for the only run of the game. The Mets string of bad luck continued as an apparent home run by 1st baseman Mike Hessman was overruled as fan interferance after a lengthy video review delay. After viewing the replay a number of times myself, it’s hard to see if the fan touched the ball, but the ball really would have been a home run anyway. However, the umpires overturned the homerun and granted Hessman a triple. He would eventually be stranded there.
So the Mets have won two games in a row for the first time since June 23rd. It seems they’ve stumbled on a wnning formula: just keep the starter in the game.
In the last four games, the Mets starting pitchers have been brilliant. Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey have thrown wonderfully. The only belemish in those games what the bullpen blowing Neise’s 7 innings of one run ball on Wednesday.
The Yankees have had a little patch where they’ve stumbled a bit, but a huge comeback win against Texas the other night, and the Tampa Bay Rays inability to hit lately and take advantage of the Yanks mini struggles keep the Bronx Bombers two games ahead in the AL East.
Andy Pettite suffered a setback while pitching in a simulated game in Tampa and it seems that the veteran is nowhere near ready to return to the mound for the first time since July 19. Before suffering a left groin strain in the third inning of a start against the Rays last month at Yankee Stadium, Pettitte was have the best start of an impressive career with an 11-2 record and an ERA of 2.88. He was selected (rightfully so despite my problems with Yankee Skipper Joe Giradi’s Yankee bias in All-Star Team selections) for the all-star team this year and the Yanks will certainly need him if them make (which is pretty much expected, if not a given a this point in the season) the postseason.
Today, The Mets will try and continue their dominance of Philadelphia at Citifield, but it’s going to be a tall order as Rookie Pat Misch will face off against Phillie’s ace Roy Halladay with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 PM. The Yankees will look for revenge in Kansas City tonight when they send Phil Hughes to face off against RHP Sean O’Sullivan for a 7:10 start also.
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