August 22, 2007
Last Night's Action: Mets Beat One of Games' Best
- Mets 7, Padres 6: When Trevor Hoffman enters a game, more often than not, it's over for the opposing team. Then again, the all-time save leader with 513, has never been good in New York. Last night, the Mets came back from a one-run deficit in the 9th with Hoffman in the game for a dramatic victory. From the Mets standpoint, the bottom of the 9th was perfect and they looked like the Mets of 2006. Lastings Milledge started the inning with a single and was moved to 2nd on a Mike DiFelice sac bunt. Marlon Anderson singled to bring Milledge home and Jose Reyes blooped a single. With Anderson at 2nd and Reyes at 1st, Luis Castillo drove a ball right up the middle of the Padres infield. Mike Cameron, who did his best offensively to punish his old team, was unable to throw Anderson out at home from the outfield. The 9th inning drama would have been unnecessary if the Mets bullpen had held the one-run lead that it was given when John Maine left the game. The Mets offense also got Billy Wagner off the hook, who allowed the Padres to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th. Carlos Beltran continued his hot-streak after his return from the DL, going 3-3 with 5 RBI last night.
- Angels 18, Yankees 9: Do not adjust your monitors, that football-looking score is right. Perhaps it was the hangover from Monday's heartbreaking loss that caused this ugly performance by the Yankees. Or maybe it was how the Yankees pitchers were very hitable. Or maybe it was Garret Anderson as a one-man team. Anderson's line for Tuesday? 4-6, 2 runs, 10 RBI. Mike Mussina was awful, allowing 7 earned runs in only 1.2 innings, but it seemed like everyone that pitched for the Yankees (except Luis Vizcaino) was just as bad. Ron Villone - 4 runs in 1/3 innings; Edwar Ramirez - 2 runs in 2 innings; Sean Henn - 5 runs in 3 innings. It was almost like watching a bad Little League game as the Angels batted around in the 2nd and 3rd innings.
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The Angels series will be seen as the turning point in the season for the Yankees: after apparently recovering from the Spring debacle, the Yankees went on a blazing streak. Now, the weakness in pitching, both starting and bullpen, is again obvious. The Yankees simply can't start Wang and have Chamberlain (Joba! Joba!) come in to relieve every game.
Moose? Clemens? Henn? Villone? Ramirez? Can the Yankees give all of them their walking papers?
There aren't enough pitchers in Scranton and Trenton to make up for them. I'm a die-hard Yankee fan, but the writing seems to be on the wall.
Edwar Ramirez is great, I wouldnt include him on that list. They did score 9 runs last night, that should have been plenty to win. Moose Villone and Henn were the culprits, not Ramirez.
Clemens is not a #1 starter anymore, but will give you at the very least a quality start. He's only had one bad start this year, and most of the time the bats have just not been there for him. He's had a lot of games this year where he's taken the loss and only given up a couple runs. Not his fault.
However, you are right about Moose, and Villone. Washed up. Henn has been kicking around for what seems like years now, and they never use him enough but end up putting him in pressure spots. They should either leave him in AAA, trade him or give him a real role (mop up man?)
I was dreading this series. Although they are not dead yet, having lost this series really sets them back. With the way Seattle is playing, the Yankees actually might have to win the AL East if they are to make the playoffs at all. We all thought the wildcard would come from the Central but now, it's looking like it may come from the West.
If the Yankees let these losses get to them, they're done. If they can pick themselves up RIGHT NOW, they still have a fighting chance.