Results tagged “diamondbacks”

It took the Mets a little more than two weeks, but they've somehow managed to squander a seven-game lead in the National League East. Since September 12th, the lead has slowly gotten smaller and is now zero, zilch, zip, nadda, nil. With three games left in the regular season, the Mets are tied with the Phillies for first in the NL East. The last time the Mets weren't in sole possession of first place - May 15th! How did they get to where they are now? Starting on Sept. 14th, the Mets went 4-10, including a 5-game losing streak and a 4-game losing streak. It didn't help that the Phillies went on a tear during the same stretch of games, including a three-game sweep of the Mets.

• Yankees 7 Arizona 1: It’s funny how baseball works. When the Yankees and Mets met in the first round of the Subway Series, the Mets were on a roll and the Yankees in disarray. When they resume the series tonight, the Yankees will be the favorites.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Nine Is Divine"

• Yankees 7 Arizona 2: It took 60-something games, but the Yankees are finally playing like everyone thought they would from the beginning. A punishing lineup and solid starting pitching have finally shown up at the same time and the result is an eight-game winning streak.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Eight Is Great"

• Boston 11 Yankees 6: It was a bunch of little things that proved the Yankees undoing in a disastrous seventh inning. Bobby Abreu showed once again that he is afraid of walls by completely botching a flyball to start the inning. After an intentional walk to Manny Ramirez, Scott Proctor, not wanting to come anywhere near Kevin Youkilis after last night, walked him to load the bases. Then Robinson Cano half-assed a throw to Jeter on what should have been a double play and Jeter’s relay throw caused Doug Mientkiewicz to collide with Mike Lowell’s hip. Mientkiewicz left the game on a cart and the Red Sox had a 7-6 lead. Jeter then botched what should have been the inning-ending double play and A-Rod forgot that a thirdbaseman’s job is to cover third base. When the inning finally ended, the Red Sox had a 10-6 lead and the Yankees were back to 13.5 games out in the standings.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Sloppy Seventh"

• Yankees 4, Rangers 3: The storms have passed in Texas, and the Rangers and Yankees played two. In game 1 of the doubleheader, everything was normal as Andy Pettitte pitched for six strong innings. While he left the game with the lead, Luis Vizcaino was unable to hold the 3-2 lead as the Rangers tied the game in the 7th. Derek Jeter singled in the 8th inning to extend his hitting streak to 19 games and Hideki Matsui doubled to score Jeter. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect 9th inning for his 2nd save of the season.
• Yankees 5, Rangers 2: Mike Mussina returned to the rotation and the Yankees won to swept the three-game series with the Rangers. Maybe they need to get rained out and play doubleheaders more often. Off the DL for a hamstring injury, Mussina had a 75-pitch limit, but only threw 64 before leaving the game in the 5th inning, allowing 1 run and picking up his first win of the season. Just like game 1, Derek Jeter got a hit (his 20th game in a row) and Mariano Rivera got a save (his 3rd of the season and 2nd game in a row). Maybe this series is the turning point of the season for the Yankees.
• Mets 9, Diamondbacks 4: Just last week against the Rockies, Damion Easley hit a game-tying home run in extra innings. Last night, with the Mets down 4-3 in the 9th inning, Easley hit a three-run homer, giving the Mets the go ahead runs they would need for the win. David Wright, who looks like he's coming out of his slump, added another three-run home run in the 9th, giving the Mets 6 runs in the inning. While Tom Glavine, who was looking for his 294th victory, didn't get the win, he did get his 2,500th strikeout.

During a press conference with reporters in Arizona, former Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson complained about the New York City media treatment he had to endure. Acknowledging that the media was a problem, Johnson said, "'Oooh, he's surly and all that'; well you're damn right. If you're going to use me as a floor mat there ... write your own stories and not come to get to know me, then I don't want to sit there and give you my time." Here's more from the Daily News:

"The thing I got ticked about the most," Johnson said, "is a lot of times in New York there were people who wrote (stuff) that never ever bothered to come in and introduce themselves.

Continue reading "Randy Johnson's New Nickname: Big Baby"

- Mets 10, Diamondbacks 6: Steve Trachsel picked up his first win since April behind a season-high five home run performance of the Mets hitters. Trachsel allowed 5 runs, 3 earned, in 5.1 innings. Carlos Beltran continued his hot streak, going 4-5 with 3 RBI and 4 runs scored including two home runs. David Wright added one homer while Carlos Delgado added two of his own.

- Yankees 11, Tigers 6: The Yankees exploded for 5 runs in the 11th inning against the Tigers in Detroit last night. Jason Giambi got it started with a solo home run before the rest of the team got in on the action. Mariano Rivera was stellar in relief, picking up the win after pitching three innings of 1-hit ball.

Met fans had to be disappointed with their team's 5-3 loss to the Phillies Thursday afternoon, but they likely got a kick of out WFAN personalities Chris Russo and Mike Francesa in their role as commenators. The hosts of Mike and the Mad Dog won't make Gothamist forget Bob Murphy, but they didn't disgrace themselves either. Russo did seven innings of play by play, and he brought his usual energy and trademark cackling laugh to the booth. He developed some catchphrases (each inning ended with "and that's that") and pointed out the absurdity of the contest which awarded a listener if the Mets turned a triple play in a particular inning. Francesa's play by play did not match Russo's, but they worked well together and gave basic and tolerable color commentary.

The offense was supplied by Jose Reyes's speed, and RBIs by Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza. Reyes had three singles and three (!!!) stolen bases, Beltran had his first hit since returning to the line-up Tuesday, and Piazza continues to look better after some dismal times earlier this season.

To get Johnson, the Yankees shipped Javier Vazquez, Brad Halsey, Dioner Navarro, and $9 million in caaaash money. The Daily News reports that the trade will push the Yankee payroll over $200 million with pitching accounting for nearly $100 million. Is this just the rich get richer or a pitching renaissance in New York with Pedro and Randy? Of course, the Yankees still have to beat the Red Sox.

But for now, Vazquez remains with the Yankees and Johnson with the Arizona. Is there anyone that doubts that Randy Johnson will be a Yankee next season? We all know that what George wants, George gets. Except maybe those pesky championships which have eluded the Yankees since 2000.

Johnson, a 41 year old lefty, is an intimidating presence when on the pitcher's mound. Standing at 6'10" and with arms that seem to go on for miles, it often seems like he is pitching from behind a left-handed batter's head. Problematic when you've got only a spit second to determine if a pitch is a ball or strike. In 2004, Johnson was 16-14 with a 2.60 ERA in 245.2 innings pitched. He also had a whopping 290 strikeouts.

More photos of Hello Kitty Day at Shea from WireImage. And the game in question was the one where Diamondbacks pitcher Randy "Big Unit" Johnson and Mets player Todd Zeile had a staredown.

Roger Clemens has also echoed the sentiment and would like to play back in New York. These two pitchers aren't pitching for money anymore, they are pitching to win championships and if they can't do that in their respective teams they would like to be moved to a contender.

After the game, Johnson also credited his catcher Robby Hammock, "The job Robby did back there was amazing. I shook him off two or three times. That was in the eighth and ninth. It's nice when you're on the same page with your catcher." Giving credit where credit is due. Johnson entered the game with a 2.83 ERA, but with a losing record. He finished the game with a mark in baseball history. Johnson's line on the night - 9 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 13 strikeouts. All this on 117 pitches and 87 strikes.

The go ahead run came off a home run by forgotten catcher/first baseman Jason Phillips in the 13th inning. Batting .172 entering the game, he was the last person that anyone expected to hit a game winning home run, but in the 13th inning, you'll take anything you can get. The Mets went 4-3 on their road trip, which included a split four game series against the Diamondbacks and a series win against the Central Division leading Astros.

- Jason Phillips suffered a brain cramp when he began trotting to first as if he'd drawn a walk - in reality, it was only 3-2 in the count.