Results tagged “luiscastillo”

• Yankees 6, Angels 5: After a one-year absence, the Yankees will play in October again. They clinched a berth when Oakland defeated Texas. Then the Yankees bounced back to beat the Angels after blowing a 5-0 lead. Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the third -- as did Jorge Posada -- and then hit the tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth. Chad Gaudin, a stealth candidate to be in the playoff rotation, started strong but couldn't finish the fifth inning. Alfredo Aceves and Phil Hughes combined to blow the lead, but Mariano Rivera held the one-run margin in the ninth. The Yankees didn't pop any Champagne or do anything crazy. They're saving that for a division title. The magic number for that is six. The Yankees are six up with 10 games left -- the Red Sox have 12. The teams play three times in the Bronx this weekend.
• Braves 3, Mets 1: Only 10 games left. That's right, only 10. Nelson Figueroa pitched seven innings of two-run ball but got zero help from the "bats" in the Mets' lineup. The No. 3-6 hitters went 1-for-15. Brian Schneider got two hits, doubling his total for the season. Luis Castillo put the Mets on the board first with an RBI single in the third, but Figueroa gave up both his runs in the top of the fourth. Mike Pelfrey faces Tim Hudson as the Mets close out their penultimate homestand on Wednesday night.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Back to the Playoffs"

• Mets 3 Giants 2: It’s hard to see the Mets playing any role other than spoiler in the pennant race, but they played that role well this weekend. New York took the series thanks to a Daniel Murphy single in the ninth. Murphy lined 2-2 pitch into right field and Jeff Francoeur just beat the throw home to give the Mets their first walkoff win since May 29th. K-Rod picked up the win in relief and Luis Castillo added his first home run of the season.

The Yankees' winning streak was snapped at eight, with a loss to the Oakland Athletics. However, the Mets won over the Houston Astors, thanks to seven innings from rookie Jose Niese.

• Anaheim 10 New York 6: Joba Chamberlain needs to learn how to pitch with a lead. Staked to 3-0 and 5-1 leads, Joba couldn't hold them and the Angels did what they usually do, punish Yankees' pitching. Though he admitted, "It’s frustrating. I’m letting my teammates down. It’s kind of embarrassing, too," he was also defensive. The Yankees fell to second place in the AL East standings, breaking their eight-game road winning streak.
• Cincinnati 3 New York 0: Great news Mets’ fans, help is on the way! Tonight the Mets traded for Jeff Francoeur, a player with a lower OPS than Luis Castillo. On the plus side, he has a really good arm.! As for the game, it was another night for the bats to remain silent. New York only got six balls to the outfield and never got a runner past first as they were shutout for the third time this week. Fernando Nieve was solid, allowing only three runs in six innings, but the way things are going now Mets’ pitchers had better be ready to pitch a shutout every day.

Yankees 9 Mets 8: In all the years of the Subway Series, there has never been an ending like this one. For almost four hours, the Yankees and Mets battled back and forth, trading runs and the lead over and over again. Like they have done all season, the Yankees used home runs to get on the scoreboard with Robinson Cano starting things off in the second inning to put the Yankees up 1-0. But, Joba Chamberlain could not find the plate on Friday and the Mets took advantage of his wildness to take a 2-1 lead. Mark Teixeira went deep to put the Yankees up 3-2 but the Mets jumped all over Brett Tomko in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead.

In news that isn't coming as a surprise to anyone, Alex Rodriguez, the former and probably future Yankees 3rd baseman, was named the American League Most Valuable Player today. It was the third time Rodriguez was named the MVP, winning previously in 2003 with the Rangers and in 2005 with the Yankees. This past season, A-Rod set career high marks in runs scored (143) and RBI (156). He also led baseball with 54 home runs...

For a team used to making miracles, conjuring up a disaster had an especially bitter taste. With a sloppily played 8-1 loss to Florida and the Phillies' 6-1 win against the Nationals, the Mets' season ended about a month too early. The loss capped an agonizing stretch of two and a half weeks in which the Mets played some of the worst teams in the National League and still played their worst baseball of the season.

• Red Bulls 5, Galaxy 4: Giants Stadium fills up for plenty of events, but Red Bulls games don't usually rank among those. Saturday's did, if only because David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy was in town. Those fans, who were there for Beckham and not the Galaxy, found another rare treat: goals in a Major League Soccer game. Soccer doesn't need frequent scores to be exciting, but the rare 5-4 game never hurt anyone. Not only did Beckham play, but he stayed on the artificial pitch the whole game, setting up three goals in his team's loss. The nine total goals fell two short of the league record, which came nine years ago. Jozy Altidore had two of them for the Red Bulls, who are now 10-7-3.
• Yankees 5, Tigers 2: Control can do wonders for a pitcher. Roger Clemens didn't have his best stuff, but he did well in two departments: strikeouts and walks. He K'd eight and walked none through six innings while allowing two runs, and Bobby Abreu's two-run homer off the left-field fair foul pole helped make him a winner. So did the bullpen, which in Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino and Mariano Rivera provided three innings of scoreless relief. The Yankees can take three of four in the series if they win when Chien-Ming Wang takes on Jeremy Bonderman, the man who eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs last year.
• Mets 7, Nationals 4: The good news: Luis Castillo homered and the Mets won. The bad news: Damion Easley sprained his ankle, and, with Ramon Castro moved to the disabled list, the Mets' catching corps now consists of Mike DiFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr. Their short-handed lineup -- Carlos Delgado was also out nursing an injury -- still had David Wright, who doubled home two runs to give his team the lead for good against John Lannan, a Long Beach, N.Y., native.

Luis Castillo tied things up in the seventh with a two-out single and Moises Alou put the Mets ahead with a home run on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth. So, the Mets turned to Billy Wagner, but the first three Atlanta batters reached base, leaving no margin for error. But, Wagner induced Jeff Francoeur to hit a ground ball which David Wright went home on for the first out. Then, Andruw Jones grounded into a double-play and the Mets had a victory and a 4-1/2 game lead in the division.

The Yankees and Mets head into today’s trade deadline with similar objectives, upgrading their bullpens, but the Mets have already strengthened their team.

For the Jets, coming off of a 10-6 record and some success in the playoffs, the draft is mostly about adding some depth to their team. The Jets made their biggest move Wednesday, adding Tight End, Doug Jolley, in a trade with the Oakland Raiders. Having secured a Tight End, the Jets will probably focus on bolstering their offensive line and secondary. Corey Webster, Ronald Bartell, Jr. and Adam Snyder are three names that the Jets may call this weekend. The Jets will pick twice in the second round, once in each of the third, fourth and fifth rounds, three times in the sixth round and twice in the seventh.

Heilman, who was the 18th pick in the 2001 draft for the Mets and has had limited success in the Majors, is 3-11 with a 6.50 ERA in his 19 starts prior to last night. If it weren't for an injury to Kris Benson, Heilman might not have even been with the team. Even Gothamist has been down on Heilman (as recently as yesterday), but we'll gladly eat our words if he pitches like this.