Results tagged “orlandohernandez”

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.

• Yankees 8, Orioles 7: Way back on June 28th, the game between the Yankees and Orioles was suspended in the 8th inning with New York up 8-6. Last night, the two teams continued the June game with Mariano Rivera allowing one Baltimore run to make things exciting in the 9th before picking up what is officially his 10th save of the season.
• Orioles 4, Yankees 2: In the regularly scheduled game last night, the Yankees were unable to drive in the key runs to beat the Orioles. The Yankees had 5 runners at 3rd base over the course of the game, but were unable to plate any of them. Andy Pettitte had a solid game that consisted of one bad inning, which was all Baltimore needed. Pettitte allowed three runs in the 3rd inning when he allowed three hits and two walks. On the positive side, he did retire the last 12 batters he faced.
• Nationals 6, Mets 2: It's the games against the bad teams that the Mets need to win if they want to keep their minuscule lead in the NL East. Unfortunately, they couldn't muster up much offense last night against Washington. Moises Alou went 1-4 including a double and a run scored in his return to the team, but that wasn't nearly enough to bail out Jorge Sosa. Sosa allowed 5 runs over 6 innings and had the Mets in a hole from the 2nd inning. The Mets and Nationals play a day-night doubleheader Saturday with Mike Pelfrey pitching in one game and Orlando Hernandez in the other.

• Yankees 3 Blue Jays 2 (10 innings): This was a wild one. Andy Pettitte and Roy Halliday pitched brilliantly each allowing only one run before turning it over to the bullpens and that’s when things really got interesting.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Balking In The Bronx"

• Twins 6, Yankees 2: Beating Johan Santana is tough enough with an A lineup. Doing it with three reserves becomes nearly impossible. The Yankees tried and failed to beat the Cy Young Award winner by sending out Kevin Thompson, Miguel Cairo and Wil Nieves on the same day. Part of the blame goes to manager Joe Torre for choosing to rest everyone en masse, but part of the blame can rest on the Yankees' perpetual indifference to who is on their bench.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Weak Output"

The 9th inning started with Ramon Castro legging out a lead off double, something that wouldn't have happened without the ejection of staring catcher Paul Lo Duca in the 6th inning. Lo Duca argued a 0-1 strike that he thought was inside and was quickly ejected. Despite the ejection, Lo Duca remained on the field, arguing with home plate umpire Marvin Hudson while Willie Randolph attempted to shield Hudson from the fuming Lo Duca. On his way off the field, Lo Duca threw his helmet, bat, and batting gloves onto the field. Once off the field, he threw his catcher's gear onto the field as well.

The Yankees keep on rolling. They've now won 11 of 12, and Chien-Ming Wang looks as good as ever. His strikeouts are on the rise, and his starts almost always serve as a means for the Yankees to rest their weary bullpen. He's economical with his pitches, and he works quickly. When Wang starts, the Yankees win more than 60 percent of the time. They can't ask for more than what Wang's given them.

Willie Randolph shouldn't panic quite yet. His team has run into talented teams when it's not playing its best. Too bad the schedule doesn't get any easier. The Dodgers represent just the second of six playoff teams the Mets play in successive series. A road set against the Yankees plus a homestand against Minnesota, Oakland and St. Louis await. The string ends when the Mets visit Philadelphia, the club responsible for starting this New York slide.

Tom Glavine signed a $10.5 million one-year deal with the Mets, making it likely he will retire as a Met. Glavine had been debating whether to stay with the Mets or go back to Atlanta, where his family lives, and pitch for the Braves.

After a cruise-control regular season, the Mets have hit a speed bump before the playoffs start. The health of their pitching staff has downgraded from bad to worse. After they learned Pedro Martinez would miss the postseason -- and half of next season -- with a torn muscle in his calf and a torn rotator cuff, the Mets got more bad news Tuesday when Orlando Hernandez pulled his calf during a workout. The Mets now hand the game 1 ball over to 25 year-old John Maine, who has played in only 27 Major League games and has no playoff starts. Maine was 6-5 with a 3.60 ERA in his 16 starts this season. Hernandez, in comparison, is 9-2 with a 2.64 ERA in his 14 postseason starts.

With the U.S. Open behind thanks to two days of rain, plenty of tennis was played on Sunday in Flushing. Andre Agassi's final match, a loss to qualifier Benjamin Becker, drew most of the headlines, but Andy Roddick's resurgence also deserves some attention. He won his third-round match over Fernando Verdasco and will play Becker -- not Agassi -- in the fourth round. Jimmy Connors may have helped the 2003 champion, but only time, and tougher matches, will tell.

-Mets 7, Padres 3: As hard as it might be to believe, the Mets hadn't swept a three-game series at home until the beat the Padres on Thursday. And no, they hadn't swept a four-game series either. Orlando Hernandez is not to be forgotten, and the Mets lead their division by 14 games. According to baseballprospectus.com, the Mets have a 99.4 percent chance of making the playoffs. Wow.

- Yankees 5, Orioles 4: The Yankees won their fifth game in a row Friday night with a 9th inning victory over the Orioles. Randy Johnson allowed four runs over his six inning outing, but didn't strike out a single batter for the second game in a row - only the second time that has happened in his career. The Yankees jumped to an early lead on a solo home run by Johnny Damon in the 1st and added to their lead with two runs in the 2nd. After the Orioles took the lead in the 5th, the Yankees tied it in the 7th. The score remained tied until Jorge Posada hit his 14th home run of the season. Before the game, the Yankees optioned designated Bubba Crosby for assignment and added another arm to the bullpen. The win keeps the Yankees a game ahead of the Red Sox for the AL East lead.

-Mets 11, Braves 3: Orlando Hernandez pitched well, and Carlos Beltran added two home runs as the Mets continued their burying of the Atlanta Braves. The New York Times' Bill Rhoden outlined Saturday how Turner Field had been a house of horror for the most recent generation of Mets fans, but it will take a true collapse now for the Braves' stadium to maintiain that status. And, after a lukewarm 2005 season, Beltran has 30 home runs, an on-base percentage 55 points higher than last year's and a slugging percentage that is 180 points higher.

-Mets 1, Cubs 0: It took ten innings before Jose Valentin's RBI single plated the game's first, and deciding run. With the win, the Mets avoided a sweep at home to the Cubs, which would have been harmlessly embarassing. Instead, they saw John Maine pitch another dominant outing (even if the Derrek Lee-less Cubs don't send up a credible lineup) and make a case for a prolonged stay in the starting rotation. With Orlando Hernandez and Steven Trachsel struggling, Maine could be the third starter in the playoffs. Or he could be looking in if these two starts against weak lineups are flukes.

-Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4: After playing like they were going to drop their third straight game in Toronto, the Yankees' offense woke up just in time to win Saturday. Chien Ming Wang pitched a decent game, Alex Rodriguez struck out four times, and Mariano Rivera pitched an uneventful ninth inning for the save. Sometimes, Wang must wonder how good he'd be if his defense were even average behind him. Wang struck out only one; he has always relied on getting ground balls turned into outs. If his team's defense ever improved, Wang's success would be even greater.

-Reds 4, Mets 2: Maybe the Mets want to take another road trip. They're 1-3 on their current homestand after winning eight of nine on their road trip. Tonight, they looked unspectacular against Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo. Of course, no one expected the Mets to continue the blistering pace of their road trip, and their fans should be pleased with Orlando Hernandez's decent performance against the talented Reds offense. He'll be a useful fifth starter if he can pitch like this, but manager Willie Randolph should be wary of overusing him. He has a history of tiring late in the season.

-Mamaroneck's Winged Foot golf course proved challenging to the US Open field on Thursday, with only Colin Montgomerie shooting under par. Tiger Woods finished at a six-over-par 76. With everyone from from ESPN to Sports Illustrated billing this as a battle between Woods and Phil Mickelson, fans will have to wait for that duel to emerge, if it does.With such a tough course, the tournament should be wide open throughout.

-Red Sox 9 Yankees 3: For five innings it seemed like the Yankees might pull off an improbable sweep. They led Boston 3-1 heading into the sixth, but Jaret Wright suddenly lost control of his fastball and Boston jumped all over him and two subsequent relievers to cruise to a 9-3 victory. The loss leaves New York with a ½ game lead in the AL East.

Despite another strong effort from Pedro Martinez, the Mets lost 5-1 to Florida Friday. Meanwhile, the Yankees dropped a rain-delayed, 7-6 game to the lowly Royals. Derek Jeter became the 8th Yankee to reach the 2,000 hit mark with a questionable hit in the 4th inning.