MVN - Most Valuable Network

Hands Down: Back On Track Edition

For about two and a half innings this afternoon, things looked rather bleak for the Mets. Johan Santana had given up a two-run home run to Derek Jeter in the first inning, and the offense seemed to have settled into its usual pattern against a pitcher in the midst of a bad stretch - Andy Pettitte’s first time through the batting order resulted in five strikeouts and two baserunners (one of whom was picked off). Johnny Damon led off the bottom of the third inning by lining Santana’s 42nd pitch of the afternoon to left field for a single. As Bobby Abreu stepped to the plate, the Mets had a Win Expectancy of 21.3%. Abreu lined a Santana changeup that caught too much of the plate to right field, and the Yankees were poised to break the game open - until some combination of a questionable coaching decision by Bobby Meacham, a good throw/relay by Ryan Church and Luis Castillo, and a superb block of the plate by Brian Schneider changed the course of the game. The Mets got out of the inning without giving up a run, and in the next inning they finally got to Pettitte and took the lead for good, eventually winning a game with a final score that was a perfect fit for a matchup known as the Subway Series (7-4, the 7 train stops at Shea, the 4 train stops at Yankee Stadium, come on, tell me I’m not the only one who noticed that).

Thumb: It’s usually a good sign when it’s hard to pick one player to single out here because so many are worthy of recognition. In fact, no less than six Mets had a WPA greater than .090 in this afternoon’s game. David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Moises Alou all played key roles in the fourth-inning rally that gave the Mets the lead, and Wright and Beltran both contributed to crucial insurance runs later in the game. Castillo’s little dribbler down the third-base line, as short as it was, drove in the go-ahead run in that aforementioned fourth inning. Santana contributed a solid start and went deep enough into the game that the first and only call to the bullpen was for Billy Wagner, who got the four-out save that had eluded him last year.

Pointer Finger: All four of the runs Santana allowed in his 7 2/3 innings came on home runs. He has allowed 23 runs in his first nine starts, and 14 of those have come on the 11 home runs he has allowed. Just three of those home runs have come with a runner on base.

Middle Finger: I have to flip the bird at the questionable decision to send the runners in the eighth inning with one out, an 0-2 count on Church, and Wright on deck. Sending the runners makes sense when the batter rarely strikes out and frequently hits the ball on the ground. It’s a pretty bad idea when the batter is a line-drive hitter who strikes out in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances, it’s a lousy idea when the count is as unfavorable as possible, and it’s a boneheaded idea when the batter on deck homered in the previous inning.

Ring Finger: It will be interesting to see what impact interleague play has on the NL East race, especially given that each team sees a different set of AL opponents. The Mets have the usual home-and-home set against the Yankees, as well as home series against the Rangers and Mariners and a road series against the Angels. The Braves get home series against the A’s and Mariners and face the Angels, Rangers, and Blue Jays on the road. The Phillies get the Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Angels at home and the A’s and Rangers on the road. The Marlins get a home-and-home against the Rays and will also face the Royals at home and the Mariners and A’s on the road. The question of which of these schedules are the easiest or hardest is an interesting one.

Pinky Finger: This space is typically reserved for something funny, and a certain story that made the front page of the Daily News this morning certainly qualifies. Even funnier? The SNY booth’s discussion of the story in the ninth inning - Keith Hernandez (yes, the same Keith Hernandez who spent a whole inning talking about underwear during a game earlier this week) proclaimed that the whole thing was TMI, and that’s absolutely priceless given who said it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Luis Castillo, Ryan Church, Hands Down, Brian Schneider, David Wright, Moises Alou, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, Andy Pettitte, 7 Train, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Derek Jeter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.