The Game

Entering Friday, the Mets had an opportunity to gain some major ground in the NL East division. The Mets were playing two against the cross-town rival New York Highlanders, while the Philadelphia Phillies and the Florida Marlins were merely playing one game each! In the day’s first game, their task was 31 year old journeyman Dan Giese.

Giese gave the Yankees what can be expected. He gave up a ton of runs in 4+ innings. Giese really is not a starting pitcher, he’s probably better suited for long relief. With the score tied at one in the third inning, Carlos Beltran took Giese yard for a two run jack. With the Mets up 3-1, Mike Pelfrey took the hill in the bottom of the third.

Pelfrey didn’t have a good inning by any means, but he avoided what could potentially have been a disastrous frame. Having given up three runs already on two singles and a fielder’s choice, Pelf got rookie Justin Christian staring at a called strike three to end the inning. Pelfrey avoided a ton of messes in his outing, and made the Yankees strand 23 baserunners. The victory would boost big Pelf to 5-6 on the season.

This Yankees lead would only last until the top of the 5th, when Giese started to unravel. After loading up the bases, Giese got the hook and Edwar Ramirez came on for some early relief. Ramirez would let all of Giese’s runs score, after a fielder’s choice and a double off the bat of Carlos Delgado.

The Yankees never recovered from this deficit, as young/crappy pitcher Ross Ohlendorf allowed a mammoth grand slam to Carlos, “The 16 million dollar waste of time,” Delgado. The Mets would wind up blowing out the Highlanders 15-6. Delgado’s previously mentioned grand slam wouldn’t be his only home run of the game, as he’d launch a three run job in the top of the 8th inning off of formerly effective pitcher LaTroy Hawkins.

One might note my lack of enthusiasm at Delgado’s game. This is because I despise Carlos Delgado, and the same stupid cycle he puts Mets fans on. Once or twice a month he’ll have some mammoth game where he’ll hit a 450 foot home run, and all the sudden, “the beast is out of the cage!” The fact of the matter is, Delgado’s an aging player with quickly fading skills. He no longer can get by as an effective hitter by only hitting home runs, and refuses to adjust his approach at the plate to accommodate his decline over the last 1 1/2 years. He’s vulnerable to every pitch that isn’t right over the middle of the plate, and I won’t let one game fool me into thinking its 2003 all over again. Hopefully he hits at a decent rate until the trading deadline so that we can sell him for a c-rate prospect and give Mike Carp or Val Pascucci the first base job.

The Mets had already taken one of the two games of the doubleheader, and were heading to Shea Stadium to take on Sidney Ponson, who was kind enough to take a break from punching judges, and the rest of the Yankees crew.

The Haiku

Delgado highlights
Performance to remember
Mets say goodbye right

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Milo Taibi
Haiku by Howard Megdal