The Game

The New York Mets marked the halfway point of the 2008 season with a 3-1 win over the cross town rival Yankees on Sunday at Shea Stadium. The win gave the Mets a 4-2 season series win over the Yanks and puts them at 40-41 on the heels of a crucial eight game road trip that will take them to St. Louis and Philadelphia.

Having lost two straight following Friday afternoon’s shellacking of the Bronx Bombers, the Amazins looked to garner a split of the four game series Sunday afternoon by handing the ball to the enigmatic Oliver Perez. While Perez is a human roller coaster, he has a history of pitching well on the big stage against the Yanks. Well Sunday was no exception as Perez turned in arguably his best performance of the year. He would go seven solid innings, while giving up three hits, one run, and ZERO walks. Perez consistently got ahead of hitters all day while controlling all of his pitches. Meanwhile, the Met offense, which has been just as frustrating as Perez’s starts, was able to scratch out three runs (although they should have put up much more). After leaving two runners on in the first inning, the Mets were able to score on a bases loaded infield single by Luis Castillo in the bottom of the second off Yankee starter Darrell Rasner. David Wright followed with a ground out to end the inning. So, although they were able to scratch out one run, the Mets stranded five runners on in the first two innings. They were, however, able to stretch their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third thanks to Carlos Delgado’s 14th home run of the year off the scoreboard in right center field.

The score remained 2-0 into the sixth when David Robertson came on to make his major league debut by replacing Rasner. After back to back singles by Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo with one out, both runners advanced one base on a Robertson wild pitch. David Wright then hit a fly ball to shallow right field, but with Reyes on third base it was deep enough to score him and give the Mets a 3-0 lead. That lead was trimmed to 3-1 in the top of the seventh as Wilson Betemit took Ollie Perez deep, way deep, to left center field.

After Perez got what amounted to four outs to finish the seventh (unfortunately catching the ball is a prerequisite to playing first base Mr. Delgado), Pedro Feliciano came on to pitch a perfect eighth. So, the score was 3-1 as Billy Wagner entered to face the heart of the Yankee order. Derek Jeter shockingly lead off with a single up the middle. Alex Rodriguez then came within a few feet of tying the game by launching a fly ball to deep left that was hauled in at the edge of the warning track for out number one. Wagner then induced a ground out from Jorge Posada and struck out Wilson Betemit looking to put it in the books. It was a much needed win for the Mets, but they have bigger fish to fry starting Monday night in St. Louis. John Maine will be opposed by Kyle Lohse for the NL Wild Card leading Cardinals.

The Haiku

The old Perez shows
Or is it new Perez? Or
Just new old Perez?

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Chuck Buono
Haiku by Howard Megdal