Sunday, July 27, 2008

Umpires Blow Game for Mets

And so it wasn’t meant to be. On a night where we saw the Mets roll out yet another spare part from the junk yard, it was Albert Poo Holes’ picture perfect swing, 5 hours after the first pitch, that ultimately did us in.

I’m not going to get too crazy over this one; after all, I was already putting it in the loss column when Brandon Knight was announced as the emergency starter, replacing Pedro Martinez who left the team to be with his family in the DR after the passing of his father.

But, we could have, actually, should have won this game. Sure we left a hundred men on base and were like 1-50 with RISP, but if it weren’t for two blown calls by the umpires in extra innings, we definitely would have come up with another dramatic, come from behind victory, and that is what annoys me.

In the bottom of the 10th, after Reyes led of with another hit, Chavez laid down a bunt that the pitcher hurled to second, gunning out Reyes. Now, I admit, Chavez needs to do a better job there, but if the ump opened his eyes, he would have seen that the ball was actually bobbled and out of the glove when Reyes slid in. So instead of having 1st and 2nd with no outs and D. Wright at the plate, we had one out and a man on first. Big difference. Especially when Wright singled to left, that would have scored Reyes from second.

Then, in the 12th, the fist base umpire inexplicably called Chavez out on an infield hit, when it was clear he was safe. This prompted Manuel to come out and argue the call. That call was even worse than the previous. Of course, what happens next? Jiminez, the Cardinals pitcher, walked the next 3 guys, but survived when he got Super Hero Tatis to ground back to him to end the threat. Do the math, infield single, 3 straight walks, and the game is over.

So while I can live with this loss, it’s still a tough pill to swallow knowing we should have won. We need a strong outing from Johann today, especially since the bull pen was overextended last night in 14 innings. A win today, and we’ll take another series.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Couldn't agree more. 1-16 with RISP is tough to win with but I'm amazed that they were still able to score 8 runs with that kind of hitting.