@Mets 5, D-backs 4 (13): The Mets rallied to tie in the 9th, and after falling behind, they won it with 2 hits off Josh Collmenter, who’s held same-handers to a .216 average in his career, and was 4-0 in extra innings this year. But before Andrew Brown’s first game-winner (the rare 2-out walk-off-from-behind in extra time), the inning turned on two Arizona decisions — one from the skipper, and one in the heat of play.
With a 1-run lead after Cody Ross homered, Collmenter surrendered a 1-out double to Josh Satin on a 2-2 pitch. Odd choice #1: Kirk Gibson ordered an intentional pass to John Buck, putting on base as the winning run a man batting .205 on the year and far colder than that since April. The walk forced a pitcher to bat next, yes — but it also insured that lefty Omar Quintanilla would come up (barring a DP). So Matt Harvey pinch-hit, and fouled off his first bunt attempt, then dropped a so-so sac try straight towards the pitcher. And here came questionable choice #2: Paul Goldschmidt cut in front of Collmenter and easily could have nailed the lead runner, but instead took the safe out at 1st base. (Keith Hernandez, one of the greatest ever at throwing to the bases, limited his immediate response to a frowning “ohhhh!“) Yes, “The Book” says take no risks in that situation; if your foe hands you the 2nd out, take it right to the bank. Yet the play at 3rd was not difficult; the third baseman had retreated in plenty of time, and Goldy gloved it facing towards 3rd with the runner still 40 feet from the bag. Making that play would have kept the tying run on 2nd, winner on 1st, with 2 outs; they might even have turned two on that bunt.
The Mets trailed 3-0 after six, but tallied in each of the next three innings. The first run was aided by another chance that Goldschmidt minimized: Fielding a potential DP grounder with no outs in the 7th, he couldn’t get a quick handle for the peg to 2nd, and took the safe out instead. Given subsequent events, the non-DP cost a run.
- It would have been another stomach-punch home loss for the Mets. Through 12 innings, they left 18 men on base, 12 in scoring position — 8 of those on 3rd base, including each frame from the 6th through 11th.
- Baserunning doinks just don’t get any worse than this Johnny Buck back-breaker: Tied in the 9th, Satin on 2nd, Buck on 1st with 2 outs. A pitch bounced away to the right of Montero, not behind him. Satin took 3rd easily, but Buck — whose advancement meant nothing — was thrown out at 2nd. Surely Buck’s hitting woes clouded his mind. His night included 3 strikeouts (stranding bags full and 2 out, and a man on 2nd with no outs), and a foulout with a man on 3rd. He’s 3 for his last 37, with 16 Ks.
Satin, the anti-Met, is now 8-23 on 2 strikes, with 5 doubles. The rest of the team’s hitting .154 with 2 strikes; NL average is .173. Satin is 28, but had started just 4 games in the bigs before this year. His advancement’s been slowed by a relative lack of power for a corner player; he averaged 15 HRs per 650 PAs in the minors. But he is a boon to a Mets team scraping along near the NL floor with a .298 OBP. Satin slashed a consistent .303/.398/.465 in the minors, and you need only watch a few at-bats to see why: He knows the strike zone, he reads breaking balls, and he doesn’t try to crush everything.
His tying hit in the 9th showed off his compact, line-drive swing, but almost every AB was a Satin showcase: (1) Two on/two out, full count, walk. (2) None one/two out, full-count groundout. Now he’s seen 15 pitches in 2 ABs against Wade Miley, so the next time up … (3) Whacks the first pitch deep to left for a double. (4) Two on/one out, Mets down by 2, Satin looked at Heath Bell’s first pitch that bent over late for a strike — a good take, ’cause unless you’re sitting on “inside breaker,” all you’ll do with that pitch is pop it up or roll it over. So Bell threw it again, this time as a chase-tempter; but unlike 99% of all Mets (we’re thinking of you, Ike Davis, though not very often), Satin wouldn’t bite. Then a fastball sank low, putting Josh back in the driver’s seat; and although he missed his pitch, ABs like that in pressure spots show his faith in his approach. Next came the big tying hit, and finally, the double that started the winning rally. Those last hits came against righties; Satin’s been playing regularly of late because of a run of southpaw starters, but his OBP is .500+ both ways.
- Why I hated the 1st-and-3rd sac bunt that Shaun Marcum laid down with no outs in the 2nd, Mets trailing 3-zip: (1) Giving away outs is bad when you’re down by 3 and you only average 3.4 at home. (2) The Mets have been so bad at cashing in no-out RISP that I want 3 cracks at that man on 3rd. I want to get on the board, not shift any part of that potential run value towards getting a man to 2nd with 1 out. (3) Marcum hits OK for a pitcher, whiffing in 1/3 of ABs, with enough in the way of walks and power to show that he’s not just faking it. Miley is not a high-strikeout pitcher. If Marcum puts it in play, there’s a good chance a run scores — and I don’t even care if he hits a DP.
- Chaz Roe made his MLB debut with 5 outs in extras. Late of the independent Laredo Lemurs (though he throws overhand), Roe was a mostly unsuccessful starter during his organized career. Switched to relief with the Lemurs, he was outstanding, with a 69/7 K-to-walk ratio in 55 IP. But he didn’t face many past or future big-leaguers while with the Lemurs. (Lemur, lemur, lemur. When my kids outgrew their stuffed animals — around age 14 — the cat commandeered some of them. Her favorite, by far, is the lemur. Oh, how she loves that lemur!)
- The Mets are 7-6 in walk-offs, tied with the Giants for the most sudden-death affairs.
- 11 walks was the most received by the Mets since 2008.
- Defensive wiz Gerardo Parra was out of the lineup Tuesday after this brilliant near-catch ended in a warning-track face-plant.
13-inning games are often memorable. Here’s one from the same teams in 2006, two righty aces still at their peak. It was maybe the last sighting of Sublime Pedro: 8 scoreless innings, 8 Ks, no walks. After a 2005 season much better than we had expected, Pedro was topping that in the first 2 months of ’06 — a 2.50 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 5.2 SO/BB. But he got hurt in June, and was never the same again. Brandon Webb went 7 that day, coming off 2 straight CG shutouts; it was not yet his most famous shutout streak, but he was en route to the Cy Young Award. Both pitchers’ careers ended in 2009, each with a final game of 4 IP, 6 hits, 2 HRs, 2 Ks and a HBP. I miss them both.
__________
@Marlins 4, Padres 0: Miami’s won 6 of 7, and 10 of 14 … none against the Mets. They’ve allowed just 35 runs in those 14 games.
- Jose Fernandez (8 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 Ks) has a 2.10 ERA in his last 11 starts, 0.98 WHIP, 68.2 IP, 71 Ks. Turns 21 at month’s end.
__________
@Nationals 10, Brewers 5: Jordan Zimmermann wasn’t on top of his mound game (4 runs in 6 IP), but he went 3 for 3 with a double, one of 6 extra-base hits in Yovani Gallardo‘s 3+ IP. That all lifted J.Z. to 12-3, tying last year’s career high in wins; more importantly, Washington’s 14-3 in his starts. It’s Zimmermann’s first 3-hit game, and the sixth by a pitcher this year, more than the average of the last 10 years. There were none last season. The last 4-hit game by a hurler was 2008, Carlos Zambrano.
- Some peach-fuzz kid homered on the second pitch in his return from injury.
__________
@Reds 8, Giants 1 (6, rain): I laid off for a week, but I can’t keep from punning when Mike Kickham keeps pitching this badly. Forget “…when he’s down“; here comes “…to the curb.”
- “S.F. phone home.” The Giants are 1-6 on this road trip, with 3 more in Cincy. They’re 15-28 in away games.
__________
Yankees 10, @Twins 4: Robinson Cano led New York out of the hole, Zoilo Almonte put them in front, and their 4-run 9th topped their last 4 game totals. It added up to the end of a 5-game slide, and snapped their 47-game streak in single digits, their 2nd-longest of the last 21 years. They went 53 games last year, roughly the same dates.
- Cano’s 4th straight multi-hit game: 4-4-3-3, 2 HRs and a double.
__________
@Blue Jays 8, Tigers 3: I’m very happy for R.A. Dickey and Toronto’s Canada Day celebration. I just hope Detroit left a second-half walk-up call. They’ve played .500 ball since April ended.
