16
2011
Mets End The Madness, Hold On To Win in Extras 5-4
An article by 
Despite the best efforts of Bobby Parnell and umpire Todd Tichenor, the Mets were able to end their 5-game skid and take the opener by a final score of 5-4. With the scrapping, “Never Say Die” Mets bravado returning after being nowhere to be found in Arizona, last night’s victory, capped off by Jason Isringhausen’s 300th career save, was truly a sight for sore eyes.
The Mets were first to draw blood when Lucas Duda and Josh Thole went deep in the top of the second to give the Amazin’s an early 3-0 lead.This would mark the second straight game in which Duda went yard, the first for Thole since August 6th. Both of the young Mets sluggers would finish the night with three-hit games, all of which proved crucial to a Mets victory late last night.
The seventh and eighth inning looked to be setting the table for another back-breaker for the Amazin’s, as with David Wright standing at 2nd, Duda hit a shot up the middle that struck the umpire, ruling a dead ball, meaning Wright, who would have easily scored, had to return to second base. Jason Bay would later ground out to end the top of the seventh with the Mets still up 4-1.
Following a Logan Forsythe double, Will Venable took R.A. Dickey deep for a one out, two-run homer to pull within a run. Parnell would come on to get the next two batters out on three sliders, but would not have the same measure of success come the bottom of the 8th, failing to hold off the Padres, allowing them to tie the game off of a walk, a stolen base and an RBI single. Heath Bell and Manny Acosta came in for their respective clubs and put up goose eggs to send this one into extras.
Josh Spence came on to pitch the 10th and would proceed to walk the first two batters to face him before being pulled for Chad Qualls. If you remember, Spence struggled mightily with his command at Citi Field last week, walking three in the Mets 5-4 comeback in game two of the four game set. After a sacrifice bunt by Ruben Tejada, Scott Hairston’s RBI ground out gave the Mets a 5-4 edge.
Enter Jason Isringhausen, who managed to worked his way in and out of trouble in the bottom of the 10th to pick up his 300th career save, a feat only accomplished by 22 other players in history. Congrats to Izzy on his accomplishment, what a fine story, starting his career with the Mets, picking up his first save as a Met, now picks up his 300th save in Flushing and will possibly end his excellent career here as well.
The Mets will now look to secure a series win tonight with Jon Niese on the hill to match up against San Diego’s Coby Luebke.
Game Notes-
-R.A. Dickey once again hurled another gem but came up empty, earning yet another No-Decision. The 35-year old knuckleballer hurled 6 1/3 frames while allowing 3 runs on 7 hits while punching out 4. Dickey has pitched MUCH better than his 5-11 record as he is the consistent victim of little runs support, and/or poor bullpen performance. Despite taking another No-Decision, Dickey remained a class act, saying on his new twitter that tonight should be about Izzy, not about how he did not pick up a win:
[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/#!/RADickey43/status/103344412494544896"]
-Prepare to be biting your fingernails even more from the 7th inning on, now that Izzy got his 300th save, Terry Collins said that now Parnell will get a chance to close
-Finally, congrats to Jim Thome on his 600th career home run, becoming only the 5th player in baseball history to achieve the incredible feat. (In case you were wondering, no I do not count Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa or Alex “A-fraud” Rodriguez, their number are tainted and are therefore null and void)
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 26 | 18 | .591 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 22 | .511 | 3.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 24 | .467 | 5.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 25 | .405 | 8.0 |
| Marlins | 13 | 32 | .289 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/21/2013
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clayton, you call arod, bonds and sosa’s numbers not to count because they cheated, well, more than anything they got caught, how do you know thome never cheated??? he used to weight 160 pounds wet, all of the sudden he became a bulky powerfull home run hitter.. hmmmmmmm
ohhh, and btw, parnell closing???? ay ayayayiiiii
Your right, but as far as we know, Thome’s numbers were honest. So I will praise his accomplishment until suspicion arises.
As for Parnell…Yikes!
i guess i see your point, but remember, we didn’t know about mcgwire and prob wouldn’t have if he doesnt go to congress with the “i’m not here to talk about the past” crap he came up with
clayton, thing is, i do not see thome as a hall of famer.. he was just a power guy who really never amounted to anything great.. 5 times all star in a 22 year career??? i mean, david wright has been 5 times all star in 8 season. thome has lead the league in HR once, in k’s 2 times, has been in the top 10 in mvp votes only 3 times, highest being #4, has a career 277 BA, only twice over 300 in his career, i mean, that’s more like him not getting injure than anything else.. even 6 times over 40+ hr’s isnt that amazing.. not a hall of famer imo
I’m sorry but 600 home runs alone is enough for the Hall. Not to mention he had a .400 OBP almost every year. Nine 30 and 100 seasons, 2250 career hits. Nine 100 walk seasons. Seven 100 Run seasons. The guy is a monster and is VERY underrated. So long as he was clean, the guy is up there with the all-time greats.
No, I remember some people asking questions about the Andro spotted in his locker. Of course, most of the morality police trying to stomp down on steroid users now are the same ones who looked past it in 1998 when they were all riding the gravy train.
True, but for now I see Thome as one of the greats, until he is found with steroids. People accuse Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza of roids even though there is no evidence as far as we know, should they not be considered one of the best of their time because of it? No. If it comes out that they are on roids, then Yes, but we simply do not know, maybe never will.
Ya, Duda not-bunted that ball a mile last night.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_08_15_nynmlb_sdnmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=nym#
WHERE’S YOUR SHIFT NOW?!
Stupid MLB URLs http://t.co/AzySn8v
I really feel bad for R.A. Dickey who has had some tough luck losses and some wins taken away from him because of the bullpen. His record should probably be 11-5 instead of 5-11. I hope this isn’t the same bullpen coming back in 2012 it reminds me too much of 2007/2008. Congratulations to Izzy and Thome on their big milestones. Nice reacp.
Thanks Lisa!
And Alderson said the first order of business for him his addressing the bullpen. So I think there will be some much needed changes
Bring back Dickey and Niese and lose everyone else. I’m not sold that Gee will be this effective next season. What we need most is Johan to come back and be what he was before the surgery. I think making Beato a starter is a bad idee BTW.
I never heard anything about making Beato a starter…The plan for him is future setup man or closer.
Gee doesn’t have overpowering stuff, so hitters are figuring him out, and he is trying to adjust, which is very difficult as a rookie.
I just seen it on MetsBlog, apparently Collins said it. What do you think about it?
They talked about it last night or the night before (can’t remember which) on the broadcast too
That would be plain stupid… He is a reliever. Probably your future closer… Do they want Joba Chaimberlain in Flushing…Oh wait we already have that… His name is Bobby Parnell
Sorry this is off topic but I see we have Thome HOF debates?
Isn’t it sad what steroids have done to the game? Jim Thome hits 600 HR’s, his name has never even been whispered with the word steroids or HGH and we’re questioning if he’s a Hall of Famer?
What are you kidding me?
What are his Hall of Fame Credentials?
- 600 Homeruns for starter. 8th player in the sports HISTORY to do that. And if you want to exclude players with questions about HOW they did it then chalk him up as NUMBER 5. (Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Griffey, Thome).
- In a 21 year career, the guy has gotten on base 40% of the time. Of the 5 guys listed who are “clean” only ruth got on base more.
- 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 Hall of Fame caliber seasons
- A career slugging % of .558. 20th all time.
- 1,662 RBI puts him 27th all time. Only Bonds, ARod, Griffey, Palmeiro, Manny, Frank Thomas, Sheffield and Sosa are above him and NOT in the Hall of Fame.
What more do you want? A cynic will say “maybe he cheated.” Yes and maybe everybody is on drugs in 2011 and we won’t know about it for another 10 years. Maybe Mike Piazza was roided to the max, maybe Jose Reyes’ takes something?
This idea that EVERY time something happens in baseball we jump to “he probably took” or “how do you know he didn’t take” is sad really.
Until I hear or see evidence or a report that a player took steroids or hgh etc. I’m not saying they did. Mike Piazza is a hall of famer until the day somebody says he failed a test or something to that regard. (And even if he did, I truthfully do not care)
but to poo poo Thome’s accomplishment because barry bonds took steroids is just sad. He’s a hall of famer and we should be happy we got to witness his entire career and 600 HR without a SHRED of steroid talk.
I agree with every word, comma and period you wrote. I think it’s shamefull to see good players dragged in the mud unfairly and even when they were never once linked to steroid use. Thome deserves praise for hitting 600 homeruns fair and square, and I will applaud him even if he’s not a Met. It’s a great baseball achievement rarer than a perfect game.
Same here. His numbers are comprable to Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey…Basically the four best hitters to ever suit up. I whole heartedly believe that Jim Thome is a Hall of Famer, first-ballot, Indians cap.
The Pepsi Max commercial doesn’t have him in the cornfield with Ruth Ozzie Smith and Randy Johnson for nothing…
cayton, please stop it.. his numbers are comparable with aaron, ruth, mays and griffey???? STOP IT!!!
They are alex. He, along with them are the only players in the sports history to ever hit 600+ HR without the mention or accusation of taking steroids.
Hence… their numbers are comparable.
there’s nobody that will say Thome was as good as them. But that doesn’t mean Thome didn’t have a hell of a baseball career.
He’s a no brainer HOF’er. If he’s not, then just close up Cooperstown or start taking other people out
So, if we question guys like Biggio, Thome and Thomas because other hitters took PEDs, can we question Maddux, Glavine, Pedro, Big Unit etc because pitchers like Brown and Clemens were caught taking PEDs?
This is just another reason why I can’t stand the PED discussion.