You win some and you lose some, and then there’s games like last night.
When Hanley Ramirez launched that grand slam to put the Marlins ahead 4-3, I swear I had a vision of it seconds before it played out on my TV screen. It just seems that whenever the opposition loads the bases against us, all too frequently the worst happens. And so it did. Obviously the Dan Uggla two-run shot that followed two batters later, seemed like the back-breaker and put the Fish up 6-3.
But the Mets battled…. It’s one of the things I love most about the team this season…
Let me sink my teeth into the crux of this post…
I thought Manuel’s decision to bring in closer Frankie Rodriguez to pitch the eighth inning was the right call and I don’t understand why some are calling him out for it?
It’s not like the Mets had a setup man they could have called in anyway… It’s freaking July and we still don’t even know who our setup man even is…
Roles, schmoles, K-Rod is our stopper in the bullpen and we absolutely needed him… We had to make sure that the Fish were held at bay…
PLUS… With the Marlins up by two runs already… There was no guarantee that there would even be a bottom of the ninth…
So why not go with your best bullpen option and hope you could somehow tie the game or take the lead in your final turn at-bat?
Guess what? It worked…
Rodriguez retired the side in order, and in the top of the ninth Chris Carter pinch hit for K-Rod, belted a double, and the Mets went on to tie the game, sending it into the bottom of the ninth.
Perfect!
What would happen after that however, was anything but perfect…
Pedro Feliciano blew the game after coming in to face a tough contingent of right-handed bats, game over.
Should Manuel, have walked Dan Uggla? Yeah probably… But whatever… that’s a discussion for another post.
The bottom line is that pitching K-Rod in the eighth inning was the right call.
