Just before the start of the bottom of the 11th, SNY played a video of the 1969 Mets singing "You Gotta Have Heart". Tonight, the Mets showed that they had plenty of heart as they come from behind twice to beat the Marlins 7-6 in an extra-innings thriller!
The night started out very promising for Oliver Perez who cruised through the first couple of innings, but as usually is the case with the bewildering lefty, Perez began to unravel. He started walking hitters and hanging breaking balls over the fat part of the plate. Oliver Perez gave up three homeruns including two of them to Cody Ross, the second one was a three run bomb that put the Marlins in the lead 5-4.
The Mets had jumped to an early lead on the strength of a pair of homeruns by Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes. For Reyes it was his seventh and third in this series. He is officially on fire!
The bullpen took over and kept the Marlins at bay. Scott Schoeneweis continues his solid season with another hitless inning lowering his ERA to 1.35. Aaron Heilman came into the eight inning and struck out the side in impressive fashion, then followed it up with a perfect ninth. It was his second straight solid appearance. Maybe he has turned a corner?
Bottom of the 8th… The Mets tried to mount a comeback when David Wright hit a leadoff single, but Carlos Beltran hit a hard shot that was snared by the third baseman, then former Met prospect Matt Lindstrom, came in and blew Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis away with pure heat to end the threat. It was puzzling that Willie didn’t pinch hit against the right handed fire-baller with lefties Delgado, Schneider and Chavez all on the bench.
Endy Chavez led off in the bottom of the ninth and launched a rocket over the leftfield wall to tie the game at 5-5. Nick Evans grounded out and was followed by Carlos Delgado who came out to pinch hit for Heilman and drew a one out walk. Reyes popped out, leaving it up to Luis Castillo who drew another walk… John Maine came in to pinch run for Carlos Delgado who was on second… but David Wright would end the inning with a flyball to left for the final out. (Wright is batting .197 with runners in scoring position and two outs.)
Billy Wagner started the 10th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out Luis Gonzalez and Jacques Jones in the process. Mets pitchers struck out 14 batters in the game!
Bottom of the 10th… Beltran pops up on the first pitch and slams his bat down in disgust which really impressed Keith Hernandez. Easley follows with a fly to center and Tatis is caught looking at strike three.
In the 11th inning, Duaner Sanchez pitched a perfect inning and then in the bottom of the inning he lands on his ass after getting knocked down while attempting to lay down a bunt after Endy Chavez singled. With two outs the Marlins walked Jose Reyes to put runners on first and second for Luis Castillo who had homered earlier in the game, but despite putting a charge into it, he lined out hard to center. On to the 12th…
Duaner was absolutely filthy, but Alfredo Almezega got lucky and launched his first homerun of the season to put the Marlins up 6-5. Ouch!
Bottom of the 12th… David Wright walks on four pitches to lead off the inning, every Met is standing and hanging on the rail in the dugout… Carlos Beltran slaps a single up the middle on a hit and run, runners on first and third. The tying run is only 90 feet away with Damion Easley at the plate… He strikes out swinging at a slider off the plate. Fernando Tatis is up… He lines one down into the left field corner for a two run double scoring Wright and Beltran, and the Mets win it!
The super subs do it again, this time in dramatic fashion, and believe it or not… the Mets got themselves a two game winning streak!
What a game… Game Ball to Fernando Tatis!
