When the bullpen blew the game after Santana's eight stellar innings on Tuesday, fans and media types alike griped that the ace should have finished the game. Saturday night's 14-inning marathon necessitated a long outing from Santana, and he answered the call, this time by pitching a complete game six-hitter, to put the exclamation point on the Mets' 9-1 win in the rubber game of the series against St. Louis. The lone blemish on his masterful performance was Albert Pujols' seventh inning solo home run, but as Aaron Heilman learned early Sunday morning, you sometimes just tip your cap when that man hits one out.
Saturday's game was a wild one in which the Mets erased deficits of four and three, and pounded out 16 hits and four home runs in the process. Carlos Delgado continued his unbelievable resurgence, homering twice and driving in three, and Fernando Tatis continued his bid for Comeback Player of the Year, with his game-tying homer in the ninth inning. The battle of the bullpens ensued, continuing toe for toe into the 14th inning, before Pujols put the Cardinals in front with a two-run home run off Heilman, who was in his third inning of work. The loss itself wasn't as hard to swallow as it could have been because of the two big comebacks, but New York certainly had plenty of chances. In all they left 16 runners on base and only had one hit in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position. The bullpen pitched a total of nine innings in relief of Brandon Knight, who lasted just five innings in his first start as a Met.
Santana came through with just what the doctor ordered on Sunday, throwing a season-high 118 pitches to notch the Mets' first complete game since 2006. New York racked up 17 hits and belted three more homers, including another from Tatis, a two-run shot from Ramon Castro and a solo bomb from David Wright. Santana chimed in with two hits of his own, and his first RBI as a Met, and the team cruised to the victory to conclude a 4-2 homestand against two contending teams in the Phillies and Cardinals. The bullpen got a much-needed break, so they'll be fresh when the Mets open a three-game series in Florida Monday night against the Marlins. John Maine and Ricky Nolasco are the scheduled starters.
Game of the Week
The best game of this past week was the series opener between the Red Sox and Yankees at Fenway Park. This duel between Joba Chamberlain and Josh Beckett was one of the best pitched games of the season. It was a statement game for Chamberlain, who scattered three hits and struck out nine over seven shutout innings. The only run of the game was scored in the third inning, when Jason Giambi grounded an infield single to the left side of second base, scoring Bobby Abreu from third. The only reason shortstop Jed Lowrie couldn't come up with the easy grounder was that the Red Sox infield was playing the overexaggerated shift on the pull-happy Giambi. Beckett pitched an excellent game of his own, allowing just the one run over seven innings. The Red Sox mounted a rally off Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth, but Joe Girardi brought Mariano Rivera in with one out to record a five-out save. He struck out Jacoby Elsbury and got Dustin Pedroia on a come-backer to hold the 1-0 lead. Mo was at his best in the ninth, striking out Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew to close out the game.
The rivalry between Chamberlain and Kevin Youkilis continued when Chamberlain threw yet another pitch in the direction of Youk's head on a 2-0 count in the seventh inning. The pitch actually hit his bat and was fouled off for the first strike. Chamberlain followed with two straight sliders down and away in the zone, and Youkilis swung and missed at both.
The best pitching matchup of next week will be on Tuesday between Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs and Ben Sheets of the Brewers. Zambrano is 11-4 with a 2.96 ERA and Sheets is 10-3 with a 2.87 ERA, and these two aces will help sort out the power balance in the NL Central. The Cubs' offense has been struggling since the All-Star break, and Milwaukee has climbed to within one game of Chicago for first place.
*Statistical information derived from www.baseballreference.com.
**Gamelogs derived from www.mlb.com.
Keywords: Aaron Heilman, Albert Pujols, Ben Sheets, Bobby Abreu, Boston Red Sox, Brandon Knight, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs, David Wright, Dustin Pedroia, Fernando Tatis, Florida Marlins, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Elsbury, Jason Giambi, Jed Lowrie, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi, Johan Santana, John Maine, Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis, Kyle Farnsworth, Mariano Rivera, Mike Lowell, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Ramon Castro, Ricky Nolasco, St. Louis Cardinals
