Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves

    The Mets' woes with the bases loaded finally ended Tuesday night when Carlos Delgado doubled off the wall in left to score two and put New York ahead 4-3 in the eighth.  Prior to Delgado's two-bagger, the Mets had just three hits in their last 42 at-bats with the bases loaded.  Then, after an intentional walk to Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley came up with a bases-loaded hit of his own, singling into left center to score two more runs.  Ramon Castro topped the five-run inning off with an RBI double down the line in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

    Oliver Perez didn't have his best stuff, but still managed to keep the team in the game through 6.1 innings, allowing only three runs despite giving up seven hits and five walks.  Luis Ayala relieved Perez with two runners on and one out in the seventh, and immediately endeared himself to Mets fans by brushing back Omar Infante with some chin music, and then retiring Infante and Brian McCann on successive pop-ups.  Aaron Heilman escaped a jam in the eighth without allowing a run, and Scot Schoenweis tossed a scoreless ninth to nail down the victory.

    Although the bullpen looked solid in the win over the Braves, the outlook became bleaker earlier in the day on Tuesday.  Billy Wagner's prognosis is not good, as his sore forearm has not improved, and swelling has increased in his elbow.  At this point there is too much inflammation for Wagner to be properly evaluated, but he definitely will not be pitching for quite awhile.  For now, it is probably best to assume the worst--that the Mets will need to move on without Wagner for the remainder of the season.  If that is the case, Jerry Manuel will need to continue to play the matchups, and use his bullpen in committee form, but if possible, acquiring a difference maker in the pen would be a viable alternative.  Trevor Hoffman's name has been floated around, but he can veto any trade, and San Diego most likely would not want to part with their potential Hall-of-Fame closer.  An interesting possibility might be Mike MacDougal of the White Sox.  He has experience closing in Kansas City, and has had success at the major league level, yet he has been toiling in Triple-A since April.  He is not necessarily a distinct upgrade over anyone currently in the Mets' bullpen, but it could be useful to see what he's got when the rosters expand on September 1, and it probably would not take much to pry him away from Chicago.

    Ryan Church played right field and went 1-3 with an RBI and a walk in a rehab game last night.  There is still no timetable for his return, but it is certainly a good sign that he is back on a baseball diamond.  He played five innings a few days ago, and is working his way back to full games.  Luis Castillo has almost completed his 20-day rehab assignment, and could rejoin the Mets as soon as tomorrow, although Damion Easley and Argenis Reyes are putting Castillo's roster spot in serious jeopardy for the time being.

Around The League:

    Jayson Werth homered in the eighth inning to put the Phillies ahead of the Nationals 5-4 last night.  Werth's drive capped Philadelphia's comeback from a 4-1 deficit to hand Washington their 11th straight loss.  The win kept Philadelphia 1.5 games behind the Mets for first in the NL East.  The Phillies get to beat up on the Nats for another two games before hosting a four-game wrap-around series with the Dodgers, who swept a four-game set from Philadelphia in Los Angeles two weekends ago.  After that tough series against Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez, the Phillies meet the Mets for a quick two-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

    Despite a myriad of doubters in the sports media, and injuries to key players Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria and Troy Percival, the Rays continue to roll.  After defeating the Angels 4-2 on Tuesday night behind yet another strong outing from James Shields, Tampa Bay has won five straight home games against baseball's best team.  The Rays now lead the Red Sox by 4.5 games in the AL East, and opened up their lead on the Yankees to 11 games.  Are the Yankees even worth mentioning in the division race anymore?

    The AL Central race remains tight as can be.  The White Sox have won four straight, and lead the Twins by one game.  Carlos Quentin surprisingly seems to be the front-runner in the wide open AL MVP race, with his .296 batting average, 97 RBI and major league-leading 35 home runs.  Chicago has hit 184 homers, most in the majors.  After their current series with Seattle, the White Sox host the Rays over the weekend, while the Twins visit the Angels.

    The NL West is still the weakest division in baseball, but it is improving.  The Diamondbacks now lead the pack at 65-60, and the much improved Dodgers are just a game back.  Arizona is 5-2 since acquiring Adam Dunn, and Los Angeles is 10-7 since landing Manny Ramirez, and both players have made an immediate impact.  Dunn is hitting .292 with a .485 on-base percentage since the trade, and Ramirez has hit .413 with 21 RBI in Dodger blue.

Baseball History Tidbit of the Week:  Not Perfect Enough

May 26, 1959:  Milwaukee Braves 1, Pittsburgh Pirates 0, 13 Innings

    On Memorial Day in 1959, Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix completed arguably the most impressive pitching performance in baseball history--but it wasn't quite good enough.  He faced the Braves, who had won the National League pennant in 1957 and '58, and were soundly in first place at 23-14.  Milwaukee's ace, Lew Burdette took the mound against Haddix, bolstered by a lineup that featured four All-Stars that year, including Johnny Logan at short, catcher Del Crandall, and future Hall-of-Famers Eddie Mathews at third and, of course, Hank Aaron in right.

    Haddix retired the side in order in the first, getting Johnny O'Brien on a grounder to short, Mathews on a liner to first, and Aaron on a fly to center.  Burdette matched Haddix in the first, but let up a lead-off single to Rocky Nelson in the second.  Nelson was quickly erased on the first of three double plays Burdette would induce in the game.  Haddix cruised through the first eight innings without allowing a baserunner, and remained perfect through nine, striking out Burdette to end the ninth.  The only problem was Burdette hadn't yet allowed a run either.

    The game progressed into extra innings, and both pitchers continued to roll.  Shortstop Dick Schofield led off the 11th with a single, but Burdette forced another ground ball double play to end the inning unscathed.  Haddix showed no signs of slowing down, mowing down the Braves in order in the 10th, 11th and 12th--but still, the Pirates had failed to drive a run across the plate against Burdette.  Schofield singled with two outs in the top of the 13th to give Pittsburgh a chance, but Burdette stranded him there.

    In the bottom of the 13th, Felix Mantilla led off and rolled a grounder to third baseman Don Hoak, who made a low throw to first that Nelson couldn't handle.  The error broke Haddix's perfect game, but he still had the no-hitter intact.  After Mathews sacrificed Mantilla to second, Haddix walked the Hammer intentionally.  Aaron finished the day 0-4 with the walk, to drop his batting average to a modest .442.  With runners on first and second and one out, first baseman Joe Adcock stepped up to the plate.  Adcock belted a pitch over the fence in right-center to end the game, and bust Haddix's no-hitter and shutout.  Oddly enough, Adcock passed Hank Aaron on the basepaths, and under further review by NL President Warren Giles, Adcock was only credited with a double, ending the game 1-0.

    Harvey Haddix had thrown 12 perfect innings, only to lose the game.  After the game, amidst a plethora of congratulatory telegrams and messages, Haddix came across one in particular, sent from a local college fraternity.  The brief message read, "Dear Harvey, Tough s**t."  According to Haddix, who at first was angered by the curt remark, after thinking about it further he realized the kids were absolutely right.

*Statistical information and gamelogs derived from www.baseball-reference.com, Yahoo! Sports, and www.mlb.com.

**Historical information derived from Baseball Almanac and related web sites