Sports Updates

Fernando Tatis singles in the first inning, driving in one of his two runs in the game. Tatis was named Player of the Game for his 2-3 performance while driving in two Mets runs.

 Mets Win 5-3 Against First Place Florida Marlins at Shea

 

  On Tuesday, May 27, the New York Mets, struggling in the National League East and trailing first place Florida by 6–1/2 games, put Johan Santana (5-3, 3.36) against Marlins starter Andrew Miller (4-3, 5.33). The Mets players needed to do something to turn things around for their struggling franchise (23-26) and they did. The Mets struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs on three hits.

The Marlins came right back in the top of the second, scoring one run on three singles. An RBI fielder’s choice ground out by center fielder Cody Ross drove in Mike Jacobs with the lone run of the inning.

 In the third, the Marlins saw Santana get leadoff batter Hanley Ramirez out on a fly to center, a walk to Jeremy Hermida on four pitches and a single to right by third baseman Jorge Cantu.
Mike Jacobs followed by striking out swinging. Dan Uggla, (.315. 16 HR and 38 RBIs), the leading slugger for the Marlins, came up with two on and two out and grounded out to Jose Reyes at shortstop to end the inning with no runs scored.

  In the top of the fifth, the Marlins began to hit Santana hard, smashing two long drives to left centerfield. The first went for a ground rule double by right fielder Jeremy Hermida and the second, off the bat of Marlins’ hard-hitting third baseman Jorge Cantu, was caught by Carlos Beltran, who made an over-the-shoulder catch deep in left center in front of the Wise Snacks sign. Jacobs followed with a walk. Uggla struck out swinging to end the inning. It was Santana’s fifth strikeout of the game.

   David Wright led off the Mets’ fifth with a ground rule double down the third base line. Beltran was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second for Damion Easley, who was playing first base in place of slumping Carlos Delgado. Easley hit a fly ball deep to right field, moving Wright over to third with two out. With Fernando Tatis playing right field for injured Ryan Church. Tatis singled to left field, driving in Wright and giving the Mets a 4-1 lead. That was all for Marlins starter Andrew Miller. Miller pitched 4-2/3 innings, giving up four runs and six hits, four walks and two strikeouts. He was replaced by Logan Kensing. (3-0). With Ramon Castro at bat, the Mets pulled off a double steal, putting runners on second and third with two out. Castro walked to load the bases.

Nick Evans struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning with the Mets still leading 4-1.
Cody Ross hit a two-out home run over the centerfield wall on a 0-1 pitch, moving the Marlins a run closer to the Mets. Santana got the next batter to ground out to shortstop Reyes, ending the Marlins’ sixth. The Mets maintained the lead, 4-2.

 The Marlins’ seventh started with a single to right by Henley Ramirez. A diving stop by second baseman Luis Castillo on a grounder up the middle by Reyes allowed the run to score and the runner to reach base. Uggla struck out to end the Marlins’ seventh inning with the Mets holding on to a 4-3 lead.

 The Mets came alive following the seventh inning stretch. Wright led off the inning by popping up to second baseman Dan Uggla. Beltran struck out. Damion Easley singled to right. Tatis was hit by a pitch. Castro hit a line drive single to right, driving in Easley and moving Tatis to third base. Evans struck out swinging on a high, hard 93 mph fastball to end the inning. The Mets extended their lead to 5-3 to start the Marlins’ eighth.

Duaner Sanchez took over the pitching for the Mets in the top of the eighth and allowed a hit to Luis Gonzalez to start the inning. Matt Treanor hit a grounder to short that almost fooled Reyes, who threw to first to get the batter with Gonzalez moving to second. Cody Ross grounded out to Wright at third with Gonzalez holding second. Marlins’ manager Fredi Gonzalez sent up Wes Helms to bat for the pitcher. Sanchez got two quick strikes before striking out Helms swinging to end the inning with the Mets still leading, 5-3.

Endy Chavez led off the Mets’ eighth with a single to center. Reyes bunted a sacrifice and reached first on an error by the pitcher, who miffed the ball. Reliever Matt Lindstrom wild pitched the runners to second and third with no one out. Castillo grounded out with the infield drawn in and no runs scoring. Wright hit a bullet line drive to the shortstop, who strolled to third to make an unassisted double play.

 Mets closer Billy Wagner came in to relieve in the ninth with the hopes of closing out the Marlins and save the victory for Santana (6-3). The loser for the Marlins was starter Andrew Miller (4-4).

  Wagner got Henley Ramirez to strike out swinging. Jeremy Hermida flied out to right. Cantu struck out to end the game with the score still Mets 5, Marlins 3.

  In a post-game interview, manager Willie Randolph told the press that he was satisfied with the performance of his backup players, who did well in last night’s win. Of Santana’s performance. Randolph said, “He is competitive, he battles you. He made some good pitches on Uggla. He seemed to execute just at the right time.” Mets starter and winner Santana said, “I pitched with a purpose. Every pitch was designed to get the batters out. I was able to make the right pitch at the right time.”

  Fernando Tatis was named Player of the Game for his 2-3 night that included two RBIs in the game. Tatis also stole his first base of the season, also his first since Apr. 22, 2003 against the Arizona Diamond Backs while he was with the then Montreal Expos.

  Some 47,093 people went through the turnstiles to watch a game that took two hours and 50 minutes to play.

  The Mets’ victory moved them to 5-1/2 games behind first place Florida who they were scheduled to play again on Wednesday evening. The Los Angeles Dodgers come into Shea for a four-game series beginning Thursday, May 29 with games scheduled for Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday night.

Mets Notes:
Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 12 games with his double in the first inning.
Billy Wagner earned his 368th save, moving him past Jeff Reardon and into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time save list.
Johan Santana at bat hit his forth double of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning, The four doubles are the most by a Met since Rick Reed hit five doubles during the 1997 season. Ron Darling, now a Mets television announcer, shares the Met record of five doubles by a pitcher in a season with Reed. He accomplished that feat in 1987.
Randolph met with General Manager Omar Minaya and the Mets owners earlier in the afternoon. He left in no immediate jeopardy of losing his job—for now.