Lately, it seems the only team more snakebit than the Rockies are the NY Mets. No longer anyone’s favorite squadron, the NY Mets endured a collapse of historic proportions last September, blowing a 7.5 game lead to the Phillies in the last 17 days of the season. Then they went out and landed their big gun, their noisy cricket, by trading for “Don’t Mess With the Johan” Santana, figuring he would be the rock they needed to take them to the upper echelon of Major League teams and erase the bitter taste of their late season choke. Instead, the NY Mets are scuffling along at 22-24, Santana has been decent (5-3, 3.36 ERA, 58/15 K/BB ratio), but there have been rumblings about his lack of velocity and inability to win important games. Their manager Willie Randolph is on the hot seat to keep his job and has begun to gripe to the media about what he believes is a racial bias in how he is portrayed. Add all that up and you have got one dysfunktional team heading for a major overhaul in the way they play the game and who will actually be there to play it. It’s only fitting that they then come into our house and become the victims of our first walk off win of the season.
1) Big Daddy only went 2-7 in this 13 inning affair but man did he make the 2 count. With 1 out and nobody on in the 9th, down by 1, he stepped to the plate against uber-closer Billy Wagner who came into the game sporting a spotless 0.00 ERA and 9 saves. He hadn’t given up a home run either until Matty unloaded on a fastball on the outside corner. He roped a home run to dead center field that couldn’t have gotten more than 15 feet off the ground at any point of its trajectory. Then, in the 13th, the game still tied at 5, he took an 0-1 pitch from Aaron Heilman to right field to knock in Johnny Herrera with the game winning run. Talk about clutch. For a team that hasn’t had many clutch moments to brag about this year, this was a game to remember. Though the calendar said May, it sure as hell felt like September.
2) G-Rain (that’s Greg Reynolds, I’m trying to get it to catch on) pitched an uneven ballgame. A sinkerballer not known for the strikeout, Reynolds tallied 5 in 6 innings of work. He was pitching efficiently though his ball/strike ratio wasn’t exactly impressive (37/47) until the 6th inning when he served up cold, hard blasts to Carlos “The Latin Travis Hafner” Delgado (that’s not a compliment, look at their statlines the last few years) and Fernando “Omar Minaya owed me a favor” Tatis who was last seen stocking shelves at your local Kroger. He did only allow 4 hits, but he also walked 3 including the opposing pitcher Oliver Perez. It will be a process to get him going like it is with most young pitchers but he showed enough promise last night to make me believe he’s going to be special.
3) The turning point in the ball game (besides the obvious homer in the 9th by Big Daddy) was T-Rex’ pick off of Jose Reyes at second base with nobody out in the 10th inning. After leading off with a double, you can imagine the groans and gripes about Fuentes, especially after blowing the lead in his last appearance on Wednesday. But Fuentes’ move to second can be lethal in small doses, not unlike the underwater black wasps from Anaconda. Right before he picked him off, I leaned over to Eric and told him that Fuentes had a killer move to second and maybe he could catch Reyes napping. Lo and behold, 5 seconds later, Reyes is trudging back to the dugout, the fans are going nuts, and the Rockies have avoided what could have potentially been a back-breaking moment. It also showed that I know a thing or two about a thing or two.
4) Grimes sprained his right knee and will probably have to go on the disabled list, adding to the laundry list of unfortunate occurrences that have befallen the Rockies this season. Our hottest hitter now will spend his next couple of weeks from the sidelines while we try to get our season going. Fantasmatic.
5) Taylor Buchholz, come here, let me hug you. You’ve done nothing but dominate hitters with a steely stare, a yellow snapdragon Uncle Charlie curveball and a Linda Ronstadt fastball (the ol’ Blue Bayou.) Last night you came through once again and pitched 3 strong innings in relief and picked up the win you so rightfully deserved. Cheers to you, Taylor Buchholz. Keep that ERA where it is (1.27) and I think we’ll be just fine.
A turnaround game? Who knows. I’ve already used that one this year. All I know is that we’re 4-3 on this current homestand and need to start winning series if we’re ever going to reach the .500 mark, much less contend. The Franchise goes today, so let’s take 2.
P.S. Congrats to my cousin Justin Masterson who picked up his first Major League win with 6.1 inning of 1 run baseball against the Royals on Wednesday. It will be the first of many. You heard it here first.
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