You ever talk to a less cultured sports fan and have him or her tell you that baseball is boring? "Durr....NFL...durrr," is generally the response you get from the slack-jawed idiot staring back at you. Well hopefully no one was trying to bring a new fan into the light yesterday afternoon when the potentially spectacular matchup between Johan Santana and Stephen Strasburg turned into a snooze fest. I became so bored listening to the game at work I found myself caring about the New Orleans Saints coaching situation! The game featured a combined 14 walks and 25 strikeouts and saw the Nationals score three of their four runs without ever putting the ball in play. Johan got the ball rolling (literally) by throwing a wild pitch to score the first run. Bases loaded walks in the 7th and 9th innings surrounded a RBI ground out in the 8th wrapping up a day that saw exactly zero run-scoring hits.
Player of the game: I am tempted to give it to Johan Santana despite allowing 13 base runners in 5 innings, but I will instead give the nod to Jon Rauch who seemingly miraculously managed to face two batters without walking either of him. Yes, that does make him the only pitcher of the six (!) who got in the game for the Mets to not issue at least one base on balls.
Key moment: The Mets got runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the first inning only to leave them stranded. It was the last time a Mets base runner got to chat with Timmy Teufel at the third base bag.
Silver lining: It was the second start for Johan that featured him leaving the game without grabbing his left shoulder in agony, likely causing sports books across the globe to lose millions.
Inevitable downside: Despite showing signs of early season improvement behind the plate, Josh Thole waved at a Johan Santana wild pitch and was later charged with a passed ball leading to speculation that his defensive deficiencies are not yet a thing of the past.
Next up: The Mets have an off day on Thursday before heading to Philly Friday night to likely get swept by the Phils.
No comments:
Post a Comment