Angel Pagan CF
Alex Cora 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Omir Santos C
Angel Berroa SS
Johan Santana (11-8, 3.12 ERA) P
Top 1: Santana looks pretty good in the first. He retired the side in order. Robinson Cancel has been brought up from Triple-A to be a backup catcher to Santos. Brian Schneider is not on the disabled list, but he is hurt. To make room for Cancel, Elmer Dessens has been designated for assignment. Cancel performed pretty well the last time he was called up.
Bottom 1: Pagan grounds out. Cora singles. Cora is in for Luis Castillo who went to be with his wife as she gives birth to their new baby. Congratulations to the Castillos on their soon-to-be new arrival. Cora thrown out at second. Wright flies out. He hit it well but not hard enough.
Top 2: Santana strikes out two and again retires the side in order. He’s looking really sharp right now. It’s time for the offense to kick it in gear.
More after the jump.
Bottom 2: Murphy hits a leadoff double. He just extended his hitting streak to six straight games, all batting in the cleanup spot. Francoeur hits a single to right field, advancing Murphy to third. Sullivan hits a single, scoring Murphy. Francoeur to second. The offense just officially kicked it into gear. 1-0 Mets. Santos gets the Mets’ fourth straight hit, scoring Francoeur. Sullivan to second. 2-0 Mets. Berroa hits a double but advances to third on a misplayed ball in right center field, scoring Sullivan and Santos. 4-0 Mets. There are still zero outs. Santana grounds out for the first out. Pagan hits another single, scoring Berroa. 5-0 Mets.
The Mets have just chased Rockies’ starter Jason Hammel out of the game. Prior to this game, he had an ERA under 2 when pitching away from Coors Field. Maybe I need to say “It’s time for the offense to kick it into gear” in every game if these are going to be the results.
Josh Fogg relieves Hammel. Cora grounds out to first, advancing Pagan to second. Wright flies out again. The inning is finally over, mercifully so for the Rockies. Let’s hope the Mets continue to keep their offense going and not give Colorado a chance to chip away.
Top 3: With two out, Fogg hits a single to left. Santana gets the third out on a strikeout, his third of the game. He’s cruising with a nice cushion.
The New York Times is reporting that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are on a list of players who were doping in 2003. Is that really news? Ramirez was already suspended for 50 games this season. Do you care?
Bottom 3: Cora flies out. Francoeur fouls out. Sullivan strikes out. What was I saying about the offense? Still plenty of game, though.
Top 4: With one out, Todd Helton hits a single. Brad Hawpe flies out. Troy Tulowitzki hits a double that Sullivan cuts off nicely and prevents a run from scoring. Garrett Atkins walks, loading the bases. This is potential trouble. Santana has to buckle down now. Santana gets out of the inning by striking out Ian Stewart, stranding three on the bases. He buckled down all right.
Bottom 4: Santos grounds out. Berroa also grounds out. Santana pops up. Tulowitzki helped to record all three outs. Santana didn’t get much rest. Let’s see if it affects him on the mound.
Top 5: Santana strikes out the catcher Iannetta. Santana now has six strikeouts in the game, much more on par with his totals in the first part of the season than more recently. Fogg grounds out. Dexter Fowler bunts the ball and gets an infield single. No damage done as Ryan Spilborghs flies out.
Bottom 5: Pagan hits a leadoff triple. Time to start another big inning. Cora pops out. Wright hits a sac fly, scoring Pagan. 6-0 Mets. Murphy lines out, but the Mets tack on one more run.
Top 6: Santana makes quick work of the Rockies, retiring them in order for the third time this game. He’s up to 93 pitches now, so he should be good to continue through the seventh inning.
Bottom 6: Juan Rincon relieves Fogg. Francoeur grounds out to Rincon. Sullivan triples. Santos grounds out. Berroa is walked to get to Santana, who promptly strikes out.
Top 7: Santana strikes out two more for his eighth of the game. He’s at 104 pitches now. Does Manuel keep him in the game at least to start the eighth? It might not be a bad idea in case they need the bullpen for the nightcap.
Bottom 7: Pagan strikes out. Cora singles. Wright hits a double off the right centerfield wall, scoring Cora. 7-0 Mets. Murphy grounds out, advancing Wright to third. Francoeur hits hard ball back to pitcher but is thrown out at first.
Top 8: Santana is not out for the eighth. Bobby Parnell relieves him. After getting ahead of Carlos Gonzalez, Parnell walks him. He rebounds by striking out Fowler. Gonzalez advances to second on a ground out. Parnell gets Helton to fly out, ending the threat on second and the inning.
Bottom 8: Matt Daley relieves Rincon. He gets Sullivan to fly out and strikes out Santos. Berroa also flies out. Quick inning. Time to wrap it up.
Top 9: Tim Redding is in to clean up. He hasn’t pitched since he relieved Fernando Nieve after Nieve hurt his hamstring. In that game he allowed five runs in less than four innings of work. He gets a strikeout. Tulowitzki walks. Atkins reaches on error, advancing Tulowitzki to second. Redding then induces a ground-ball double play to end the game. Not a bad outing by Redding.
The Mets have now won five games in a row and look to keep the streak going tonight. Santana gets his National League-tying 12th win and lowers his ERA to below 3.