Just like that it was taken away from them. Having eked out a 2-0 lead on a stable Mike Pelfrey; they took to the late innings to finish the job as they had season after season in Flushing.
Jair Jair Jurrjens Lotion had nailed down the Mets for seven tense innings and as they entered the 8th it was clear the game was his to lose. The Braves capped it off with one more run off the slightly tainted JJ Putz and the solid 3-0 lead win theirs. He was always lurking though wasn’t he?
The quiet assassin lay dormant in centerfield. Waiting. Waiting to allow the Braves to get inches from their victory.. to smell it, to taste it. It was just then that it was all going to be ripped away from them.
The assassin’s buddies chipped away in the bottom of the 8th as Lotion loses it and Jackie Robinson’s Reyes doubles to the gap to score two, but then shows his lack of judgment and gets nailed at third. Inning over. Still the assassin lay dormant. It wasn’t time yet.
Frankie Ghostbusters comes in and somehow keeps the Braves quite in the 9th… a feat no Mets relief pitcher in the last 20 years would have been able to do. The Benitez Meter begins to start it’s motor….
*cue music*
Finally the 9th inning comes and the quiet assassin comes to the plate. Before the Braves “closer” Mike Gonzalez could take a breath, the assassin was standing on 2nd. He never saw it coming. Recomposing himself, he focuses in and predictably nails David Wright, but wait… the assassin is on 3rd. How did he get there? The ump didn’t see and for that I am thankful. Finally, a lazy fly ball and calmly and quietly… the game is tied and the assassin is off the field.
If you blinked, you missed the top of the 10th as Frankie Rodriguez continued to bury old ghosts and took out the Braves once again. Finally, the 10th ended as the NLCS did a few years ago, but this time with a happier ending. Tony Bennett ate a bucket of Kenny Rogers and the game was done. The last man standing, was the quiet assassin who put down his bat, took of his cap and walked away.
Notes from today
- Carlos Beltran is an animal
- Wright should have gone in feet first in the 7th, but I like the hustle
- Jose give it and Jose take it away. Is anything more emblematic of Reyes than what happened in the 8th inning where he scores two runs on a gapper and get nailed as the tying run at third?
- Luis Castillo is doing his job
- Tatis being picked off in the 9th was really sloppy. This team still needs to be more careful, but again I like the aggressiveness.
- I kind of respect Chipper now that the Braves stink, but it’s like getting teased by an old past his prime bully. The Mets need to make the last years of his baseball career a plentiful bounty of losses and October vacations.
- 10th inning gets blown by Wagner last year if Heilman makes it through the 9th (which he wouldn’t have)
- Clutch SB by Jackie Robinson Reyes in the 10th
- Nice walk by Shrek to bring the assassin to the plate
- Reverse Rogers! I love it!
- Chipper was really mad at the umps after the game… was he also mad when Maddux & Glavine were stealing as many calls as Michael Jordan in the 90′s?
All in all, the Braves can suck it. I hope they lose every game they ever play always forever. The Benitez Meter is now at 9!
Chipper Cry. Is nice. Like my sister.
Posted By Nik Kolidas
Filed under: Benitez Meter Games, Game recaps 2009, New York Mets 2009-2010, Nik Kolidas
