Game 38 Recap: Cubs 1, Mets 8
All Wet GameCenter, Recap, Photos, Box Score, Play by Play W - Sosa (3-0) L - Hill (4-3), Mother Nature, every Cubs fan who stayed up to watch, everybody who now goes out and picks up Sosa in their fantasy league. Things to take from this game 1. It got played.
Three hours and seven minutes delayed by weather, the game finally started around 10 eastern time. Maybe 2000 people stayed for the start of the game.2. Jorge Sosa
We got one-hit through 7+ innings by Jorge Sosa.
I will let that set in for awhile.3. Did I mention that Jorge Sosa one-hit us? 4. Reyes tweaked something.
Running out of the box in the bottom of the eighth, Jose Reyes came up limping. Not sure why, yet.5. Hill's start
Hill was a bit wild, with four walks, but really only looked bad on the HR to Easley. Still got a lot of strikes with the big bad curveball. Certainly not his best performance, but also probably not as bad as his line might indicate. In a game of Hill against Jorge Sosa, you really expect to win, even if Hill is having a bit of an off night. Tough game to lose so thoroughly.The full run-down follows. I can't believe I stayed up for this.
- Game begins THREE HOURS (and seven minutes) later than regularly scheduled. But it does indeed begin.
- and once more, we have these attrocious Mets announcers on mlb.tv
- That doesn't take long, Sosa walks the second batter he faces, Floyd
- The announcers tell us Soriano has gotten on base in every game he's played in this year. And, that the Mets are starting three Carloses tonight (Beltran, Delgado, Gomez)
- Top of the first, the Mets announcers explain that the ump is a rookie announcer, so who knows what you'll get. (Uhh, it's not like he doesn't know how to call balls and strikes). Bottom of the first, they immediately start razzing him for a changing strike zone. They gripe that he's calling too many balls for a game that has been delayed due to rain. (What's with these guys, two games in a row complaining about how they just want to leave? They're not even joking about it, they're dead serious.) These guys are, by far, the most annoying broadcasters I've ever listened to. Who the heck are they? No, don't tell me, I don't want to know
- Back to back strikeouts for Hill to start the bottom of the first. Looks like the hook is working.
- Mets broadcasters don't bother to cover the Cubs half of the second. Nothing much happened, anyway.
- With two (easy) outs in the bottom of the second, the Mets string together three straight hits - two soft singles to left, and a blooper to right. Just a matter of random dumb luck. The run is real, but not one of the three hits was impressive.
- Parachat almost has as many people in it as Shea does, at this point. At least the Mets are going to offer tix to a game from their series with the Twins, to paid customers who didn't use their tix tonight.
- Top of the third, Izturis singles, and Hill moves him over on a nicely done sac bunt up the first base line. Theriot up with a man on second and one out. A bouncer up the middle moves Izturis to third, now two outs. Floyd grounds out to end the modest threat.
- Bottom of the third is kind of ugly. Walk, single, walk, bases loaded with one out. David Wright then hits a popup to short right-center, and Theriot backpedals to get it. Granted, neither Jones or Floyd was going to get to the ball, but by backpeddaling most of the way, Theriot winds up being in a very poor throwing position, and the runner at third tags and scores, easily. Following that, Beltran and Delgado (!) double-steal, and Barret tries to throw out Beltran at third instead of Delgado at second. (!) Happily, we get out of the inning with just a run scored against us.
- Don't look now, but Sosa is handling the Cubs, quite easily. Shutout through four.
- Aramis makes another terrific play, this time diving to catch a liner hit down the line by Carlos Gomez. (Huh, evidently, I didn't mention his first great play, a diving stop and one-hop throw to get Reyes out on a lined shot down the third base line, earlier in the game.)
- Floyd is both very slow, and playing very deep in right. Another blooper he can't get to, this one drops in for a hit as it's over Theriot's head. We need that fourth rover OF guy from softball, to help Floyd.
- Blast. That extends the fourth inning, and Easley takes advantage with it, hitting a 2-run homer. 4-0 Mets through 4. Easley had to really get the hands in, and snap the wrists quickly to deal with the pitch. An impressive HR.
- Considering he's given up 4 runs, Hill hasn't pitched all that bad. That first run was just some weak ground balls, the second run was on a popup to second, and the third and fourth were on a HR that came after the inning should have ended, for want of a better RFer. Hill's big curve (there has GOT to be a Hill pun we can use, to describe his big curve) is working well enough, 5 Ks through 5
- Jorge Sosa is one-hitting us through 6.
- Jorge Sosa.
- Hill walks Jorge Sosa with one out and no one on in the sixth. Jorge Sosa.
- Proof that Cubs fans are better than Mets fans: It's 4-0 against us in the seventh, it's midnight eastern, and the TCR Parachat has about as many people in it as Shea does. And we're making more noise. Nothing interesting to report from the game. Sosa owns us.
- The roving reporter for the Mets broadcast team finds a couple of people sitting in the Uecker seats in the upper deck. Looks sort of fun to me. A ballgame going on, with an entire deck to theirselves.
- Cotts relieves Hill for the seventh: Walk, Single, Double, and it's now 5-0, no outs. Sac fly, 6-0. Cotts might be the sacrificial lamb to ride out this game.... another double, 7-0. not really paying too much attn. at this point.
- We finally "chase" Sosa in the Eighth.
- Izturis walks to leadoff the 8th. He's been on base twice. Rest of the team has ben on four times, by my count. Eventually, he comes around to score on a Floyd broken-bat single. At least we're not shut out.
- Reyes leaves the game after aggrevating some leg injury, probably a hamstring, in the eighth inning. Was limping running out of the box.
- The Mets' broadcasters might not like it, but I do: Lou has Howry appeal to second base, claiming Reyes' pinch-runner, Ruben Gotay, left the bag early on a sac fly. The appeal is declined, but from Lou's reaction, he looks annoyed as if the umpire wasn't paying attention to it. Go Lou.
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