The New York Mets win a wild 18 inning game in St. Louis

The New York Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon/evening.  The game took place at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri and the final score was 3-1 Mets.  Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched well and the bullpen was good.  Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada each had three hits and a few guys had two hits to lead the offense. 

Niese pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up five hits and no runs with a walk and three strikeouts.  Bobby Parnell pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and he struck out one, Jennry Mejia pitched two innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Hansel Robles pitched an inning giving up a walk.  Jeurys Familia pitched an inning giving up three hits and a run with three strikeouts, Sean Gilmartin pitched three innings giving up a hit and two walks with four strikeouts and Carlos Torres won his third game of the season.  he pitched two innings giving up a hit and he struck out three. 

Tim Cooney pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up three hits and no runs with four walks and seven strikeouts.  Seth Maness pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one, Randy Choate pitched 1/3 of an inning striking out his only batter and Sam Tuivailala pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout.  Kevin Siegrist pitched an inning giving up a walk, Miguel Socolovich pitched an inning giving up a hit and Carlos Villanueva pitched four innings giving up five hits and a run with three walks and three strikeouts.  Carlos Martinez took the loss and he pitched four innings giving up five hits and two runs with one of them being earned.  He walked four and struck out two and it was his fourth loss of the season. 

Juan Lagares had two hits, Daniel Murphy had a hit and drew two walks and Michael Cuddyer had a hit and drew a walk.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, Sean Gilmartin had a hit and Jacob deGrom drew a walk.  Lucas Duda drew two walks, Wilmer Flores had three hits and John Mayberry Jr. drew a walk.  Curtis Granderson had two hits and drew two walks, Kevin Plawecki had two hits and an RBI, Tejada had three hits, an RBI and drew two walks and Eric Campbell had an RBI and drew two walks.  Flores, Tejada, Nieuwenhuis and Granderson each hit a double adn the Mets were 1-26 with runners in scoring position and left 25 men on base.  Granderson had two stolen bases and Campbell was caught stealing. 

Kolten Wong had a hit and an RBI, Randal Grichuk had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had two hits and drew a walk.  Mark Reynolds had three hits, Yadier Molina had two hits and Tommy Pham had a hit and drew a walk.  Peter Bourjos had a hit and drew three walks, Cooney had two hits and Grichuk hit a double.  Wong hit a homerun and the Cardinals were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left 14 men on base.  Peralta was caught stealing, Martinez committed an error and Siegrist had a pickoff. 

In the thirteenth Plawecki hit an RBI single to break a scoreless tie and give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the 13th Wong hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one.  In the 18th Tejada hit a sac fly giving the Mets a 2-1 lead and Campbell hit a sac bunt for an RBI to make it 3-1.  The play was challenged and went to a replay but the call stood and the Mets 3-1 lead was the final score of the game.  The Mets were able to salvage the final game in the three game series and will head to Washington to take on the Nationals in a big three game series beginning on Monday night. 

Some randon MLB news and notes

The Cardinals signed Rafael Furcal to a two year deal.  It has been reported that Hiroyuki Nakajima, he is the Japanese shortstop that the Yankees won the bidding on would not sign a deal with the Yankees.  There was translation today of an article from Japan where he basically says he wants to play in the states and he praises the Yankees and it looks like they will be able to get a deal done with him.  I don't know if he would be filler in the minor leagues or if he could be a utility man on the big club and give Derek Jeter some extra days off.  We will see how this plays out over the next month if they can agree to a deal. 

Yu Darvish the Japanese pitcher is another guy to keep your eye on as teams have until Wednesday to submit bids.  The Yankees have been lukewarm on if they are going to do so but I think that may just be a game they are playing to get the other teams thinking they won't and then have lower bids.  We will see what happens with this. 

The Diamondbacks and Athletics made a big five player deal.  The Diamondbacks got Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow for three prospects.  The Rays did a good job of locking up young Matt Moore their special pitcher.  These are the kind of deals the Rays must make to remain competitive as a small market and they have done a good job of that.  The deal is for a guaranteed 14 million over five years and 40 million over eight. 

Playoff excitement

The Yankees had the day off and not much was going on at Yankee Stadium. The talk today was mostly about A.J., Molina and Posada as you would expect. I know a lot of people are making a big deal out of this but the bottom line is this, if A.J. Burnett pitches a good game the Yankees will win and it won't matter that Molina was catching him and doesn't do much offensively. I also was suprised that a lot of the talk radio today were people calling in and bashing Jorge Posada. I know he isn't the best defensive catcher and he never has been but lets not get carried away. He was won several championships as the starting catcher for this team and he is the emotional leader. His bat is a big plus and he will be missed when he retires. Joel Sherman of the Post was breaking news tonight that it looks like Joba will stay in the bullpen for the entire playoffs if they get past this round and Chad Gaudin would get the game 4 start in the ALCS. I think if Joba is lights out out of the pen this is the move to make. The Yankees can have a dominate pen for the last 3 innings and really shorten the games. I would expect the Yankees to have the same lineup tomorrow and I will be going to the game but will try to post the gamepost and all of that before hopefully. It is expected to rain but it may not be enough to affect anything. The Rockies defeated the Phillies this afternoon to tie the series at 1-1 headed back to Colorado. The Dodgers defeated the Cardinals to take a 2-0 series lead. The Dodgers should of lost they had 2 outs and no one on when Matt Holliday made a terrible play turning a sinking line drive in to a 2 base error instead of the last out and then the Dodgers got a walk, wildpitch, and 2 hits and won the game. It looks like the Dodgers may sweep now although it is headed back to St Louis. The Redsox and Angels are playing game 1 right now.

Pitching Matchups for playoff series

L.A. vs Boston Game 1 Lester vs Lackey Game 2 Beckett vs Weaver Game 3 Bucholz vs Kazmir Game 4 Lester vs Saunders L.A. vs St. Louis Game 1 Carpenter vs Wolf Game 2 Wainwright vs Kershaw Game 3 Piniero vs TBA Philly vs Colorado Game 1 Jiminez vs Lee Game 2 Hammels vs Cook My Predictions Yanks in 4 Angels in 5 Dodgers in 5 Phillies in 4 ALCS: Yanks over Angels in 6 NLCS: Dodgers over Phillies in 6 WS: Yanks over Dodgers in 6

ALDS Playoff matchups

The NL is all set with the Cardinals taking on the Dodgers and the Phillies playing the Rockies. The Phillies and Dodgers have homefield. Here is the schedule of the games. Wed- Rockies at Phillies 2:37PM Wed- Cards at Dodgers 9:37PM Thurs- Rockies at Phillies 2:37PM Thurs- Cards at Dodgers 9:37PM Sat- Dodgers at Cards 6:07PM Sat- Phillies at Rockies 9:37PM The AL will have the Red Sox taking on the Angels and the Yankees taking on the Tigers or Twins who will play Tuesday night at 5:07 to decide who will head to New York. Here is the tentative schedule assuming the Yankees pick the longer series. Wed- Twins/Tigers at Yankees 6:07PM Thurs- Red Sox at Angels 9:37PM Friday- Twins/Tigers at Yanks 6:07PM Friday- Red Sox at Angels 9:37PM The rest of the schedule will be determined at a later date as the games move along.

New York Mets/ St Louis Cardinals

The New York Mets got spanked today by the St Louis Cardinals 15-4. Freddy Garcia got the start and looks to be done as he didn't fare well once again going 2 innings giving up 4 runs on 3 hits with 1 bb and 3k's. He gave up 2 homers. He was the only Met pitcher of note. On the offensive side of things Luis Castillo went 0-3, after a hot start he has cooled off, Daniel Murphy went 1-3. Angel Pagan who is having a great spring again trying to make the team went 1-1 with a bb and 2 rbis. Ryan Church went 1-2 with a walk. The Mets will take on the Nationals tomorrow in a away game. The other news out of Mets camp today was Darryl Strawberry said that he would of used steroids if they would of been as prevalent when he was young and stupid. He said he loves Arod and that he is glad he stood up and admitted it. He said its not fair to pick on one guy and that he is taking the bullet for everyone, that should be enough for him.