Irony: the all-time hits leader in Florida Marlins history burns his old team for the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth in Flushing.
Mets second baseman Luis Castillo flared a bloop single into right field to score Ike Davis from second, giving the Mets a 6-5 series opening victory. The win signifies only the second time this season that the Mets have won a game after trailing going into the seventh inning. Castillo, who has been relegated to bench role the last few weeks, was mobbed by his teammates after the winning run scored.
In the top of the seventh, R.A. Dickey gave up a three-run homer to the newest in a long line of Met killers, Gaby Sanchez. The shot put the Mets behind 5-4. For the second straight start, Dickey was plagued by a late-inning long ball to hand over the lead.
To be honest, I didn’t think the Mets would mount any comeback, simply based on their lack of offensive production over the last few weeks. However, tonight was different. With one out in bottom of the eighth, Angel Pagan, arguably the Mets’ MVP, hit a seeing-eye ground ball up the middle.
Marlins’ center fielder Cameron Maybin was playing deep in a “no-doubles” alignment. Pagan raced around first and dove into second to complete the hustle double, his fourth hit of the night. That play wound up being a huge factor in the Mets’ comeback victory. Carlos Beltran followed with an RBI single to right to score Pagan and tie the game. Slowly but surely, Beltran has been coming around with the bat.
After newly proclaimed closer Hisanori Takahashi retired the Marlins in the top of the ninth, Ike Davis reached base with a grounder that Dan Uggla made a fantastic play on, but his throw handcuffed Gaby Sanchez at first base. Two batters later, Josh Thole hit a broken bat single over short. After Mike Hessman struck out, Luis Castillo stepped to the plate. Castillo did not start tonight and was part of the double switch that lifted Dickey from the game.
Castillo came up big with his opposite field single. Though this has been a tough year for Luis and he most likely will not be back next season, this was a great moment for him. It shows that despite their lack of success this year, this team refuses to give up.
Who knows? That could be the attitude and this could be the win that allows the team to make a run as we enter September. With the victory, the Mets move ahead of the Marlins in both the NL East divisional and Wild Card races.
As a side note, former Mets catcher Rob Barajas had a stellar debut for the Dodgers with two doubles and a three-run homer to give L.A. the lead in the sixth inning over the Brewers in Milwaukee. That being said, Josh Thole was 2-5 on the night with a double and a clutch single in the ninth to set up Castillo for the game-winning hit.
Nice job Luis and good win for the Mets! Now please keep them coming so we as fans can experience exciting September baseball once again.
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