July 9, 2009, Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Mets game story for Metro NY Newspaper
Mets hang on
MLB.
Of course, there was one more high wire act.
On a night better suited for a team of demolition experts, it would have been wrong to end it any other way.
Two on, one out in a one run game. One groundball later, two weeks worth of pent-up frustration manifested itself in an emotional release.
“It became a great challenge for us (to win this game). It was a big win for us. We needed to win a game,” said Jerry Manuel after the Mets’ 5-4 win over the Dodgers last night.
Having been shutout in consecutive games and having only scored 22 runs in the previous 11, the five spot was about as welcome as water in the Sahara.
The shutout streak ended in the second when Luis Castillo scored Jeremy Reed with a two-out RBI single. Reed, Brian Schneider and David Wright added RBIs. Wright also went 2-for-4, scored twice and looks to be out of a slump that dates back to last weekend’s series in Philadelphia.
The much-maligned Daniel Murphy had a 2-for-4 night and made a sparkling defensive play in the seventh, following a ball that had bounced off the first base bag and making a behind-the-back throw to a covering Bobby Parnell to get Mark Loretta on a close play.
Starter Oliver Perez (2-2) threw 108 pitches in five innings to earn his first win since April 15. Dodgers manager Joe Torre, warned his club and reporters before the game, “If Perez is on his game, he’s tough.”
In his first start since May 2, Perez scattered four hits and two runs but walked seven. Afterward, he offered an interesting assessment of his outing.
“I did everything I could. Sometimes you are going to have those kind of games. You are going to have almost perfect games. The key is the starting pitching and (making the) important outs,” Perez said.
Perez worked out of self-inflicted jams in the third and fourth innings. With the bases loaded and the game tied at 1, he was able to get Andre Ethier to line out to Wright to end the third. After the Mets broke through for three runs in the top of the fourth, Perez induced a 5-4-3 double play after the Dodgers had cut the Mets’ lead to 4-2 after Rafael Furcal drove in Matt Kemp.
“When you play really good defense, you have a chance to win,” Perez said. “You have to make sure you get the important outs to get out of innings. The key was that I got the important outs and the bullpen did a tremendous job.”
Relievers Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green and Francisco Rodriguez went the final four innings to help the Mets earn their first win since last Thursday. The foursome held the Dodgers to four hits and two runs.
In the ninth, Rodriguez, pitching for the first time since last Thursday, gave up a solo homer to Manny Ramirez. He then sandwiched walks to Casey Blake and Russell Martin before getting Andre Ethier to ground into a 6-3 game ending double play.
“You have to tip your cap. I made a quality pitch and he hit it out. Got to give him credit,” Rodriguez said about Ramirez’s eighth homer of the season. “I think my release point … I don’t think I feel like I’ve been as sharp as I have been earlier in the year. I have to find a way to work on my mechanics and start pitching better.”
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 6:12 PM
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