Finally First

Tuesday marked the 50th day since the 2009 baseball season was launched. Today, May 28th, both New York teams finally find themselves in first place. The Mets own sole possession of the NL East by a half game, leapfrogging the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees are tied at the top of the AL East standings with the Boston Red Sox. The Bombers haven’t been in sole possession of first since 2006’s final game, but that could change as quickly as a David Ortiz lineup switch.
The Mets are winners of five of their last six games and are 17-8 in the month of May. Johan Santana improved his record to 7-2 with a six inning win over the Washington Nationals Wednesday. The five run victory completed New York’s three game sweep of the dreadful Nats. Santana spurned Washington with 11 strikeouts and 120 pitches. He walked six batters, including one with the bases loaded, but limited the damage to three runs. His ERA rose from 1.50 to 1.77, but Santana secured his third straight start in the win column.
The Mets have had five disputed homerun calls this season. Two were reversed and all five went New York’s way, including last night’s Daniel Murphy long ball in the sixth inning. Murphy was awarded a two-run homer after video review overturned the umpires’ original ruling. It was the Mets second homerun replay win in less than a week and Murphy’s fourth shot out of the park on the year. The Mets put together a trio of hits to open the bottom of the first. Second baseman, Luis Castillo and third baseman, David Wright, drew singles off Nationals’ starter, Jordan Zimmerman. Gary Sheffield, hitting over .400 in May and collecting his 1,652nd RBI, roped a double to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Sheffield tied Tony Perez on the career RBI list for 25th place with the bash to right-center field in the first. Excuse the pun, but the Sheff is cooking. If this is indicative of what he can still do, the acquisition appeals to Met fans.
Murphy lined a single in the third to drive in Angel Pagan. Adam Dunn hit a mammoth homerun of 465 feet off Santana in the fourth inning to trim New York’s lead. Later in the inning, Johan loaded the bases and walked Cristian Guzman. Santana issued four free passes during the frame, the first time he’s done so in his career. The Mets left-hander threw 41 pitches in the fourth inning but got Nick Johnson to fly out to end the inning. Johnson registered three hits and drove in one run for the Nats. Although he could not put Washington ahead in the fourth, the Nationals tied the score with New York’s commanding ace on the mound.
Santana had seven no-decisions last season mostly due to lack of bullpen depth and strength. This year, he twice lost while giving up no earned runs. Last night, Johan did not have his best outing but still won the game. He wasn’t getting some calls and thought he was a bit squeezed by the home plate umpire. Nonetheless, the Mets snapped the 3-3 tie on Murphy’s reviewed homerun. Sheffield walked to start the bottom of the sixth before Murphy clubbed the ball over the arc in right field. The ball seemingly scratched the porch and Sheffield was thrown out at the plate when the ball caromed back into play. After the latest stroke of luck for the Mets, catcher, Ramon Castro, doubled to left field. Ron Villone was summoned from the Nationals’ pen to face rookie right fielder, Fernando Martinez. The 20 year old with a big power bat was playing in his second major league game. He popped the ball behind the plate to Wil Nieves. The Nationals catcher did not make the routine grab, but Martinez never ran on the hit. Thus, he was thrown out at first base and the crowd showered the rookie with his first well-earned boos. The mental mistake cost the Mets an out and they failed to add to the lead when Fernando Tatis’ pinch-hit liner resulted in an inning-ending double play. Pedro Feliciano fanned Dunn to end the top of the seventh and preserve New York’s two run lead. Feliciano has 15 strikeouts this season.
Murphy came through with his bat again in the seventh on a bases loaded double off reliever, Jesus Colome. It would be the final runs scored by New York. Washington would add a run in the ninth on Johnson’s single. Francisco Rodriguez struck out Ryan Zimmerman to end the game. The Nationals fell 20 games below .500 and dropped 15 of their last 18 games last night. The Mets have won 9 of their last 11 at Citi Field. The injured-ravaged team still managed to overtake Philadelphia in the standings. They are playing without Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Ryan Church. You cannot understate the impact of the injured players but Jerry Manuel’s back-ups are flourishing and providing a lift. A healthy Wright struck out four time for the first time in his career, but the offense produced seven runs to back Santana. They have scored 21 runs in the CY Young winner’s last three outings. Santana remained tied for the NL wins lead and reached double digits in strikeouts for the fourth time this season. He doesn’t have to be concerned about being a victim of bullpen damage this year. The Met relievers upheld even a mediocre start from their number one arm last night.
Wilson Valdez made his Mets debut last night. Omar Minaya signed Valdez when Reyes was placed on the disabled list. Valdez brings extra insurance and is a decent fielding hitter. He won’t provide the pop and spark of Reyes, but is a candidate to fill in while the shortstop is sidelined. With Alex Cora also ailing, Valdez can be a viable replacement. Murphy broke out of a slump with a career-high night in RBIs. His five runs driven in gave the Mets the bulk of the scoring they needed. He did prolong the game with a ninth inning error, but is still getting accustomed to the Met infield. It’s good to see the orange and blue in first place. Optimism omits feelings of odd omens being the reason for this team’s recent luck. I think the Mets are a for-real ball club. If management inquires about adding another ace to the rotation, (Peavy, Holladay?) New York would be in line for at least a pennant title.
The Yankees are in first place for the first time this season and have won 12 of their last 15 games. A.J. Burnett won his first start since April 14th to give the Yankees a share of the AL East with Boston. The Yanks are 1.5 games ahead of Toronto, who fell for the ninth straight game to Baltimore with Roy Halladay on the mound yesterday. The 9-2 Wednesday night Bomber win saw Burnett shutting out the Texas Rangers through six innings in Arlington. He had not won in his last seven starts, but only allowed three hits last night to snap his longest winless drought. Burnett looked sharp and much more aggressive last night. He went after a hard-hitting Texas lineup to give the team the start they needed. Burnett made several mistakes by placing pitches down the middle to the vaunted Rangers. He fell behind on several batters and threw 118 pitches, only 59% for strikes. But Texas could not string together consistent hits and the Yankees came through with the long ball. They were put in an early hole hard and struggled to dig themselves out. A flick of the leather and a run-in with the wall by outfielder, Johnny Damon, also aided Burnett on Wednesday night. The Yankees’ systemic scheme and active approach are successful. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth noting Nick Swisher’s supreme effort to create clubhouse chemistry. Swisher has swagger and the team is meshing well.
The offense began the series finale with ready wood at the plate. First baseman and former Ranger, Mark Teixeria, knocked his 15th homer with a first inning bomb good for two runs. Hideki Matsui emerged from his slump with two taters to blow the game open Wednesday. Coming into the series, Matsui was in a 3 for 23 funk. He plunked a homer with the first offering from Texas pitcher, Derek Holland and added a seventh inning dinger off Warner Madrigal. It was Matsui’s third career multi-homerun game. Second baseman, Robinson Cano’s ninth inning slam tied the Yankees with the Rangers for the top homerun hitting team in baseball. Both clubs have 77 long balls in 2009.
Holland allowed 10 hits and 6 runs in his second career start. The Texas hurler committed an error on Brett Gardner’s bunt for a base hit, allowing New York runners to advance. His day was done once the error evolved and Jason Jennings took the mound for the Rangers. The Yankees lashed out 15 hits on the evening against the first place AL West club. Derek Jeter snared a single to lead off the game and scored on Teixeria’s drive over the fence. Jeter went 3 for 4 and reached base five times. The captain’s average is now .297. Jeter and Kevin Cash extended the Yankee lead to 3-0 with consecutive two out doubles in the next inning. After Matsui’s first solo shot, New York tacked on two in the sixth. Cash ripped a two run single off Jennings and Matsui’s second round-tripper increased the Yankee lead to eight. Jose Veras gave up Ian Kinsler’s 13th homerun in the bottom of the seventh for Texas’ only score. The ball barely cleared the wall but made it a six run game. Dave Robertson took over to clean up for Veras’ mishap and put the clamp on the middle of the Texas order. Cano plastered a pulverizing homer to cap off the rout in the ninth for New York’s ninth run. Chien-Ming Wang, still a tad rusty, also came in to pitch two hitless innings. Wang struck out two in only his second appearance since returning from the disabled list. Wang’s sinker was in the low 90’s and his fastball a notch above as he continues to rework his velocity and accuracy. The Yankees took the series 2-1 in Texas as the Rangers lost for only the second time in their last 11 at home.
Jorge Posada and Brian Bruney are expected to return to the team against Cleveland on Friday. But, it all starts with substantial, stand-out pitching. Good pitching steers teams to victory, and as long as the Yankee starters take care of business, the team will float at the top of the AL East into October. I am still dubious about the relief pitching. The Yankees can overcome bullpen blemishes with stellar starts. Hopefully getting swept for six games against Boston this year was the only snippet of staggering we will soon see.

Parting points: “We’ll always have each other when everything else is gone” -Incubus