Eerie End

June 12, 2009. 11:00 p.m. That was the time of the disastrous definitive drop.
Game 1 of the 2009 Subway Series will be remembered forever. It was perhaps the worst regular season loss the Mets have ever had. I am still in stunned disbelief after the way the Yankees topped the Mets 9-8 last night. In a wild-scoring contest, I was half-expecting a crazy conclusion. It was the Yankees who played giveaway the entire game, but the Mets who suffered the galling defeat with one eerie ending error.
The Bombers took an early one run lead in the bottom of the second on Robinson Cano’s full count blast off Amazin’ starter, Livan Hernandez. Joba Chamberlain momentarily gave up the Yankees lead in the top of the third. Chamberlain walked Carlos Beltran on a full count. Luis Castillo scored, making the Mets’ first impression, and fittingly so. It would be Castillo in the bottom of the ninth leaving a lasting impression as he bobbled and dropped an Alex Rodriguez popup. The Subway Series is surely intensified with this most recent remorse.
Chamberlain struck out David Wright in the third but unintentionally hit Ryan Church with a pitch with the bases loaded. The second run was a gift from the Yankees, as Alex Cora reached home for New York’s National League team. Joba’s defense did not help him during the third inning. Cano picked up an error at second base. The Bombers answered right back in the bottom half of the frame. Mark Teixeira hit a towering ball to center field for a two-run homer. Teixeira connected for the ninth time in his last 15 home games. He has 13 bombs in his last 25 overall games and continues to tear the cover off the ball and play a fabulous first base. Mark’s RBI total stands at 54 on the season.
The Mets feasted off the Yankees bullpen in the top of the fifth. The Yankees were able to milk five innings out of their relief core. Chamberlain lasted just four innings, throwing 100 pitches to 20 batters. He also walked five of the nine Yankee pitchers allowed. Chamberlain was done in by two hit batters, the five free passes and fact the Mets could not stay off the bases. Ryan Church doubled to right, scoring Beltran and Wright. Gary Sheffield slammed a shot over the left field seats on a 2-2 offering for the two-run tater and 6-3 Mets lead. The long balls piled up from there. Derek Jeter racked a round-tripper in the bottom of the fifth and Hideki Matsui landed one in the right field stands the next inning. Yesterday was Matsui’s birthday, so I figured he would have a great game. He has a tendency to perform well and rise to the occasion in celebratory situations. On his 34th birthday, he hit a grand slam off Oakland’s, Joe Blanton.
The Yankees scored three runs total in the sixth, highlighted by Matsui’s ninth of the year off Jon Switzer. Hernandez was removed after issuing a full count walk to Jorge Posada. I had no idea Switzer was even on the Mets’ roster prior to Friday. The former Tampa Bay Ray has four major league years experience. He faced two batters last night as a New York Met reliever. Sean Green and Pedro Feliciano split time in relief too. Green threw a scoreless inning and a half, walking two and striking out one batter. Feliciano held the Bombers hitless in an effective bullpen stint of four pitches, all for strikes. The Mets hitters would not go down easily nor give up the fight in this back-and-forth fluctuating scoring session. The lead changed hands six times. Beltran, Church and Castillo all stole bases during the game. It was Jeter snagging a bag in the ninth that would be an important play later.
But, before we recount that incredible, dumbfounding ninth inning, let’s trace back to the seventh. The Mets tied the score at seven in the top half of the inning. They scored one run on two hits. Fernando Tatis pinch-hit for Brian Schneider. He grounded into a double play to second. Sheffield scored on the two-out grounder. In the eighth, the Mets took the lead 8-7 with Mariano Rivera on the mound. Rivera was making a rare eighth inning appearance, going against the protocol. Wright got the best of Mo’s cut fastball with a double to right field. The All-star third baseman is on fire, hitting .633 in his last eight games. The potential game winning hit allowed Beltran to score. Rivera walked Beltran prior to serving up the Wright extra base hit. It was just the third time in 26 plus innings Rivera has been walked on. The Yankees did not score in the bottom of the eighth. The team left five runners on base throughout the entire game.
Francisco Rodriguez, arguably the best closer in baseball this season, was summoned to close the game for the Mets in the ninth. Jeter singled with one out. Krod slowly struck out a pinch-hitting, Johnny Damon on nine pitches. Jeter scrambled to second with a steal on the strikeout. Mets manager, Jerry Manuel, opted to intentionally walk Teixeira to create the force out situation. Rodriguez got ahead on the count, 3-0, before taking a strike from Krod. Francisco appeared to escape the ninth inning jam when the three-time AL MVP promptly popped up and pounded his bat into the ground. The Yankee third baseman was only 1 for 17 lifetime against Krod. His ball arched towards a drifting and backpedaling Castillo in midfield. In a weird twist of events, Castillo simply dropped a ball he was under and able to catch. He was only using one hand on the attempt, and suffered for it. The Gold Glove second baseman’s excruciating error allowed two more Yankee runs. Jeter and Teixeira were both able to score on the slip-up. I still can‘t fathom how Castillo dropped the ball, but more amazing is the fact Teixeira was speedy enough to score from first base. Teixeira easily beat Alex Cora’s relay from Castillo by sprinting hard all the way. It was utterly amazing how his hankering hunch happened to handily help by heaping the heroic run.
The Mets continue to find unique ways to lose. Krod came into the game without a blown save. He would not pick up his 17th save but instead endure his first loss and blown save of the year. The Mets are now 31-28 and the Bombers boast a 35-26 record. The Yankees snapped a three game losing skid and look to take the series by winning today. I can’t wait for this afternoon’s game, although I doubt anything can top the drama of last night. The ghosts of Yankee Stadium haunted the New York Mets in their first appearance at the new park. The improbable and unlikely game-ending error lifted the Bombers in sprit and in the Subway Series win column. The Mets’ fortunes turned in an eerie instant. Lucky number 13, Alex Rodriguez, lobbed a pop fly to hand the Mets a win, but Castillo chucked it away. The Amazins annunciated awfully an anomalous allowance. The gift-wrapped dropped and infamous popup adds a new development to the cross-town rivals. As eerie as the ending was, I felt in my gut something was going to happen when Arod was at-bat. I listen to the games on the radio instead of watching them on television most of the time. Times like last night are the very reason I do. It’s so surreal to capture sports by listening to the game calls. My indirect involvement and personal connection with the New York Yankees has no basis in reality of course. As sports fans, we like to believe we are active participants in our teams’ fortunes. I know just because I felt something would happen didn’t mean I was influential in their weird win. I think I was just looking for a remedy from Thursday night. I found my cure in Castillo’s cursed catch.

Parting points: Congratulations to the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. If not for the outrageous Yankees win, The Pens Game 7 win would have been the bigger surprise.

We’ve heard of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How about Castillo the Empire Slayer?