7-18-10 Z-Cap: Johan Shines, Mets Avoid Sweep

There was certainly reason for concern heading into this afternoon’s contest with the San Francisco Giants.  While the New York Mets managed to score 4 runs last night off 2 Ike Davis‘ homers and a David Wright sac fly, they still continued to struggle driving in runs in key spots.  Through 3 games against the Giants New York was 1-10 when batting with runners in scoring position and had a .087 batting average (4-46) in such situations over their last 7 games.

With Johan Santana on the mound the Mets weren’t likely to need much offense but after falling to 3rd in the NL East, the time to step up was now.  In the 3rd inning Angel Pagan answered the call, tying the game at 1 run a piece by driving in Ruben Tejada with a RBI ground-rule double to center.  In the 4th inning David Wright gave the Mets their first lead of the ball game when he hit his first home run in 64 at-bats (15th on the year).  Things stayed quiet until the 8th inning when Ike Davis continued his hot hitting with an RBI double that drove in rookie Justin Turner and gave the Mets a 3-1 lead.

In the field Johan Santana continued his brilliant July by tossing 8 innings of 1 run ball.  Johan allowed 8 hits while striking out 5 and walking only 1.  After 115 pitches manager Jerry Manuel decided to pinch hit for his starter in the top of the 9th with Chris Carter and turn things over to his closer in the bottom half of the inning.

As is usually the case with Francisco Rodriguez, it’s a grand understatement to say “that’s when things got interesting.”  With the Mets up by 2 Frankie walked...TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AND OTHERS LIKE IT HEAD TO METSZILLA.COM BY CLICKING HERE:

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