Washington Nationals 2 New York Mets 3 (April 3, 2006)
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0 commentsThe Mets played host to the Washington Nationals. The starting pitchers were Tom Glavine (0-0) and Livan Hernandez (0-0), and the misty Shea weather did not delay the start of the game. However, a television snafu left a lot of fans at home unable to watch the game. The game was supposed to be broadcast on ESPN and SNY, but ESPN's blackout radius was apparently larger than SNY's coverage zone. Further, SNY apparently neglected to realize that it had priority, and began airing a classic game from Mets history, instead of Opening Day.
Glavine got into trouble in the second inning, giving up back-to-back walks to Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Zimmerman after retiring Nick Johnson on a full-count ground out. Luckily for the Mets, light-hitting Royce Clayton struck out on four pitches, bringing #8 hitter Brian Schneider to the plate. Glavine quickly fell behind, 3-1, but on a 3-2 pitch, got Schneider to ground softly to catcher Paul Lo Duca. The Nats both failed to score any runs and to clear the pitcher's spot in the batting order.
In the top of the third, Livan Hernandez gets the first hit of the game -- and the first of the season against the Mets.
The Mets got their first hit of the season when Xavier Nady made his Mets debut with a single in the bottom of the third. He advanced to second on a fielder's choice by Anderson Hernandez, and then to third when Glavine singled to left. Jose Reyes, first pitch swinging, lined out, but Nady scored off of a single by Lo Duca (Glavine to second). Carlos Beltran grounded out to Clayton to end the inning.
In the top of the 4th, Glavine was again in trouble, walking Nick Johnson and giving up a single to Soriano. His first three pitches to Zimmerman, according to ESPN's GameCast pitch box, look to be strikes (albeit on the corners), but he falls behind 2-1. (The umpire seemed to be calling a lot of borderline pitches as balls, but was at least consistent, as it applied to both pitchers.) Royce Clayton comes through with a sacrifice fly, and the game is knotted at 1-1. Glavine avoided further damage by getting Schneider to ground out to Delgado and Livan Hernandez to fly out to Nady.
And it was Nady's day. With two outs in the bottom of the 4th, Cliff Floyd walked. Nady drove him in with a double to left, and the Mets retook the lead.
Perhaps it was Glavine's too, in a semi-charmed sense. For the third straight inning, Glavine got into trouble (this time, a single to Jose Vidro and to double Jose Guillen), but got away with little to no harm done (struck out Nick Johnson and Soriano). Turnabout is fair play, however; in the bottom of the 5th, Glavine singled, and after a Reyes ground out, a Lo Duca's double brought him to third. Both Carloses popped out to shortstop and Hernandez escaped unscathed.
In the bottom of the sixth, David Wright's solo home run made the game 3-1 Mets.
Aaron Heilman gave up 1 run in two innings in relief of Glavine, but he needed defensive and umpiring help to do it, as Soriano was thrown out at home on a questionable call (to say the least). With Soriano on first, Zimmerman doubled to deep left. Cliff Floyd hit cutoff man Jose Reyes, who in turn relayed to Lo Duca. It appeared at first that Lo Duca tagged Soriano, but replays demonstrated that Lo Duca fumbled the ball. Nevertheless, the umpire called Soriano out at that plate, in part due to a good acting job by Lo Duca.
Billy Wagner tossed a 1-2-3 ninth in his Mets debut for the save, and the Mets won 3-2. Wagner looked dominating but gave up a single to Vidro who tried to turn it into a double. However, he was gunned down at 2nd base to end the game. Wagner entered to the tune "Enter Sandman," creating something of a firestorm amongst Yankee fans who thought that only Mariano Rivera should have good taste in music.
The only lowlight of the day belonged to Carlos Beltran. It did not take long for the boo birds to come out for Beltran. He was 0-4 and stranded runners on base in his last two at bats by striking out and popping up. The Mets fans have seem not to forget the dissapointing 2005 season Beltran had and are not ready for an encore. Beltran hopes that his throw out of Jose Vidro can start off a hot streak
The Mets end the day at 1-0, temporarily the best record in the National League.
It should also be noted that this was the first-ever regular season game broadcast by the Mets' New Cable Network, SNY (www.sny.tv)
Lineup and Box Score
| Washington Nationals | New York Mets |
|---|---|
| Brandon Watson (CF) | Jose Reyes (SS) |
| Jose Vidro (2B) | Paul Lo Duca (C) |
| Jose Guillen (RF) | Carlos Beltran (CF) |
| Nick Johnson (1B) | Carlos Delgado (1B) |
| Alfonso Soriano (LF) | David Wright (3B) |
| Ryan Zimmerman (3B) | Cliff Floyd (LF) |
| Royce Clayton (SS) | Xavier Nady (RF) |
| Brian Schneider (C) | Anderson Hernandez (2B) |
| Livan Hernandez (SP) | Tom Glavine (SP) |
| Click here for the box score | |
Links
- Amazin' Avenue--open thread during game
- Associated Press--recap of game
- Bergen Record--Mets catch big break in opening day win
- Daily News--Mets' start is happy & lucky
- Journal News--Mets' newcomers make immediate impact
- MetsBlog
- New York Times with slide show
- MLB.com video highlights
- david wright fan blog recap
- Newsday on SNY faux pas
- New York Mets Podcast - Opening Day
Date
April 3, 2006
