No serious baseball fan is ever all that enthralled with interleague play, but when the Mets and Yankees are using it to their advantage, there's little doubt that everyone's pretty happy.
Andy Pettite (9-2) threw yet another gem for the Bronx Bomb-inos, going seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts in a 9-3 drubbing of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Just how good was Pettite? Well, that can only be summed up in a segment I'd like to call: QUESTION! and ANSWER!
- QUESTION! How good has Andy Pettite been for the Yankees this 2010 season?
- ANSWER! His ERA actually went up in an outing where he gave up two earned runs in seven innings. Also, he struck out Chuck Norris and made him sit in the clubhouse for the rest of the game.
So now you know. Offensively Alex Rodriquez led the way, giving New York an early 2-0 lead with a home run off of the fairly stellar Dan Haren, who gave up only three runs in seven innings. Things fell apart for the D'Backs in the eighth when the Yankees scored six runs off of Esmerling Vasquez and Chad Qualls. The big blow came from an unlikely source: 25-year old rookie Colin Curtis, who's first major league hit was a two-run single to pretty much put things out of reach.
After a long road trip, the Mets were back at home sweet home. After a 7-2 road swing, it could've been forgotten by the casual Mets observer that their forte has been using Citi Field's confines to the team's advantage. The Mets advanced to 25-10 in Flushing with a 14-6 thwomping of the Detroit Tigers, in what was a fairly bizarre game played around a 58-minute rain delay in the 3rd inning.
The Mets got to ace Justin Verlander (8-5) early, as he ended up surrendering five earned runs on five hits and three walks in 2+ innings. With a 3-0 lead and runners on 2nd and 3rd after the stoppage, the Mets resumed and scored seven more runs to give the Amazins a 10-0 lead after 3. One more in the fourth and three in the sixth would tack on "insurance", as the Tigers - aside from a 4th and 5th inning six-run burst - never brought much to tonight's game. Pinstripe Alley has the full scoop.
It was a banner day for the Mets 1-4 hitters, as they combined to go 13-21 with 10 RBI for the night. Only Rod Barajas and the pitcher's spot failed to knock in a run from the Mets starting lineup. Angel Pagan went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs to lead the team, he also came within a homer of hitting for the cycle. Basically a big "Platoon this!" from Angel to Mets management, with Carlos Beltran's return looming around the end of the All-Star break. For more, check out Amazin' Avenue.
Other local sports news after the jump.
- Former Devil defenseman Scott Niedermayer retired. Niedermayer spent 13 years as a Devil, before finishing the final five after the lockout with the Anaheim Ducks. He won four Stanley Cups (three with New Jersey), two gold medals, a World Cup, a Memorial Cup (Canada's junior hockey title) World Championship and a World Junior Championship. He may have been the greatest winner in hockey history, and likely the most talented player to ever skate in red and black.
- Division! Watch! 2010!: On the Mets side, they finally got helped with a Braves loss, as the White Sox took them down 9-6. They're now a game and a half out of the NL East lead, while still a half a game above the 2nd place San Francisco in the Wild Card run. Both Boston and Tampa lost, giving the Yanks a 1 and a half game lead on both in the AL East.
- The Liberty fell again at the Garden, 75-68 to the Minnesota Lynx. Rutgers alum Cappie Pondexter was again a bright spot for the Libs, with 16 points and 5 assists. Rebekkah Brunson led all players for the Lynx with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The Liberty are back in action Friday at Tulsa.