Henry Blanco provides heroics as Mets walk-off again

By: Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Flushing, NY (May 08) – The New York Mets defeated the San Francisco Giants for the second straight day in walk-off fashion. Today it was Henry Blanco the backup catcher who was the hero.

Blanco hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to send the Mets to their ninth straight home victory. Johan Santana got the start and pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs. Santana walked none and struck out six. Fernando Nieve and Pedro Feliciano each gave up a hit to the one batter they faced.

Feliciano was credited with a blown save. Jenrry Mejia struck out the one batter he faced and Francisco Rodriguez bounced back nicely from his blown save yesterday. Rodriguez pitched two hitless and scoreless innings. He gave up two walks and struck out one.

Hisanori Takahashi got the win pitching a perfect inning with two strikeouts. The Mets had an early 3-0 lead, early in the game. Angel Pagan and Luis Castillo walked in the first inning and then Jose Reyes moved them up on a fielder’s choice groundout.

Jason Bay delivered a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Angel Pagan hit a two run triple in the second inning to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. The Giants would score twice in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Aubrey Huff and a RBI single by Juan Uribe.

The Mets would take a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning and the game would stay that way until the eighth inning. Pablo Sandoval had a sacrifice fly and Aubrey Huff had a RBI single. The game would remain tied in the 11th inning when Henry Blanco blasted a walk-off home run. It marked the second straight game the Mets would win on a walk-off and a catcher doing it again. It was Rod Barajas yesterday and his backup Henry Blanco today.

The Mets have a major league best 13 wins at home and their record is 13-5. They seem to never lose at home and there is a different energy now in that park then there was a year ago. Ike Davis has seemed to spark the team and they are getting a lot more out of the catcher position then they could have imagined.

It was the first time since 2001 that the Mets had won back-to-back games like this. Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura hit walk-offs back then.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel had this to say about his catchers, “It’s a tremendous asset for us. Those guys have done a tremendous job with the pitching staff. They obviously have gotten some big hits.” Rod Barajas said “We love the blowouts, but a walk-off here, there’s nothing like it.”

The Mets will try to sweep the series tomorrow afternoon with Oliver Perez on the mound. The Mets will be going for their 10th straight home win. It will not be easy with Tim Lincecum on the mound for the Giants. Lincecum is 4-0 with a 1.70 ERA. He looks like he would like to win a third consecutive Cy Young award. He is 0-1 with a 5.68 career ERA against the Mets though 

Posted by gmarchesej on May 8, 2010. Filed under Mets,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.