The Ballad Of Frankei Igawa Gray Whitson Pavano Irabu de Vazquez Montas

At first glance, the season series between the Mets and Yankees was no harm no foul, as both teams won their two home games to be on their way.

But the two games at Yankee Stadium were excruciating and frustrating, Tuesday’s loss probably more so than Monday’s loss. Losing to Domingo German sucks, but at least there didn’t seem like anything the Mets could do. But on Tuesday, they were facing Frankie Whitson Montas, and in the first two innings he was pitching like he had just traded wives with Fritz Peterson. But in the first, Pete Alonso bailed him out by popping up a 3-1 slider down the middle with one out and runners on first and second (he’s pressing), and that was followed by a Daniel Vogelbach strikeout to end the inning. In the second, Frankie Pavano Montas was struggling, but he got bailed out by a double play ball to Tomas Nido. Taking Frankei Igawa off the hook was not going to serve the Mets well.

Meanwhile, Taijuan Walker cruised through the first three innings, and it was then I thought that “if the Mets lost this game the way the two pitchers were going, that it would be criminal. So how were were going to lose it?” Well, they lost it because Walker lost it after giving up a home run to Aaron Judge that went so far that it was engineered for space travel by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. It clearly rattled him, and he gave up another run before the inning was over for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Meanwhile, Montas had settled in for the third and fourth, but in the fifth ran into trouble again. He gave up a double ot Mark Canha, and Brett Baty reached first on catcher’s interference. After Nido bunted them to second and third, Brandon Nimmo lined out hard to third base, but then Starling Marte grounded a single to right field for the first run. However, Joey Cora sent Baty around to score as well, and he was gunned down by a good amount to end the inning. Wasn’t crazy about the send there. You have Frankie Irabu de Vazquez Montas on the ropes as he’s giving up hard hits, you have a short right field at Yankee Stadium, and you have Francisco Lindor coming up next. The only thing I’m thinking is that they had a scouting report that said Oswaldo Cabrera had an arm with the power of Juan Pierre and the accuracy of Oliver Perez on the last day of the 2010 season. But, his arm was good enough to nab Baty.

The Mets would tie the game in the 6th when they let Tanner Boyle play second base for some reason.

The Mets tie the game.

SOMEHOW. pic.twitter.com/lqs9pnzlWU

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 24, 2022

But they couldn’t capitalize further, and in the bottom of the 7th, Steve Kempintendi lined an RBI single off a Joely Rodriguez fastball to left field to give the Yankees the lead, and Aaron Judge extended the lead to 4-2 with a single off Adam Ottavino.

The Mets fought back hard in the 9th as a dude named Clarke Schmidt was looking to finish off a 3 and 1/3 inning victory, but he couldn’t get the 1/3 after getting two quick outs in the 9th. Tyler Naquin, who is 0-for-his last fortnite, walked to keep the game going, Brandon Nimmo then tapped one to Torres Boyle who was a second baseman masquerading as a right fielder, and had no chance to throw Nimmo out from where he was playing. Then Starling Marte gave a heart and soul at-bat against Schmidt and walked to bring up Francisco Lindor with the bases loaded against reliever Wandy Peralta.

The ump screwed Lindor on strike one, but strike two was the killer, as Lindor got over anxious and swung and missed at a slider that was way inside. He then was forced to protect, and did a great job fouling off two pitcher’s pitches, but the fifth pitch was weakly skied to center (another pitcher’s pitch), and that was your ballgame. Frustrating. Excruciating. And for what seemed like the 100th and 101st time in their Subway Series history, the Mets faced Yankee players that were one inning from getting released and turned them into Hall of Famers.

More importantly, they’re 6-7 since their last day off, which was 12 days ago. They’ve had Jose Butto, Nate Fisher, Sam Clay, Rob Zastryzny, R.J. Alvarez, and Adonis Medina pitch for them in that time frame. This team needs a day off, and quite frankly so do I.

Today’s Hate List

1. Anthony Rizzo
2. Andrew Benintendi
3. Frankie Montas
4. Steve Kemp
5. Ed Whitson