Baseball’s a zero-sum game. Just one winner per contest, folks. Which means a loser, too.
Mets vs. Yankees: Bobby Dickey Pitches Red Sox Into Second Place
But the New York Mets' 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees, Friday night in the Bronx, helped complete two comebacks, both of which seemed fairly improbable not so long ago.
The Mets opened the season in fine fashion, taking three of their first four decisions. But since losing their next two games, the Mets have spent all spring -- the nadir of which was April 16, when they lost their seventh straight and fell to 4-11 -- fighting and scratching to get back to .500.
Well, Friday night they got there: 22-22, with their 22nd win the sweetest of all, considering the opposition.
Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey hadn't won since his first start of the season, nearly seven weeks ago. But Friday night at Yankee Stadium he held the Yankees almost entirely in check for six innings, the only blemish being Mark Teixeira's solo homer in the third inning, which landed in the first row of the right-field stands and cleared the leaping Carlos Beltran's glove by just a few inches.
The Mets tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth when Justin Turner's two-out double plated Fernando Martinez. And they went ahead in the sixth on Daniel Murphy's leadoff home run, just fair down the right-field line. Both Mets runs came against Yankees starter Freddy Garcia, who would go seven strong innings before making way for the bullpen, which would toss two scoreless innings.
The Mets' bullpen did them one better, though. With Dickey out after six, rookie left-hander Mike O'Connor pitched a one-two-three seventh, Met-once-again Jason Isringhausen did the same in the seventh -- striking out both Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez -- and Francisco Rodriguez followed with a one-two-three ninth to convert his 15th straight save opportunity and complete the Mets' journey back to .500.
Which was just one comeback, and perhaps not the more impressive. The Boston Red Sox opened this season with six straight losses. Exactly two weeks ago, the preseason favorites to win the American League pennant were sitting in last place, five games behind the first-place Yankees.
Tonight, though, the Red Sox can thank the New York Mets. Because with the Yankees losing and the Red Sox destroying the Chicago Cubs, 15-5, the Red Sox have somehow passed the Yankees and taken second place, and are just a half-game behind the first place Tampa Bay Rays. And suddenly, it seems that order might be restored to the American League East proceedings before the calendar even turns to June.
For more about the Mets and Yankees, please visit Amazin’ Avenue and Pinstripe Alley.
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