Chad Johnson officially loses his mind
No, Bengals Wide Receiver Chad Johnson wasn’t in the news to give us an injury report or anything about the Bengals for that matter. Instead, he pulled a 180 by officially officially changing his name to Chad Ocho Cinco, keeping his middle name as Javon. This means the Johnson name is completely gone. Even his own coach, Marvin Lewis, went as far as calling him "ocho psycho." I hope Chad realizes that "ocho cinco" translates to eight five, not eighty five. Also, if his wish from the offseason to get traded to another team is granted, what if he goes to a team where the number 85 is already in use? Will he change his name back? Who knows?
I have seen some crazy things by Johnson — or, i mean Ocho Cinco — such as playing golf with a pylon as a touchdown celebration or even wearing the name Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey for a game. But this? This is what you call out of the ordinary.
Beltran’s grand slam in ninth fuels Mets comeback win
The game seemed dead when Jose Reyes was robbed of a single with the Mets 2-1 to put the Marlins one out away from a victory. However, with two outs, the Mets started to get something going when Luis Castillo slapped a single up the middle to bring some life to the night. With Kevin Gregg struggling to close the game, David Wright singled to put two runners on. Carlos Delgado came up next only to be pegged in the right leg to load up the bases for New York.
With Met fans in attendance cheering, Carlos Beltran launched the first pitch he saw DEEP over the right field wall to erupt the Mets’ dugout and give his team a promising 5-2 lead. The grand slam accounted for the first Mets runs since Carlos Beltran’s sacrifice fly scored Jose Reyes in the first inning.
As the Mets brought on Luis Ayala to seal the deal, it wasn’t exactly a breeze. He gave up several hits and put tying and winning runs on base, but was able to close the door before the Marlins could ruin Beltran’s night.
With the Mets now two games ahead of the quickly slipping Phillies, Mike Pelfrey and Ricky Nolasco, two pitchers with thirteen wins and also nearly identical ERA’s, will face off tomorrow night in Miami.
Pedro, Mets blow enormous lead vs. Phils, lose in extras
On what I would call a normal beginning to a night with the Mets’ first inning success this season, the Mets scored 2 runs in the first inning, and kept piling it on for the next three innings to blow the game open with a 7-0 lead. Blow the game open? Well, when the Mets play the Phillies, anything can happen. As any Met fan would know, what sometimes could go wrong against the Phillies would, whether it was last year’s game-ending Marlon Anderson debacle, the season-ending 2007 collapse, opening day at Shea this season, or last night.
With Pedro Martinez cruising through the first four innings only allowing one run, there seemed to be no worries heading into the fourth. However, Pedro ended his start with five runs allowed in five innings to raise his ERA to a scary 5.22. Following his departure, the bullpen was not exactly sitting around, with seven relievers taking the mound on the night
The ninth inning went from looking like a sunny, calm day for the Mets into a hurricane, with all the action taking place after two outs were recorded by Luis Ayala, the newly-acquired reliever. A hit up the middle, a double in the gap, then the game-tying hit that nearly went for naught when Ryan Church’s great throw was relayed and thrown on a bad hop. The throw was in time, just the timing of the bounce was off. Finally, a hard-hit ball was ripped on one hop up the middle, but Reyes was there on the diving stop to save the game and bring it into extras.
Aaron Heilman went on to pitch the scariest three extra innings of my life. I was scared of every pitch and just wondered what Aaron would mess up next. Instead, he was stellar, allowing no runs to cross despite getting into some jams.
With night turning to morning, Chris Coste broke Citizens Bank Park loose when his walk-off hit in the 13th emptied the Phillies bench to mob him. The Phillies took over possession of first place in the NL East by a half game. This back-and-forth thing is getting exciting this late in the season, isn’t it?
Damion Easley was a master at the plate last night, picking up four hours, including a home run (solo, of course…whats new?) and a triple. David Wright, on the other hand, had two hits but knocked in his 100th RBI of the season. Great work, David. Jose Reyes had two stolen bases to raise his total to 43 on the season, eighteen shy of the MLB-leading 63 by Colorado’s Willy Taveras.
Tonight, the Mets conclude their short two-game series with the Phillies when ace Johan Santana (12-7, 2.64) faces off against Kyle Kendrick (11-7, 4.87). If Santana takes care of the Phillies tonight, and as long as the Mets bats back him up for once in his lifetime, it will be as if last night never happened.
With 29 games remaining on the regular-season schedule for the Mets, it is clear that this division race will go right down to the wire. It will be one interesting September!
Osi Umenyiora out for season
After reports that Giants’ defensive end Osi Umenyiora likely wouldn’t miss much time following his injury in the pre-season game against the Jets last night, Adam Schefter of NFL.com shocked us all with the news that Umenyiora is out for the season with a torn MCL .
The story suggests that the Giants could shift Mathias Kiwanuka back to defensive end, the position he held until last season when he was moved to linebacker. We’ll see what Tom Coughlin’s reaction is to this news when the story develops.
Mets complete sweep of rival Atlanta
Heading into last night’s series finale against Atlanta, the Mets knew they had to win with the Phillies playing the lowly Nationals. The Mets handed the Braves their 27th one-run loss on the road in a ROW , while the Phillies slipped to 2.5 games back following their one-run loss to the Nationals.
As I was watching the game, I noticed an old friend, Mike Hampton, was actually on the mound and pitching for Atlanta. He wasn’t hurt, can you believe it? On the other side, Pedro Martinez continued to pitch deep in the game, something he has been able to do several times as of late, pitching seven innings while striking out six and allowing four runs in the process. Hampton, on the other hand, didn’t do too bad himself, giving up three runs in six innings. Now if he could stay healthy…
The night belonged to Carlos Delgado, who went 5-5 with a double and the game-winning, walk-off hit to break the tie in the bottom of the ninth. He had an RBI single up the middle in his first at-bat against the shift, then did the same thing his second time up, only this time it was just off the glove of the second baseman Kelly Johnson, rolling into the outfield for a base hit.
Here we are again with the Mets in first place late in the season. The only difference is this team wasn’t expected to come back and be in first place at this point with their early-season troubles. It’s not every day that you see a completely new coaching staff take over in the middle of the season. I thought it was a stupid move in the first place, but keep in mind that general manager Omar Minaya knows far more than we do about everyday life in the manager’s office behind closed doors.
With 34 games left on the regular-season schedule for the Mets, every game is crucial. As the Florida Marlins fade out of contention in the NL East, it appears the Mets and Phillies will be battling until the bitter end. Since the NL Wild Card likely will be coming out of the central division, the race for the NL East title will be better than ever. I’m looking forward to a fun and exciting September.