Diamondbacks 5, Mets 2 - Delayed Domination

Record: 46-59. Pace: 71-91. Change on last season: -7.

On a day when Citi Field ticket takers distributed promotional orange t-shirts to an optimistic crowd gathering for an early game, fans headed home hours later seeing red, due to a brilliantly efficient complete game victory by Jon Garland.  The righty's 106 pitches, 76 strikes, and just two runs on six hits gave the Diamondbacks their 46th win while pushing the Mets 7.5 games behind the Rockies as their bid for a postseason wildcard berth continues its brisk march toward improbability. 

If this is how two and a half hour rain delays impact Jon Garland, then let's do what we can to ensure his next several starts are all in the Pacific Northwest.  Garland, who didn't need to strike out a batter until the sixth (he managed only two Ks the entire game) was aided by two double plays (courtesy of David Wright each time), started 67 percent of batters facing him with a strike, and into the sixth (when I stopped counting) had only allowed more than 2 balls on any single batter four times.  In short, absolutely efficient domination.

More after the jump.

With the game set to begin, more than rain dampened the optimism of many a Diamondbacks fan.  During the delay we learned that not only would Brandon Webb go under the knife potentially ending his time as a Diamondback, but that the red-hot Mark Reynolds had earned himself a day off.  Surely, we thought, this Sunday game was going to be forgettable.

Our first three batters didn't do anything to prop up our spirits as Mike Pelfrey , a man who doesn't do so very often at all - and game footage shows was pitching with an untied shoe - was able to easily strike out the side.

Pelfrey's uncharacteristic start was soon forgotten however as he creatively allowed the bases to fill in the second inning despite not giving up a single hit.  After Montero popped out to short and Tracy was sent back to the bench with a foul out, Pelfrey walked Roberts, then struck both Romero and Ojeda with pitches.  The baseball Gods were merely toying with our fragile emotions however as Garland approached the plate for the first of his five at bats of the day.  His weak fly out left the game, much like Pelfrey's now fixed shoe apparently, knotted up with zero runs scored.

No hit was managed by the boys in Sonoran Red until Montero's opposite field double in the top of the fourth set up an  Alex Romero RBI double.  Romero's conversion of a 3-2 pitch down gave us a lead the Diamondbacks would never surrender as Garland continued to dazzle the Metropolitans.

While the game progressed rather quickly, the fifth inning proved to be the most exciting of the game for both squads.

Stephen Drew, who had not yet mustered a hit against the Met's this series lead off the fifth with a single to right and was promptly moved to second when J-Upton coaxed a walk out of Pelfrey. Montero then earned his second hit of the game with a single to load the bases for Tracy.  Tracy took the second pitch he saw and struck it deep into right, over Francoeur's head, scoring two runs as Monter was held up at third. This set up the most intriguing play of the game.

Determined to minimize the damage, Pelfrey coaxed a weak hit out of Roberts.  The pitcher scooped up the ball and threw it home as Montero rushed home plate.  Met's catcher Brian Schneider caught Pelfrey's throw but missed tagging a feet first sliding Montero.  The umpire remained silent, thinking Montero himself missed the plate while sliding, until a confused Schneider tagged his counterpart out.  Many replays on the large screen TV I was watching the game from seemed to clearly show  Montero's foot barely touch the plate, but the umpire, and apparently our Manager were not as sure as I was.  As Miguel slowly walked back to the dugout, you may have expected our former catcher manager to jump from his perch, stride out onto the field, and give the officiating crew a little lesson on what happens behind a plate in a situation like this.  Hinch instead, seemed content to remain in the dugout. 

Of course, the big screen TV which so clearly showed Montero safe to this new recapper could probably better be described as ... well ... an iPhone.  So maybe our guys knew what was going on, but I will let the commenters be the judge of that.

The scoring fun of the fifth inning wasn't only for the Diamondbacks though.  Garland's 38th pitch was happily deposited into the seats in left center by Francoeur.  The dinger was the first of three straight extra base hits.  Next up was a triple by Sullivan, then a double by Cora.  Two runs were in with no outs and the lead, and Garland's luck, looked like they had reached their end.

A Schneider ground out advanced Cora to third and a seemingly pressing Garland climbed back atop the mound to face a pinch-hitting Gary Sheffield.  The Diamondback defense, worried how hard the Sheff hits even infield balls, was aligned fairly deep by Hinch.  This move, dismissed at the time by the Mets announcers helped the Diamondbacks escape with the lead.  Sheffield sharply struck a 1-0 hanging slider only to be robbed by a leaping Chad Tracy.  This spectacular stab at first reclaimed any remaining momentum the Mets had collected.  One batter later, Garland was out of the inning and the score was 3-2.

The Tracy grab provided Garland enough of an emotional boost to get him through the next four innings on 53 pitches and a spectacular defensive play set up by another managerial maneuver.  An inning after the Diamondbacks extend their lead to 4-2 via a Parra RBI single that scored Ojeda, Hinch moved  Parra over to left as Chris Young took his place in center.  The defensive upgrade proved eventful in the eighth when Sheffield was robbed of his second straight hit by an amazing diving catch by Parra.

If Garland, Tracy, and Parra proved to be clutch defensive heroes, Montero (3 for 5 with a run), Ojeda (2 for 2 with 2 walks and 2 runs) and Tracy (2 for 5 with 2 RBI) got it done on the offensive side.

An interesting side note.  While Garland waking into the batter's box five times itself is notable, the fact that there were runners on the bases each time is even more interesting.  Of course Garland didn't earn a hit and only was able to move the runners once due to a sacrifice, but considering the rest of his performance - I think we can let this slide.

The Diamondbacks return to Citi Field tomorrow for the final game of the series.  Dan Haren takes the mound against spot starter Nelson Figueroa who only today was recalled from AAA Buffalo.  Figueroa has seven wins for Buffalo with a 2.25 ERA.

[Usual trimmings now added!]

[Click to enlarge, at Fangraphs.com]
Master of his domain: Jon Garland, +33.8%
Honorable mentions: Ojeda, +14.0%; Montero, +11.2%
God-emperor of suck: Ryan Roberts -17.0%

Thanks to Wactivist for his guest recap: I was stunned when he mentioned he was writing the recap off his "notes." I'm looking into this intriguing and novel concept... Just shy of 400 comments in the Gameday Thread, helped a little by the lengthy delay before first pitch. Normal service was resumed, 'Skins having twice as many as anyone else. Also present: Giannaros, sayheyupton, unnamedDBacksfan, pygalgia, hotclaws, kishi, Counsellmember, TwinnerA, snakecharmer, IHateSouthBend, AJforAZ, katers, gasgarza, marionette, piratedan7, njjohn and Clefo.

A good win, guaranteeing us at least a split on the road, always a credible result. The victory also moved us above the Reds, so we have the twelfth best record in the NL now. Next in our sights, these same Mets. They're currently 4.5 games ahead, but we can get one of those back tomorrow, with Dan facing a career journeyman in Nelson Figueroa, so hopefully that'll give us the series win.