Mets 6, Yankees 4: Canadian Bay-con

The Mets jumped out to a 6-0 lead early in this one but a stinker of a 9th inning from Toyota Irrigation Ryota Igarashi (0.1 innings, two hits, one walk, three runs) turned a laugher into an adventure. Frankie Rodriguez played fireman for the 2nd night in a row, striking out Alex Rodriguez to clinch a series win. Given the low expectations heading into this weekend, taking two of three from the defending champs is a real treat.

Jason Bay has awakened from his (possibly) Molson-induced early season slumber. He tripled his 2010 home run output tonight, taking a Hurley-looking CC Sabathia deep twice. Just a couple weeks ago, Bay looked almost broken at the plate. However, he has been Pujols-esque of late, socking four extra base hits in his last three games and going 10 for his last 15. Jose Reyes added two hits and Alex Cora took advantage of a blown 3rd strike call by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, hitting a two run single in the 2nd inning.

Johan Santana pounded the strike zone most of the night, minimizing his pitch count and keeping the mighty Yanks off the scoreboard until the 7th. Not a bad line overall: 7.2 innings, six hits, one run, five strikeouts, three walks. Things got a bit dicey in the 8th. Santana walked Marcus Thames on four pitches leading off the inning and was later pulled with two outs after giving up a single to Mark Teixeira and walking A-Rod. Pedro Feliciano was called upon and induced a pop-up by Robinson Cano to end the bases loaded threat. In a stunning upset, no one in the ESPN booth declared that Cano would one day win a batting title. I'm pretty sure Joe Morgan was the inventor of that meme so color me surprised.

Update: Turns out Morgan may have dropped a "Future Batting Champion" reference early on in the game, per some commenters. It was too good to be true.

The Miller-Morgan-Hershiser trio did manage to annoy the audience by repeating themselves almost non-stop throughout the broadcast.

The $5 Million Throwing Arm, Jeff Francoeur, went 0-3 and was also mercifully intentionally walked. Going by my gut, and not looking at stats, I estimate that he has swung at every pitch thrown in his direction for the last three weeks (tonight's IBB not included). He sports an unacceptable .635 OPS. While he's probably not this bad, people claiming that this is just a slump are blinded by the smile. Fernando Tatis isn't the outfielder that Frenchy is, but he and Chris Carter should get some more reps in right field. Tatis singled in a pinch hitting appearance tonight.

Frightening tweet of the night, following Feliciano's defeat of Cano. From ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand:

The Mets are five games back of the NL East leading Phillies. Tomorrow is an off day. Number three starter R.A. Dickey faces Jamie Moyer Tuesday night at Citi Field against Philadelphia.

Poem by Howard Megdal

Bay triples his home run pace
While Johan pitches like an ace
In battle of Rods, K- tops A-
Mets better than Yankees! At least for a day

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Pinstripe Alley Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Johan Santana +19.8% (as pitcher), Jason Bay +19.1%
Big losers: David Wright -6.9%, Angel Pagan -6.7%
Teh aw3s0mest play:  Alex Cora two-run single +17.5%
Teh sux0rest play: David Wright strikeout -7.3%
Total pitcher WPA: +22.6%
Total batter WPA: +27.4%
GWRBI!: Jason Bay

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Gina; her effort in the game thread embiggens us all.