Jets Stumble to Defeat
After edging out Tampa Bay for a win in Week 1 the Jets turned around and flew to New England on short rest for a Thursday night game against the Patriots. Tom Brady looked to have his brand new receiving core in working order early on as the Pats marched down the field for the first drive of the game, culminating in 39-yard touchdown connection between Brady and Aaron Dobson.
It was a short, clean drive which took just over 2 minutes, but the early TD was not a sign of things to come. After the Patriots scored again on a field goal to go up 10-0, Geno Smith drove his team across the field from the Jets’ 20, eventually throwing what looked to be a 9-yard touchdown pass to Gates, but the call was reversed on replay. New York had to settle for a Folk field goal to cut the deficit down to 7.
The Patriots scored again on a field goal midway through the second quarter to go back up by 10, and the Jets were unable to answer before halftime. When they returned to the field rain was beginning to poor down on Gillette Stadium, adding another layer of difficulty to what was already a shaping up to be a sloppy game.
New York was finally able to score a touchdown when they got the ball at their own 42 five minutes into the third quarter. Smith was sacked on the first snap of the drive, but led his team to the New England 3-yard line over the next seven plays, allowing Bilal Powell to run it up the middle into the end zone, cutting the Patriot lead down to 3.
With 20 minutes left in the game, however, neither team was able to score again. Geno Smith threw 3 interceptions in the fourth quarter—the first deep in Patriot territory, and the next two close to midfield—with the third giving New England the ball back as only 38 seconds were left on the clock. Following a scuffle on the sidelines which resulted in two Jets players (offensive linemen Willie Colon and D'Brickashaw Ferguson) being ejected from what little remained of the game, Brady took a knee and the Jets lost 13-10.
Smith went 15/35 for 214 yards with no TDs and 3 interceptions. Chris Ivory led the team in rushing with 52 yards on 12 carries, and Powell followed with 48 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. The Jets’ receivers had trouble holding on to the ball, even before the rain began, but Stephen Hill (who led the receivers with 86 yards on 4 catches) was the only one to fumble.
The Jets will have plenty of prep time as they get ready to face the Buffalo Bills at 4:25 PM on Sunday September 22nd.
Mets Top Marlins After Rough Week
The Mets’ last series against the Nationals got off to a rough, if not prophetic start on Monday. In the very first at-bat of the night Carlos Torres gave up a solo shot to Denard Span, then a second homerun to Ryan Zimmerman immediately afterward. Torres retired the next three batters and sat down the side in the second inning, but let two men reach base in the third before Jayson Werth launched one out of the park to put the Nats up 5-0.
Tyler Moore joined the hit parade in the fourth with a lead-off homer, convincing Terry Collins to take Torres out for the fifth inning, though his replacement fared no better. After getting the first two batters out, Greg Burke walked the next two then gave up a 3-run shot to Wilson Ramos, sending Washington ahead 9-0.
New York could not out the ball in play until Zach Lutz singled into right field—it would be the only Met hit as Gio Gonzalez pitched a complete game, 1-hit shutout.
Game 2 on Tuesday began just as poorly as Dillon Gee gave up homeruns to Werth in the first and Adam LaRoche in the second, then let Werth bang in an RBI double in the third to knock the Mets down 3-0.
Justin Turner was able to put New York on the board for the first time in 13 innings with an RBI single in the fourth. Though Gee gave up another run in the top of the sixth, Matt den Dekker singled home two runs in the bottom frame to cut the deficit down to 4-3. Unfortunately, the last runs of the game came on a 2-run shot by Scott Hairston in the top of the ninth, setting Washington up for a 6-3 win.
Wednesday’s follow-up was a pitchers’ duel as the Nationals’ Dan Haren went toe-to-toe with Zach Wheeler without giving up a run through six innings of work. Wheeler allowed his first and only run through seven innings on a Werth homer to start the sixth.
Washington added a bit of insurance with a 2-run double off Vic Black in the eighth to go up 3-0. That score held and Wheeler took his 5th loss despite striking out 6 over seven innings of 1-run ball.
Aaron Harang, whom New York signed to a minor league deal after being released by the Mariners at the start of the month, made his first start as a Met in Thursday’s close to the series. He gave up a solo shot to Ryan Zimmerman in the top of the first, which Daniel Murphy answered with an RBI double in the bottom half, then a second homer to LaRoche in the second.
Harang settled down afterwards, allowing Anthony Recker to tie the score at 2 apiece with an RBI single in the fourth. The tie was short-lived, however, as Ramos smacked a homer in the top of the fifth to put the Nats back on top 3-2. The game stayed close until Harang left in the seventh, and Washington piled on another 4 runs in the remaining three innings. The Nationals took the game 7-2 as they swept the Mets in Citi Field over the final four games of the season series.
The Mets kicked off a four game set against the Marlins last night. Jon Niese gave up the first run of the game on a leadoff homer by Giancarlo Stanton in the top of the second, but Andrew Brown kicked off the bottom of the inning with a homer of his own to tie the game.
Miami did not score again until Niese allowed an RBI double in the fifth which gave the Marlins a short-lived lead. With two on and two out in the bottom of the sixth, Lucas Duda smashed his 13th homer of the year, giving New York a 4-2 lead. Stanton responded with a solo shot in the top of the seventh, though it was the last run either team would score. Niese got his 7th win on six-and-a-third innings’ work with 7 strikeouts as LaTroy Hawkins notched his 9th save to give New York a 4-3 victory.
The Mets will square off against the Marlins again at 4:10 PM today, continue the series at 7:45 PM for the second half of a double header, then finish it at 1:10 PM tomorrow.
Yankees Fall to Boston, Remain in WC Hunt
The Yankees’ playoff hopes were looking fairly bleak after dropping 3 of 4 to the Red Sox at home last week, and did not improve on the night they travelled to Baltimore for the last time this season. Alex Rodriguez hit his 5th homerun since returning from injury in the top of the first, but CC Sabathia gave up a sacrifice fly to Adam Jones in the bottom frame to tie the game.
CC settled down and the game remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth when he allowed another run to score on a sac. fly, then a third on a Nick Markakis single. Manny Machado doubled off CC in the seventh to drive home Matt Wieters and put the Orioles up 4-1. Lyle Overbay rocketed a solo shot to start off the eighth, but the Yanks were unable to rally around him and fell 4-2 as Sabathia dropped to 13-12 on the season.
New York was hoping to get a slightly stronger performance out of Ivan Nova on Tuesday, and perhaps even win a low-scoring game as A-Rod knocked in the first run of the game on a double in the third.
Nova blanked the O’s through four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth when he started the inning with three straight singles to tie the game 1-1. A sac. fly gave Baltimore a 1-run lead, and Chris Davis smashed a 2-run homer to put Baltimore up 4-1 before Nova could get out of the inning.
Alfonso Soriano started to dig the team out of its hole with his 31st homerun of the year in the top of the sixth, and Mark Reynolds cut the deficit down to 1 with a solo shot of his own later in the inning. Cano would bail Nova out of position for a potential loss with an RBI single to tie the game in the eighth, which Soriano followed by launching a 2-run homer. Reynolds doubled Curtis Granderson home to give the Bronx Bombers a 7-4 lead.
Baltimore scored one more run in the eighth, but Mariano Rivera shut them down on three straight groundball outs in the ninth to earn his 42nd save and give New York a 7-5 victory.
Brett Gardner manufactured the first run of Wednesday’s game; after working a walk he stole second base, then ran to third on an A-Rod groundout. Cano grounded out to short in the next at-bat, allowing Gardner to run home and put the Yanks up 1-0.
Andy Pettitte started off strong with two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third. With two outs, Pettitte allowed two singles in-a-row then gave up a 2-run double to Chris Davis, putting Baltimore ahead 2-1. He allowed another run to score in the fourth, but Granderson hit his 5th homerun of the year in the fifth inning, and Rodriguez launched another in the sixth to tie the game 3-3.
Pettitte left with the game tied a third of the way through the seventh inning, and the bullpen held Baltimore down long enough for Cano to break the tie on a leadoff homer in the ninth. Lyle Overbay added what would prove a bit of vital insurance with an RBI single before the inning ended, as Rivera gave up a run en route to his 43rd save of the year. The Yankees won the game 5-4.
The Yankees took a commanding lead early in Thursday’s close to the series as Mark Reynolds hit a 2-run homer in the second inning, and Vernon Wells singled in 2 runs in the third. The O’s scored their first run off Hughes, who had returned to his role as a starter, with an RBI single in the bottom of the third to make the score 4-1.
Hughes was taken out of the game early as David Huff took over in the fourth inning. Neither team scored again until Granderson rocketed a homer in the top of the seventh, to which Markakis responded in kind to begin the bottom half.
David Robertson gave a rare poor outing in the eighth, letting two runner reach base with two outs, then giving up a game-tying homerun to Danny Valencia. A wild pitch in the next frame by Jim Johnson allowed Brendan Ryan—who the Yanks acquired from Seattle to step in for an ailing Derek Jeter on Tuesday—to run home and put NY up 6-5. Jeter has been shut down for the rest of the season, but Ryan’s run gave the Yanks enough of an edge to win the game as Rivera worked a 1-2-3 ninth. Rivera was credited with his 6th win rather than a save for his last appearance in Baltimore, and the Yankees took 3 of 4 from the Orioles.
The Yanks travelled to Boston just a single game out of the Wild Card spot for their final series with the Red Sox last night. Unfortunately, the Sox looked ready to continue their string of high-scoring games against the Yankees when they hit Hiroki Kuroda for 4 runs in the first inning.
Kuroda continued to work into trouble over the next few innings, but managed to get out of it each time as his team began slowly chipping away at the deficit. Ryan, who is known as a solid defensive player with a weak bat, hit a towering homerun over the Green Monster to put the Yanks on the board in the third, and Overbay cut the Boston lead down to 2 with a sac. fly in the sixth.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Robinson Cano hit a 2-run double to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the seventh. Kuroda, who grinded through a rough start, was taken out for Cesar Cabral after allowing Shane Victorino to lead the bottom half off with a single. Cabral plunked David Ortiz and was promptly replaced by Preston Claiborne, who in turn walked the bases loaded and gave up a grand slam to Jarrod Saltalamacchia shortly afterward.
Their lead now doubled, Boston held New York down for the remaining two innings and took the game 8-4. The loss puts the Yanks behind Tamp Bay by 2 games in the Wild Card race, and allowed Cleveland to leap half a game ahead of them.
The Yankees will try to even the series out at 1:05 PM today and finish it at 8:05 PM tomorrow.