The ESPN Baseball Tonight crew discusses whether better batting helmets are needed in the wake of the injury to David Wright.
Tag: David Wright
Audio: Post-Game Aug. 15, 2009 Santana, Manuel, Cain
Here’s the post-game audio from the Giants 5-4 win in 10 innings which David Wright was hit in the head by a pitch from Matt Cain.
Santana Protecting Mets In David Wright Beaning
After yesterday’s game, Johan Santana said that he was protecting his teammates when he threw behind Pablo Sandoval and then hit Bengie Molina. Santana went on to say that he plays the game the right way. I won’t disagree with that. But I think that Santana should have hit or threw near Matt Cain instead of waiting three innings to throw at Sandoval.
Santana probably would’ve been thrown out of the game for throwing at Cain. But at this point in the Mets season, does that really matter? The Mets season is over and the message would have been much more clear to Cain. If Cain can’t stay in control when he’s on the mound, things can get dangerous for everyone including him.
Larry Brooks of the NY Post has some good quotes from Santana about the incident:
“I feel like I have to protect my teammates; you can call it whatever you want. There’s no question we are going to stick together.”
“I’m going to protect them the way they protect me.”
I’m not going to complain too loudly about the way Santana dealt with this. Because he did deal with it. But I still think Cain should have been the one that was on the receiving end of a fastball.
Video: Molina On Mets-Giants Aug. 15, 2009
Bengie Molina hit the game-winning homer off Francisco Rodriguez and talked to Chris Rose of Fox after the game. He talks about looking for a fastball off K-Rod, and he addresses the David Wright beaning and subsequent retaliation.
http://images.video.msn.com/flash/customplayer/1_0/customplayer.swf
Giants 5 – Mets 4 Aug. 15, 2009
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Although the biggest impact of this game came from the failures of the Mets best pitchers, the biggest impact on the rest of the season may be felt by David Wright taking a bean ball to the head. Matt Cain hit him square in the side of the helmet with a 94 mph fastball that dropped Wright to the ground. He was helped off the field and later left in an ambulance to be examined.
Johan Santana really didn’t have his best stuff today. He ended up giving up 4 runs in 6.2 innings. The 9 hits and 1 walk just didn’t cut it and he left the game with the Mets losing 4-1 in the seventh. Santana did throw a ball behind Pablo Sandoval in retaliation for Wright’s beaning. Sandoval got the last laugh though when he drilled a deep home run to left in the at-bat.
The Mets came back with a 3-run rally. They strung some hits together and rallied only to have Francisco Rodriguez give it away in the tenth inning on a solo homer to Bengie Molina.
Padres 6 – Mets 2 Aug. 7, 2009
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Mets found another stunning way to lose which they specialize in doing, especially in San Diego. Tonight they got an astoundingly good start from Oliver Perez. He cruised through the first 6 innings only allowing 1 hit and no walks. But he started to lose it in the seventh giving up a hit and two walks to score a run. Overall, it looked like a real breakthrough start for Perez. He was using a new pause during his windup that seemed to really help him.
The Mets didn’t do much on offense again, only getting 7 hits and 3 walks. They scored both runs in the first inning. Then nothing for the rest of the game. For the second straight game they only had one extra base hit in the game, a double by David Wright. Very poor hitting against a sub-par Padres team.
The ninth inning is when things got crazy. Francisco Rodriguez blew his second straight save opportunity. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even get an out in the ninth. The Padres scored the tying run on a bad call at the plate. But that wasn’t the real issue. K-Rod loaded the bases on 2 hits and 3 walks (1 intentional), then gave up a grand slam to light-hitting shortstop Everth Cabrera of all people. And that was the game.
Another stunning loss for this team.
Cards Thompson Suspended For Throwing At Wright
- Image via Wikipedia
MLB announced today that Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson was suspended for throwing a pitch at the head of David Wright yesterday. The pitch appeared to be in retaliation for Albert Pujols getting hit in the forearm by Nelson Figueroa earlier in the game.
The suspension is for three games and Thompson has been fined an undisclosed amount.
Gary Sheffield was the next batter in the game. He stepped out of the batter’s box, pointed to his helmet, and appeared to say to Thompson “Throw one at my head”.
The NY Post has some good quotes about the incident in today’s issue.
Even Tony LaRussa didn’t like it. Jeff Francoeur and Wright are quoted as well as Sheffield.
It’s interesting that this didn’t escalate into a fight. The last thing the Mets need is for Wright to get suspended for fighting. The team would be completely sunk without him right now. He’s one of the few legitimate big league players on the roster.
The Mets Report 