Murphy's Magic Stirs Some Controversy

METS 7

NATIONALS 4

Controversy appears to stalk the Mets these days. For the fourth time in five days umpires have had to review another home run, and, for the fourth straight time, the ruling came in favor of the Mets. If there is one team that will endorse replay at the end of the season, the Mets might be that team.

In a game that followed many twists and turns, Daniel Murphy's home run, or phantom double, was the difference tonight. In the sixth inning, with Gary Sheffield on base, and Jordan Zimmerman once again mastering the Mets by holding them to three runs in the game's first five innings, controversy struck. Murphy blasted a pitch to the deep, well-shaped wall in right field. The ball appeared to have died in front of the Subway restaurants sign which makes up part of the large overhang in right. The ball fell off the Modell's store sign a few feet below and dropped to the ground.

Sheffield scored easily, but there remained a question: Was it a home run for the struggling Murphy?

The umpires took a look at it in replay and subsequently ruled that the ball had hit the Subway sign, ricocheted off that and bounced to the ground, making it a home run. Still, there is some debate. Late in the SNY broadcast, intrepid reporter Kevin Burkhard reported that fans in the upper deck noticed that the ball never hit the Subway sign. Ah me; I suppose this ruling constitutes the biggest controversy to occur at Flushing since Keith Hernandez's let loose his wicked lugie at Kramer and Newman in an episode of Seinfeld. Back and to the left. Back and to the left.

As for the other moments in this crazy affair, ace Johan Santana was inconsistent. He threw too many pitches, 120 to be exact, and was never in command of his fastball, giving up a 500 foot home run to Adam Dunn to mark the longest homer in CitiField history; nonetheless, he still found a way to strike out 11 Nationals and pitch six innings for his seventh victory of the season.

As for Dunn, his night was nutty too. Other then the gigantic bomb fired off Santana's fastball, he made a bid for his second blast of the night, but the ball died in front of the right field fence; instead, it appeared in the glove of rookie Fernando Martinez for a very long out. Then, in the sixth, he was underneath Murphy's controversial home run and thought that the ball was going to bounce off the Modell's sign so he could make a play on it, but it never happened the way he anticipated.

In the end, K-Rod put the kibosh on a potential Nationals comeback, striking out red hot Ryan Zimmerman to end the game and preventing any chance of Dunn coming to the plate as a potential tying run. Box Score.