Castillo Costs Mets Golden Opportunity, Error Erases Chance At Victory Over Yankees

YANKEES 9

METS 8

From the Mets standpoint, this is one of the worst losses of the season. For the Yankees, it doesn't matter; it all counts the same in the win column.

The Mets had three different comebacks against the Yankees tonight, held an 8-7 lead heading into the ninth inning with closer Francisco Rodriguez on the mound to close it out. Rodriguez got Brett Gardner to foul out to the catcher, gave up a single to Derek Jeter and struck out Johnny Damon.

Then it got interesting. After falling behind 3-0 to Mark Teixeria, Jerry Manuel decided to give the slugger the intentional pass in order to get to Alex Rodriguez who was 1 for 14 against K-Rod. K-Rod fell behind 3-0 to A-Rod, got a strike on him, and then served up a easy pop up to second.

But it wasn't so easy. Luis Castillo appeared to stumble as he moved backwards into the outfield, lost the ball in the night, and dropped the ball once it landed in his glove. Jeter scored the tying run, and Teixeria scored the game winning run before the throw home could even get to catcher Omir Santos.

This will likely lead up to a week's worth of criticism for Castillo who should have somehow found a way to get both hands on the ball. There should also be some criticism for outfielder Ryan Church for not moving in to help Castillo out, in case the drop happened. It did, and it cost the Mets the game.

The game was wild all night long. The Yankees had four home runs on the night: a solo shot by Robinson Cano, a solo shot by Jeter, a two run blast by Teixeria and a three run homer by Hideki Matsui to give the Yankees a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning.

Gary Sheffield had a huge night for the Mets. His two run blast into the upper deck gave the Mets a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning. David Wright had what could have been the game winning hit, lining a double into the gap off Mariano Rivera to bring home Carlos Beltran to give the Mets a 8-7 lead in the eighth.

There's little joy in Flushing tonight.

Box Score.

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