A Night of Scoreless Baseball from Coney Island to Queens

Last night was a great night to be a New York National League Baseball Fan. In the upper part of the land mass that is Long Island, a Tennessean man worked his umpteenth masterpiece in a row for the New York Mets, beating the Baltimore Orioles 5-0. In the lower part of the land mass, the Brooklyn Cyclones battled the Staten Island Yankees to 0-0 in the 8th inning, only to score 2 in the bottom half and hold on in the 9th for a 2-0 win. They both occurred in sync with one another, with Howie in my right ear and the Cyclones right in front.

The action got started between 7 and 7:10, with the Brooklyn Squad around 10 minutes ahead of their parent club. On this night, there were four pitchers in the groove in the Counties of Kings and Queens. RA Dickey went at his usual briskly pace, while the Mets kept stranding runners against some Oriole named Jake Arietta. Down on the beach, Taylor Morton of the Yanks and Gabriel Ynoa of the Cyclones exchanged zeros throughout, with Brooklyn, in very recent Metsian fashion, stranding runner after runner, including a warning track fly ball by 1st baseman Cole Frenzel with the bases loaded to end the 4th inning. Before we knew it, it was 8:45 and the 8th inning had arrived. Up near the Long Island Sound, it wasn't till the 6th inning that the Mets could get something going, and of course RA Dickey got the rally started with a single of his own, moving over to 3rd on Jordany Valdespin's double. He was almost picked off 3rd on David Wright's line out to short, but got back in time to allow The Duda to walk with 2 out and Ike Davis to finally break out of his Citi Field homerless slump in the most dramatic way possible. The Howie Rose Grand Slam call was outstanding, and I pumped my fist and let everybody in our section know the other baseball news.

Staten Island lefty James Pazos could not find the strike zone in the bottom of the 8th. After Juan Carlos grounded out, the highly touted prospect, Brandon Nimmo, waited for the BB. Philip Evans, the shortstop for Brooklyn, walked as well, and Nimmo moved to 2nd. Alex Sanchez, the DH for the evening, singled past the shortstop and the bases were loaded. Stefan Sabol, the left fielder for the 'clones, waited for a strike but never got one, walking to force in the 1st run of the night. Cole Frenzel came up with the bases loaded once again, and for good measure hit a sac fly to score another run. The 9th inning was a breeze, with Tyler Vanderheiden striking out the last 2 Staten Islanders. Only 2 minutes later, RA Dickey struck out his last Bird to seal his 2nd consecutive 1-hit shutout. The Cyclones had fireworks afterwards, and my friend and I watched them from, what turned out to be, my perfectly parked car.

What a night of baseball indeed.

The New York Mets send Johan Santana out for the series win tonight at 7:10PM. O's will send Tommy Hunter to the Hill. 

The Brooklyn Cyclones take on the Staten Island Yankees for the next 3 days, with 2 games in Staten Island and Thursday's game back in Coney Island. If you haven't been to a game out there yet, do yourself a favor and venture to Coney Island for the Revival of Brooklyn Baseball. It is always a fantastic time.

LETS. GO. CYCLONES.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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