Second baseman Luis Castillo dropped A-Rod’s two-out popup in the ninth inning as Derek Jeter scored from second and Mark Teixeira from first, giving the Yankees a wild 9-8 victory over the Mets on Friday night.
“As soon as I slid in, I hugged Jete and I said, `What just happened?’ because I couldn’t believe it,” Teixeira said.
David Wright put the Mets ahead 8-7 with an eighth-inning double off Mariano Rivera(notes) (1-2), and Francisco Rodriguez (1-1) appeared to escape a ninth-inning jam on the popup by A-Rod, just 1 for 17 in his career off K-Rod, including the postseason.
But Castillo kept drifting toward the foul line and allowed the ball to pop out of his glove as he tried for a one-handed catch on the right field grass. The Yankees ran onto the field to celebrate.
A few minutes later, Castillo sat alone in the visitor’s clubhouse, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his head resting on his hands. His eyes were reddening.
A three-time Gold Glove winner, Castillo called it a “routine fly ball.”
“I feel bad. I feel so bad,” he said following his fifth error of the season. “The ball was moving a little bit.”
It was yet another stunning defeat for the Mets, who keep finding new ways to lose. They lost to Florida on April 12 when left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped Cody Ross’ flly ball. And on May 18 they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers after Ryan Church missed third base en route to not scoring the go-ahead run in the 11th inning.
“We’ll have to fight through this,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “This is definitely a tremendous test for us.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/video?id=4255949
“As soon as I slid in, I hugged Jete and I said, `What just happened?’ because I couldn’t believe it,” Teixeira said.
David Wright put the Mets ahead 8-7 with an eighth-inning double off Mariano Rivera(notes) (1-2), and Francisco Rodriguez (1-1) appeared to escape a ninth-inning jam on the popup by A-Rod, just 1 for 17 in his career off K-Rod, including the postseason.
But Castillo kept drifting toward the foul line and allowed the ball to pop out of his glove as he tried for a one-handed catch on the right field grass. The Yankees ran onto the field to celebrate.
A few minutes later, Castillo sat alone in the visitor’s clubhouse, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his head resting on his hands. His eyes were reddening.
A three-time Gold Glove winner, Castillo called it a “routine fly ball.”
“I feel bad. I feel so bad,” he said following his fifth error of the season. “The ball was moving a little bit.”
It was yet another stunning defeat for the Mets, who keep finding new ways to lose. They lost to Florida on April 12 when left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped Cody Ross’ flly ball. And on May 18 they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers after Ryan Church missed third base en route to not scoring the go-ahead run in the 11th inning.
“We’ll have to fight through this,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “This is definitely a tremendous test for us.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/video?id=4255949
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