Bannister Good, Julio Not So Good

Rookie Brian Bannister made his major league debut tonight and boy o’ boy did he make an impact, but his bullpen failed him in a 9-5, 10 inning loss charged to Jorge Julio. Brian pitched 5.1 innings and did not allow a single hit. He did however have one bad 2/3 of an inning. In the 6th Bannister allowed a double to Vidro, follows it up with a HBP to Jose Guillen, and then a 3 run home run to Nick Johnson. Brian finished the game with 6 innings pitched, 2 hits, 3 runs, 4 strikeouts and 4 walks. The Mets offense scored runs for Bannister in the first 3 innings but cooled down after that. In the first inning Jose Reyes saw 10 pitches to start the game and lined a single to left field and then proceeds to steal second. LoDuca walks, Beltran and Delgado strikeout back to back. Then the phenomenal one David Wright steps to the plate and he slaps one to right field to score the Mets first run. The Mets score another run in the second on a Xavier Nady HR, and 2 more in the 3rd on a Delgado HR. When Bannister left the game he had a 4-3 lead. Duaner Sanchez comes in and gets a 1-2-3 inning. Aaron Heilman follows him with a good inning allowing 1 hit. He got his 3 outs in the ninth inning “ENTER SANDMAN” begins to play. But unfortunately for Brian Bannister this is not the Wagner he wanted to see. On a 3-2 pitch rookie Ryan Zimmerman bombs a homerun to left field to tie the game. Wagner retires the next 3 batters, records the blown save and on to the bottom of the 9th we go. The Mets are able to load the bases in the ninth but are unable to score a run and we are headed for extra innings. Jorge Julio comes on to make his Mets debut and he blows up after getting 1 out. He allows 5 runs over 2/3s of an inning. The Mets bring in Chad Bradford to make his Mets debut and he gets the final out of the 10th inning. The Mets go to bat in the bottom of the 10th and Beltran walks, Delgado gets a hit, Wright flys out, Floyd pops out, Felix Rodriguez balks in a run but on a groundout, a strikeout and an amazin’ diving catch by Anderson Hernandez. Then finally Xavier Nady dribbles one back to the mound for the final out of the game. The Mets at one point in this game lead 4-0. But Brian Bannister allowed a 3 run home run, Billy Wagner could not get it done in the 9th and Jorge Julio lives up to the reputation he had in Baltimore. In the end Bannister made a great debut in a 9-5 loss to the Washington Nationals.