Baseball Review // Record-Journal Expos Split Doubleheader on Thursday, Lose to Middletown Mets on Monday (GHTBL)
Doubleheader Game 1 :::
https://ghtbl.org/event/expos-mets
Doubleheader Game 2 :::
https://ghtbl.org/event/mets-expos-0
Monday Game Box Score :::
Photos from the doubleheader can be found in an album on Facebook here :::
Photos from the Monday night game can be found here :::
Between Thursday night and Monday the Record-Journal Expos and Middletown Mets played each other three times. There was originally a game scheduled for Wednesday night but it was rained out and then Thursday became a doubleheader. Now, this also made the Thursday night game push the start time back from 6:30pm to 6pm which might affect people getting out of work, etc and so it was a little weird to see this happen on a Thursday.
The first game was supposed to be at Buzzy Levin, so for the first game on Thursday night the Mets were the home team. In the top of the second inning, Sebby Grignano singled in Yilbert Castillo to score the first run of the game. Hector Gonzalez would score on a balk and the Expos were up 2-0. This was also an interesting inning because it's when we all learned that umpires don't wear cups and that's all I'll say about that.
In the bottom of the third inning a sacrifice by Jon Comer scored the first run for the Middletown Mets and it was 2-1. This game felt tight defensively, as the pitching of Brendan O'Connell seemed to keep the Mets in check. In the top of the fifth AJ Hendrickson singled to right field to bring in Sebby Grignano, which put the Expos up 3-1.
The seventh inning saw a lot of the action. With two outs, Kyle Hartenstein drew a walk. "Superstar" Luke DiMauro singled on and then AJ Hendrickson was HBP to load the bases. Will Kszywanos singled up the third base side to bring in two more runs, making the score 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
It was fortunate that the Expos got those insurance runs because the Mets would load the bases in the bottom of the seventh for Kezlin Douglas to come hit a double and drive in two runs. The Expos would get out of it though and then after fifteen minutes or so the second game would start with the Expos being the home team.
If you've seen the score, you know that the second game wasn't an easy one for the Expos but also at some point you have to believe the Mets just wanted it to be done and over with as well. It was getting late. We spent about a total of five hours at Ceppa Field that night. I was getting tired and I wasn't even playing.
The interesting things they won't tell you about the second game are that there was only one umpire who called pitches from behind the pitcher. This, in and of itself, felt weird. Why have only one umpire? Why couldn't the second one also stay? But I'm not sure how much it affected the outcome of the game.
For the brief recap of the events, Sean Jefferson hit a two run homerun in the first inning to put the Mets up 2-0. Two runs were walked in during the second inning, then two more would score on a wild pitch. Kezlin Douglas would single in a run in the fourth and then in the sixth runs just kept flowing like it was batting practice.
What's funny about this being a doubleheader was that my Dad wouldn't stay for all of the second game and then my Uncle showed up during about the third inning, found out the score and just basically left. This felt very much like a game that the Expos didn't want to be a part of and by the end even the Mets were growing tired and wondering why they agreed to a doubleheader instead of just making up the game on a different night.
Last night, with the Middletown Mets once again at Ceppa Field but also at home, the Expos dropped a close one, 4-3. Both AJ Hendrickson and "Superstar" Luke DiMauro hit homeruns but the Mets kept stringing hits together and waving their runners home. This just goes to show that winning these two games improved the Middletown Mets to 8-12, which means the best they can hope for this season is to be 12-12 and hit that .500 mark.
But the Mets have been on a roll this second half, as it feels like all of their pieces are coming together. They're going to be the wild card to watch in the playoffs for sure. The Expos are now sitting at 9-9 and really need some more wins to not sink under .500. Tuesday night (weather pending) the Expos play the Bristol Greeners at Ceppa Field.
On Wednesday, the Expos will travel to Wethersfield High School to play M&T Bank and on Thursday it's back to Northwest Park to meet the Rainbow Graphics again. The interesting part of these games is that against the Greeners this season the Expos are 1-1, they are 0-2 against M&T but they are also 1-1 against the Rainbow Graphics. That Expos-Graphics game is going to be really tense, I can already feel it.
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