|
Dismal hitting, but stellar broadcasting on the part of the New York Mets. Caught the game in pieces while out and Howie Rose ratcheted up the tension every step of the way. Totally lived up to the example Bob Murphy set in framing a milestone event by an opponent. Howie himself has said the greatness of Murph was that when he called one of those moments, you couldn't necessarily tell which team's announcer he was.
So taken by his description of the bottom of the ninth, I transcribed it.
Enjoy?
***
Well, if San Francisco Giants righthander Chris Heston could responsibly be described before the game as a rather NON-descript pitcher, well, there’s been absolutely nothing ordinary about what he’s achieved tonight.
However it ends, it’s going to be one of the most memorable games of his life.
He has no-hit the New York Mets through eight innings.
We start the bottom of the ninth with the Giants leading five to nothing, ANTHONY Recker leads off for New York. He’s oh for two, grounded to second, grounded to third.
Heston DELIVERS his first pitch and he HITS Recker. And that answers any question you might have about whether there’s either a little extra ADRENALINE or perhaps just extra NERVOUSNESS...COURSING through Chris Heston right now.
His first pitch hits Anthony Recker, the THIRD batter that he’s tonight, so Recker the runner at first, and DANNY Muno will bat for Sean Gilmartin.
[Josh Lewin interjects: "He’s cast as the, uh, Jimmy Qualls I guess here, huh?"]
Well, Muno, a switch-hitter batting left...and Heston’s first pitch, a curveball in for a called strike, nothing and one, and if he was a little extra amped up, that should calm him down.
Muno two for nineteen. One for four as a pinch-hitter.
Infield at double play depth, the pitch, fastball lined FOUL off to the left of home plate downstairs, it’s oh and two.
The paid crowd tonight, twenty-three thousand one-hundred and fifty-five. If Heston pulls this off, there will be many MORE who insist that they were there as the years pass.
Oh and two to Muno. Heston to the belt, DEALS. Curveball in there, STRIKE THREE CALLED. One out in the ninth, Heston has no-hit the Mets for eight and one THIRD innings.
And with a runner at first and one out, consider that any pitch now could be the final one of the night should GRANDERSON hit a ground ball that the Giants turn into two.
For Heston, the strikeout, his ninth of the game.
Not a big strikeout pitcher, but tonight he’s had EVERYthing working.
They will overshift the infield, three on the right side against Granderson.
Heston’s first pitch...taken outside, a changeup, one and oh.
The Giants not at all concerned about Recker. They’re not holding against him, Brandon Belt pretty deep and WAY off the bag when that first pitch was delivered.
Belt a little CLOSER now, perhaps because they wanna keep that double play in order, but now he drops back.
The one-oh pitch, curveball OVER, strike one, it’s one and one, and that pitch has been absolutely DAZZLING by Heston tonight.
That a little bit more of the twelve-to-six type curve. He’s also had a rather slurvy looking one that’s been effective.
One and one the count. Here’s the pitch, fastball low outside, ball two.
Giants will start to get some action in their bullpen. The pitch count not an issue in and of itself. He’s thrown a hundred and three. He’s thrown one game of a hundred and twelve, another a hundred eleven.
Two and one to Granderson, now the pitch. Fastball, popped FOUL, into the seats downstairs behind third.
TWO and TWO to Curtis Granderson.
Well, Brandon Belt, the first baseman, reaches down, puts an errant HOT dog wrapper or piece of paper into his pocket, and you’d never know what Heston’s doin’. He’s all business, already waiting to go on the mound.
Two and two to Granderson, the pitch, FASTBALL IN THERE, STRIKE THREE CALLED! He got him on the inside corner at the knees, and CHRIS HESTON is ONE OUT AWAY from NO-HITTING the New York Mets.
It is his tenth strikeout of the game, the third time that he’s gotten Granderson.
And NOW it is up to Ruben TEJADA, who is oh for two and was hit by a pitch.
Remember, Heston has not walked a batter. The only THREE baserunners the Mets have had tonight have been hit batsmen: Tejada; the man on deck Duda — they came back to back in the fourth — and Recker to start the ninth.
Many in this crowd are standing, some taking pictures. Recker runs, first pitch, breaking ball, outside, ball one. Recker takes second on defensive indifference.
So Heston, one hundred and six pitches thrown, just rubs the ball up and goes right back to the rubber, he’s not WALKIN’ around, not sucking anything IN, or takin’ extra deep breaths, he’s just ready to pump. One and oh to Tejada.
Heston to the belt, now the pitch...fastball chopped towards third, foul ball, past coach Tim Teufel. It’s ONE and ONE.
Many in the Giant dugout getting as close a look as they can, draped over the railing. Eric Campbell is the lone Met in a similar posture on the first base side.
Many in this crowd, if not most of them, now on their feet.
One and one to Tejada.
Heston sets, now the pitch, breaking ball in the dirt, two and one.
FIVE to nothing, Giants. They scored a first-inning run. Noah Syndergaard went six, gave up ten hits and four runs. But the pitching line of the night belongs to Chris Heston. Turned twenty seven years of age two months ago. From PALM Bay, Florida.
Two and one to Tejada...here’s the pitch...fastball on the OUTSIDE CORNER, two and two, and now Heston a STRIKE away.
The LAST time the Mets were no-hit and SHUT out — a no-hit, no-run game — was by the GIANTS, Ed Halicki in San Francisco, in 1975.
Here, Heston with a two-and-two count to Tejada...comes set, Recker leads from second...here’s the pitch...
FASTBALL IN THERE, STRIKE THREE CALLED, HE’S DONE IT!
CHRIS HESTON has NO-HIT the New York Mets!
And the Giants come out of the dugout to mob their twenty-seven year-old righthander.
The Mets have been no-hit for the first time since Nineteen Ninety-THREE, when Darryl Kile of the Houston Astros did it, but the Mets scored a run in THAT game. It’s the first time in nearly forty years, since AUGUST of 1975, that a pitcher has pitched a no-hit, no-run game against the New York Mets, Chris Heston with an eleven-strikeout gem.
He did not WALK a batter, he hit three, and slowly Bruce Bochy and the coaching staff emerge from the Giant dugout. The pitchers in the Giants bullpen are taking a slow walk in, as one by one the Giants players hug Chris HESTON, who has pitched a NO-HITTER.
The San Francisco Giants have defeated the New York Mets, five to nothing, but it’s the SEVENTEENTH no-hit game in the history of the San Francisco Giants, who of course started their baseball life right here in New York as the New York Giants.
And now the paid crowd of twenty-three thousand one-hundred and fifty-five salute Heston with a standing ovation as he walks, perhaps in something of a daze, back towards the Giants dugout.
In the ninth inning, for New York, no runs...no hits...no errors, a hit batsman, one man left, Heston strikes out eleven and NO-HITS the Mets. The final score, the San Francisco Giants five and the New York Mets nothing. Back to talk about it in a moment on the WOR Mets network, driven by your TriHonda dealer.
|
