by BaseballSoftballUK, www.baseballsoftballuk.com
NATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE: WEEK 12
The London Mets kept their place at the top of the National Baseball League standings after Week 12 games were played on Sunday, July 5, but only after receiving a real scare from the winless Croydon Pirates.
The battle between the league’s best and worst was expected to be a landslide, but after the Mets eased to a 12-2 victory in Game One, they had to stage a last inning rally to sneak a 9-8 win in the second game.
The Pirates fought back from 7-0 down, a two-run homerun from Maikel Azcuy tying the game at seven apiece in the fourth inning. Croydon got the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth and Jose Sosa pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the inning when London had the bases loaded with no outs.
London broke Croydon hearts, though, in the bottom of the seventh. Jonathon Cramman tied the game 8-8 with a long RBI-double to left field before the Mets executed a perfect suicide squeeze to win the game, Carl Randall laying down the bunt to score Eduardo De Caires from third base.
Reid Wilson pitched the win for the Mets in Game One, with Phil Clarke getting the victory in Game Two.
The Mets’ Carlos Diaz reckons the narrow escape will do his side good, saying, “We need these type of games where we are pushed to the limit. This side does better when they are pushed, and today they responded once again and I love that. There were a lot of highs and lows and we lost a lot of intensity, but we still did what needed to be done.”
Richmond Hangs in There
The Richmond Flames got their season back on track with a sweep of the Bracknell Blazers in Sunday’s other action.
The Flames bounced back from their defeats to the London Mets last week to win 10-0 and 9-8, with Cody Cain and Ryan Bird gaining the victories.
Brett Wakeley blasted a grand slam in Game One, and pitcher Bird chipped in with a homer of his own in Game Two.
Richmond’s Grant Delzoppo said: “The boys responded really well today. We battled hard and showed some real character. These were crucial games for us and I’m delighted to have come through.”
For Bracknell’s Rob Rance, there were contrasting emotions. He said: “These were big games for us and we need to do much better. We were pretty bad in Game One and it hurts when you play like that. But hopefully we can build and get better.”
{mrb-result:2009-07-04|2009-07-05|GB}
{mrb-standing:great-britain-2009}