A cold night had a bitter end.
Luis Castillo's single up the middle capped a two run Mets rally off of San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving New York their fourth straight victory, 7-6.
Hoffman threw just 11 pitches and retired only one batter he faced - Mike DiFelice - who sacrificed Lasting Milledge to second base after the Mets' right fielder led off the final frame with a single to left.
San Diego had scored a run of their own in the top of the inning off Mets closer Billy Wagner, providing the Padres with a short-lived 6-5 lead.
Before these dramatics, former Princeton basketball center Chris Young pitched five difficult innings, battling the elements, a previously undisclosed injury and a red-hot Carlos Beltran.
On a misty, wet August night with temperatures nose-diving into the 50s, in front of a one-third full Shea Stadium, Young struggled to find the strike zone early. Luis Castillo walked on five pitches with one out in the first, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved over to third on a balk when Young lost the ball out of his throwing hand as he began his windup.
Carlos Beltran sliced Young's 1-0 offering the opposite way and over the left field wall for Beltran's third home run in as many consecutive at-bats. The 375-foot shot was the fifth home run Young has allowed this year and the 26th round tripper of Beltran's season.
In his first at bat, leading off the top of the third, Young watched three pitches go past without taking his bat off his shoulder before singling hard to left center. Young came around to score on Milton Bradley's single to right. The Padres would leave the bases loaded and San Diego trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third.
Mets starter John Maine equaled Young's plate appearance, singling softly to left past short on a 0-2 pitch. Maine moved to second when Young walked Luis Castillo on four pitches and Beltran struck for a second time with two outs, a laser beam of a double to right which made the score 4-1 Mets.
While his speed wasn't where he wanted it to be, Young's control improved as the game wore on.
Moises Alou hit a broken bat single to left leading off the fourth, but Young retired the next three Mets, striking out Mike DiFelice and John Maine to end the inning.
To start bottom of the fifth, Jose Reyes was fooled by an 0-2 curveball for a strikeout. Castillo popped out to short and David Wright flew out to right fielder Brian Giles in foul territory. Young was through five innings using just 64 pitches.
With the steady drizzle that had fallen since morning finally over, San Diego put up two runs in the top of the sixth. Mike Cameron lead off with a loud home run to left, his 16th of the year. Josh Bard doubled into the right field corner with two outs and Marcus Giles, pinch hitting for Chris Young, tripled Bard home when Alou misjudged a sinking line drive in left. This sent John Maine to the showers, 118 pitches after his night began.
In his office after the game, Manager Bud Black revealed Young left with "lower back tightness" after the fifth inning. This tightness is believed to be related to Young's sprained left oblique muscle that sent him to the disabled list in July. Young said his back began to give him problems after his start versus St. Louis on August 9th.
The Padres moved in front for the first time with two runs in the seventh. Mike Cameron doubled home Adrian Gonzalez to take Young off the hook for the loss and Khalil Greene put San Diego up 5-4 with a single to center.
Carlos Beltran tied the score in the bottom of the eighth with an opposite-field single off Heath Bell for his fifth RBI.
A frustrated Young spoke briefly following the game about this new injury and the effect it has had on his velocity. Young admitted that instead of throwing pitches in the 88-91 mph range, he has been only reaching 84-88 on the radar gun with his fastball and his pitches have been lacking life. "My body's not letting me go 100%," Young said.
Young's back will be reevaluated later this week. His status for Sunday's scheduled start in Philadelphia is undetermined.
