[caption id="attachment_665" align="alignright" width="246" caption="Jason Isringhausen celebrates his 300th career save with Josh Thole, who homered in the winning effort to push the Mets passed the Padres 5-4 in extras last night. (Photo Credit: Denis Poroy / Getty Images)"]
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Jason Isringhausen’s major league career has finally come full circle. Last night, he picked up his 300th major league save in the Mets 5-4 extra-inning win, becoming only the 23rd player to ever reach that mark, and only the third to do so in a Mets uniform.
He is also the only one to throw his first and 300th save while donning the Mets' orange and blue.
It was a moment that Isringhausen could only dream about while he was in spring training. Heading into 2011, the Mets broke camp with the single-season saves leader Francisco Rodriguez as their closer. Isringhausen did not even make the bullpen; he stayed in Port St. Lucie for extended spring training, while sitting on 293 career saves.
But it was not long before the Mets called him up. The Mets retooled their ‘pen early on and a spot opened up in the third week of April. But with K-Rod’s presence, Isringhausen still could not touch the ninth inning.
So he patiently waited for his opportunity in the ‘pen. And before long his time eventually came. The Mets announced right after the conclusion of the All-Star game that they have traded K-Rod to the Brewers, which moved up Isringhausen to the closer’s role.
He picked up his second save as a Met this year on July 19 against the Cardinals, a team he registered 217 saves with during his seven seasons there. It was also his first save in about 12 years for the Mets.
Coming into last night’s game it looked like 300 would never come. The starting rotation was not creating many save opportunities because they gave up the leads the bats gave them, and any leads they had when they left games fell through when the bullpen bridge to Isringhausen collapsed before the aged closer could enter in the games.
Last night really wasn’t any different. The Mets powered over the Aaron Harang and the Padres to take a 3-0 lead in the third, when Lucas Duda and Josh Thole plated three runs on their two blasts off of the San Diego native. R.A. Dickey gave up a few runs, but managed to hold a 4-3 lead even after he allowed a two-run homerun to Will Venable in the seventh before being pulled with one out in that frame.
But the bridge to Izzy collapsed. Bobby Parnell finished the seventh for the knuckleballer, but was finished in the eighth when he yielded a pinch-hit, game-tying RBI single to Jesus Guzman.
Fortunately for the Mets, the Padres bullpen was equally as inept. Former Padre, Scott Hairston plated the go-ahead run in the tenth, when Jason Pridie scored on his ground ball that was smothered by a diving Alberto Gonzalez with the infield in. That setup Isringhausen for the milestone finish in the bottom of the tenth.
The Mets will play game 2 of their three game set at San Diego later tonight. The mathcup features another rematch from the Citi Field series with Jon Niese getting the nod against Cory Luebke.
Mets Notes:
Signing Nimmo: Last night, the deadline for signing draft picks passed, but the Mets have reached a deadline deal with their first round selection. Brandon Nimmo, a high-school outfielder from Wyoming will get approximately $2.1 million. Other details of the agreement have not been released.
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