Ibanez hit a game-tying, three-run home run off of Young.
After the game, Terry Collins revealed Frank Francisco had suffered an injury and was unavailable, leaving Collins with five relievers in the bullpen.
'We didn't have Frankie tonight,' Collins said. 'Frankie injured himself pre-game doing some exercises, so our bullpen was a little thin tonight.'
Collins said he did not consider bringing Tim Byrdak in to face Ibanez in the seventh inning.
'I wanted Byrdak to face who he faced, especially when we didn't have Frankie,' Collins said. 'You burn three pitchers in one inning, and all of a sudden you're in deep trouble.'
Jon Rauch relieved Young, and he allowed a go-ahead, opposite field home run to the left-handed Eric Chavez.
Michael Baron: The Mets were essentially playing with five relievers last night, one of which was left-handed, thus putting them in a precarious position late in that game. I understand Collins' desire to save Byrdak for someone like Robinson Cano or Mark Teixeira in another spot, but this was a situation where another left-handed reliever would have given Collins much more flexibility against Ibanez in that situation, regardless of whether or not Francisco was available.
When the Mets replaced Elvin Ramirez with Ronny Cedeno on Friday, my concern was the Mets were handicapped with only six relievers available in an already inconsistent bullpen. As was the case last night, an injury or fatigue to one of the guys limits Collins' ability to maneuver in any situation, especially against the dynamic Yankee lineup. Yes, their 40-man roster flexibility impacted the decision. But it seems as though for one reason or another, Collins is always left in this kind of situation with the bullpen ' someone is injured, someone is fatigued, and he is playing short late in the game and can't afford to bring Byrdak into a situation for risk he won't have him later. And so, he is left with an unfavorable match-up, and he gets burned time and time again like this.
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