Sunday marked a momentous day in the sports world. Tiger Woods won the British Open for the second year in a row; American Floyd Landis took the Tour de France; and the Cotuit Kettleers retained the 

The Cotuit bats were once again on fire, taking down the Mets’ pitching in a solid 6-4 victory that keeps them firmly in first place in the Western Division.

The Kettleers pounced on Mets pitcher Matt Daly early on. Reese Havens led off the second inning with a single, followed by another single from Matt Angle.

With runners on first and second, Kyle Russell put down a sacrifice bunt allowing Havens and Angle to move forward before Havens scored on a wild pitch by Daly. 

A second sacrifice bunt by Tony Thomas Jr. paved the way for another run from Angle, putting Cotuit ahead by two.

Cotuit’s Michael Cisco put in a tremendous game, picking up his third win of the season, only allowing three hits during the first eight innings. 

Offensively the Kettleers were stellar with runners crossing the plate four more times in the fifth, with Kellen Kulbacki really rallying the crowd as he clobbered a three-run homer, his third of the season. 

The Mets came around in the fifth inning when James Darnell smacked a neat double, breaking up Cisco’s perfect game. Darnell came around to score off of an RBI from Brian Juhl, bringing the score to 6-1. 

In the eighth, Hyannis added another run before Cisco departed and was relieved by Cory Gearrin, who finished the game. Gearrin struck out the first batter he faced but struggled against bad calls and hits from Matt Mangini and David Macias. 

By the end of the inning the Mets had narrowed the score to 6-4 but Gearrin regained control, striking out Juhl to seal the win. 

"It’s nice when you can win, but they’ve got a great club," said Mets head coach Greg King. "When you look at their hitting and pitching, they’re doing it to every team."

Kettleers head coach Mike Roberts was pleased to keep the cup in Cotuit. "It’s good. It’s really good," he said. 

After a special presentation in Cotuit at the Aug. 5 game by Rob Sennott, publisher of 

Patriot Cup after defeating the Mets in Game 5.The Barnstable Patriot, the cup will spend the off-season in various Cotuit locales while the teams prepare for the 2007 cross-town battle.

By Kathleen Szmit Manwaring
kmanwaring@barnstablepatriot.com