Santana and Mets top Carpenter and Cards in pitchers' duel, 3-2

Posted on 01 Jul 2009 by Danielle

Prior to Wednesday's game, the Mets hadn't yet laminated his paper slip for his seventh spot the lineup in the clubhouse. Proving that they should, Nick Evans stepped up to home plate and smacked a home run out of Citi Field.

When he arrived at the ballpark Thursday morning, Evans was again in the lineup -- though again he could not be immediately certain. It was still empty.

Name tag or not, Evans ensured continued relevance in this Mets meritocracy Thursday afternoon, hitting a Chris Carpenter pitch harder than any of his teammates, and glowing from the importance of the resulting two-run double in the fourth inning. On a day when both starting pitchers knew they had no margin for error, Evans allowed Johan Santana and the Mets to edge Carpenter and the Cardinals, 3-2, in a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners.

So many times in baseball, pitchers ignore their counterparts. They'll tell you they have to face the opposing lineup, not the opposing pitcher, and so they hardly acknowledge their foe.

But Santana, ditching none of his pride, admitted that he was anticipating facing Carpenter from the moment the Cardinals touched down in Queens.

In terms of sheer stuff, Carpenter appeared to outpitch Santana, Carpenter also made one mistake -- to Evans. And the first baseman, who not two months ago was sent to Port St. Lucie, Fla., to work on fundamentals and speak to a sports psychologist, drove that cut fastball into the right-field corner for a two-run double.

Knowing that Carpenter had shown him exclusively cutters and curveballs in his first at-bat -- a strikeout -- Evans felt safe looking for more secondary offerings in his second plate appearance.

And after Carpenter had allowed a leadoff single to Luis Castillo, an infield hit to David Wright, and a soft RBI liner to Fernando Tatis, Evans timed his hit quite well. Carpenter, who was dominant all afternoon, struck out four straight batters at one point and induced five straight ground balls at another, but he stuttered for just a moment in that fourth inning.

It was exactly what Santana needed.

While Carpenter breezed throughout the early going, Santana labored, walking three batters in total and allowing at least three baserunners in each of the first two innings. He permitted one of them to score -- Skip Schumaker on Yadier Molina's RBI single -- and then put up his shield.

So Santana matched him pitch for pitch, growing stronger as the shadows grew longer. He allowed just one more run on Joe Thurston's double in the sixth. And though Santana was spent after seven innings, throwing 110 pitches -- Carpenter needed 82 to achieve the same feat -- he left with a lead and the benefit of a rested bullpen.

Pedro Feliciano -- making his Major League-leading 41st appearance -- and Francisco Rodriguez closed out the final two innings, each of them putting a runner in scoring position but neither one cracking while helping the Mets win their first series since June 7.

New York has had excuses, losing Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, J.J. Putz and others to injury. But the club has been reluctant to admit the looseness of its footing. The Mets have had no choice but to battle -- doing so quite well at first, winning seven of their first nine series since the start of May -- but they have struggled of late.

The Mets don't know when any of the injured stars might return, only that it will be some time. And so they will continue to scrap and continue to scrape, hoping that they can pass this test.

Notables:

Luis Castillo and Fernando Tatis each went 1-3 with a single and a run scored. Castillo had a walk, while Tatis had an RBI.

Daniel Murphy had a single in his appearance as a pinch hitter.

Player of the game, Nick Evans, went 1-3 with his game-deciding home run.

David Wright went 1-3 in today's game. His average remained at .356.

went 1-3 with a single and a run scored.

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Mets' bats pummel Cards, 11-0

Posted on 25 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Late in the seventh inning Wednesday night, Mets general manager Omar Minaya called the dugout to inquire about the condition of David Wright. Minaya had noticed Wright take an awkward, perhaps compromised, step when he crossed first base on an infield hit and saw his third baseman downshift as he approached third base on an ensuing double. In this Mets season of pulls and pains and tears and strains, it only was proper for Minaya to cross his fingers, dial the trainer and hold his breath.

An hour later, after the Mets had thoroughly steamrolled the Cardinals, Wright himself responded to other inquiries about his body. He promised to be in the lineup Thursday afternoon when the Mets and Cardinals engage each other for the fourth time in four days.

Turns out the Mets need Wright's legs as well as his bat. The National League's leading hitter contributed four hits to the Mets' most lopsided victory this season, an 11-0 thrashing of the team that had shut them out the previous evening. And he played a primary role in the synthetic, but quite convincing Reyes Run the Mets scored in the sixth inning.

With Jose Reyes still assigned to the disabled list, Wright led off with a single. He advanced to second base on an infield out and stole third, forcing the Cardinals (40-33) to play their infield in. He scored when Fernando Tatis pulled a single through the left side, a hit that might not have happened if the infield had been deployed at normal depth.

Call it a Wright Run, if you want, but understand how much of a role he played in its manufacture and that it was produced under duress, as most Mets runs are these Days of the Disabled. The Mets had scored five times by the time Tatis delivered Wright. And no offense to winning pitcher Fernando Nieve, but 5-0 leads have been known to disappear. So the run hardly constituted superfluous scoring. And how it was manufactured was equally important.

With the Carlos Brothers, Reyes and Gary Sheffield not in the batting order, the Mets hardly have a scratch-and-claw image. But there was Wright in the afterglow Wednesday, his claws showing as much as his league-leading .356 batting average and his reluctance to acknowledge pain equally apparent.

More than they had Monday night, when they amassed 14 hits and six runs, the Mets demonstrated offensive resourcefulness -- Wright's Reyes Run and three opposite-field hits by No. 4 hitter Ryan Church, one of them a Citi Field double, which is to say Church might have hit his third home run if the Mets' new home had been built with shorter walls or allies. He drove in two runs, one less than Fernando Tatis.

Indeed, Brian Schneider might have hit his third three-run home run in a week, but he directed his double in the sixth to where the right-field wall angles away from the plate and demands more umph.

Nick Evans did go beyond the walls of the Citi. Starting at first base, he hit the third home run of his big league career, with a runner on base in the fourth against losing pitcher Brad Thompson (2-3). The three-run fourth provided Nieve (3-0) a four-run lead that allowed him to survive six innings after he had thrown 69 pitches in the first three. He allowed three hits and four walks and tightened his grasp on a place in the rotation. Manager Jerry Manuel said as much.

The Mets (36-34) produced 16 hits, their second-highest figure this season, and the most lopsided shutout victory since Aug. 13 last year when they defeated the Nationals, 12-0. So lopsided was this one that Manuel used Livan Hernandez as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. And this after they had been shut out on two hits Tuesday.

So the Mets' peculiar June -- exasperating at times, exhilarating in other instances -- continues. They have won eight of 21 games since their stellar May and maintained a hold on second place in the mediocre National League East, and done so through a spate of injuries that have diminished to a point that scoring 11 runs had seemed beyond them.

But who can say what is beyond them -- good or bad? In two games, they totaled 30 hits and 17 runs. In the game in between they managed two and none. The line that separates optimistic and realistic is thinly drawn for this team and subject to blurring, based on the effectiveness of the starting pitcher. Even Manuel acknowledged that negatives of Tuesday "temper everything," because he knows Thursday could be another Tuesday. Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals' starter Thursday, could be another Joel Pineiro. And the Mets can be Oliver Perez -- positively pendulum-ic -- at the drop of a hat. Or a popup.

Notable performances:

Luis Castillo had a hit at second base, as did his replacement, Version 2.0, Argenis Reyes. Castillo did score twice, however.

Ryan Church had a great day at the plate, going 3-4 with two runs scored and two RBI's on his two doubles off Thompson and Perez.

Fernando Tatis showed life again, going 2-4 with a run scored and three RBI's.

Nick Evans, perhaps benefiting from being reunited with his BFF, Daniel Murphy, went 2-3 with a homer in the fourth off Thompson, knocking in two and scoring twice.

Brian Schneider, Jeremy Reed, and pitcher, Fernando Nieve, also added a hit a piece. Schneider plated two.

The player of the day honors go to David Wright. D-Wright went 4-4, with a double and two singles. He scored three times. Wright's average jumped to .356.

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Mets can't get runs for Livan, drop game 0-3 to Cards.

Posted on 24 Jun 2009 by Danielle

The ground-ball outs accumulated; the scoreless turns at bat passed. And manager Jerry Manuel chose to look for ways to elicit offense from his diluted batting order rather than conjure June trades that might fortify the Mets.

Even as the Cardinals and the sinking pitches of Joel Pineiro were stifling the lineup, the manager searched for a way, but the Mets scored nothing, producing two hits and 22 ground-ball outs in a 3-0 loss.

Pineiro shut down the Mets on the second straight night they were without the resting Gary Sheffield and injured regulars Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, and he gave his corner outfielders a night free of fly ball responsibility. The hits he allowed -- singles by Luis Castillo in the third inning and pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed in the ninth -- were to center field. The fly balls the Mets connected on were hit to center as well.

The Mets have been shut out three times this season, the other times by the Yankees, 15-0, and by the Giants, 2-0. Neither shutout came in a complete game; neither starter -- A.J. Burnett and Matt Cain, respectively -- was nearly as effective.

Pineiro became the first pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout against the Mets since Wandy Rodriguez of the Astros did so on July 6, 2007. The most recent two-hitter against the Mets was thrown by Randy Johnson, then of the D-backs, on Aug. 5, 2002. And Pineiro himself pitched the first eight innings of a 3-0 shutout of the Mets on Sept. 27, 2007.

Pineiro, who had as many hits as the Mets and scored one more run, threw 100 pitches in the fifth shutout of his career and his second this season; 77 were fastballs, 74 were sinking fastballs. And the Mets, who also lost to him in April, regarded him as more of a four-seam-fastball guy until they hit nothing but ground balls for four innings.


The way Pineiro was pitching on this night, the Carlos Brothers and Reyes might have been grounded, too.

Livan Hernandez (5-2) was the losing pitcher in this one, defeated for the first time in 11 starts. He was responsible for all three St. Louis runs, only two of them earned. He allowed eight hits and three walks, one intentional, and struck out three.

Hernandez had retired six batters after walking his first when Pineiro led off the third with a double to left-center. Brendan Ryan followed with a bunt that Hernandez fielded with the intent of throwing to third base, but Pineiro had made no attempt to advance, and Ryan had himself a single that set up the Cardinals' first run.

Skip Schumacher followed with a ground ball to first base. Daniel Murphy handled it cleanly, but his throw to second base went wide for an error that allowed Pineiro to score and Ryan to advance to third.

The Cardinals threatened in the fifth, but Hernandez struck out Pujols with a runner on second base. They did score in the seventh, when Pujols avenged the strikeout with a well-struck, first-pitch, bases-loaded single to left that provided the Cardinals' second and third runs.

Notables:

The only players to get a hit were Luis Castillo and Jeremy Reed.

David Wright left Citi Field batting .346.

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Commentary: The Replace-Mets

Posted on 23 Jun 2009 by Danielle

It's been a strange year for the team that calls Flushing home and looking back on last night's win, the game was a clear reflection of the series of quirks and chance occurrences that is the genetic makeup of the New York Mets.

Two hours before the game, the Mets announced that Carlos Beltran was headed to the disabled list for an indeterminable amount of time, leaving David Wright as the only member left of the Mets offensive core and prompting Mets fans everywhere to bid the chance of a playoff berth in the 2009 season goodbye.

Looking at the lineup, it seemed as though the Mets were destined to bite the dust.

On June 22, 2009, the New York Mets sent out...

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Wallet-Friendly Merch Alert!

Posted on 23 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Hey, everyone! As you know, summer is officially here!

And if you don't know what to get to rock at a Mets game for the summer or want a conversation-starting tee for a BBQ, why not get one of our fantastic Mets shirts! Not only will you look cool in the summer heat in your new shirt, BUT... ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of our profits will be donated to charity at the end of the season, meaning the money you spend on her will go to The David Wright Foundation.

And while you're over at our store, why not buy a matching shirt for your Mets Partner-in-Crime? You know you want to!

Click here to view all of our awesome designs. Our shirts start at a very affordable $11.99!

Check out some of our designs below:

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Mets top Cards on big nights for Santos and Castillo

Posted on 23 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Two hours before the game, the Mets announced that Carlos Beltran was headed to the disabled list for an indeterminable amount of time, leaving David Wright as the only member left of the Mets offensive core and prompting Mets fans everywhere to bid the chance of a playoff berth in the 2009 season goodbye.

But on a night in which the Mets sent out a pitcher who totaled ten wins and eleven losses in the prior season, appearances by their fourth, fifth, and sixth string outfielders, a right fielder coming off an injury-plagued season that included two concussions and hip problems, a shortstop who signed a contract barely over the major league minimum, a catcher who was virtually unheard of at the start of the season, a second baseman Mets fans wanted to personally drive to the airport in a trade in 2008, a third baseman-turned left fielder-turned first baseman who up until a week ago, was in a state much different than his phenom-status of last season, a third baseman experiencing a strange league-leading season of twenty-day streaks, a relief pitcher who recently went eleven days without making an appearance, and another relief pitcher who got shelled in his first outing, merely two weeks ago...

They won in a never-say-die fashion with 12 singles, a double, and a home run, 6-4.

The Mets beat the Cardinals because they outscored them, outhit them and outpitched them. And they amassed 14 hits because. ... well, just because.

Jerry Manuel was delighted by how it all worked -- how seven innings of effective pitching by Tim Redding; two run-scoring hits by Alex Cora; four hits, a run and an RBI by Omir Santos; a home run by Daniel Murphy; and relatively quiet eighth and ninth innings produced the Mets' first victory in four games against the Cardinals this season.

Jeremy Reed, the understudy for Beltran, was the only hitless Mets starter. Five players drove in runs, four scored, and the Mets scored in five innings and had no multiple-run hits.

The Mets, for the first time, played without the Carlos Brothers, Jose Reyes and Gary Sheffield, who received a night off, in the lineup. And it worked for the Replace-Mets on this night. But teams with regular lineups that don't equal what the Mets put out there Monday win, too.

Redding, making his seventh start, provided more of what the manager wanted. He reached the eighth inning for the first time, sparing the sapped bullpen some bullets, and gained his first victory as a Met. Redding surrendered four hits in seven innings before allowing a leadoff home run by Brendan Ryan in the eighth that prompted a change of pitcher, to left-hander Jon Switzer.

Redding (1-2) walked one and struck out four. Ryan's first home run was the second by the Cardinals; Ryan Ludwick had driven in two runs with his 11th home run in the sixth.

Switzer faced two batters, allowing a single by the second, pinch-hitter Tyler Greene, that afforded Albert Pujols to bat as the go-ahead run. The Citi gulped. Manuel wanted to stay away from Sean Green and Bobby Parnell. New man Elmer Dessens wasn't right for this assignment. And it was one out too early for Francisco Rodriguez. And, anyway, Manuel had designated Brian Stokes as the "eighth-inning guy" before the game.

Stokes threw two breaking balls to Pujols to slow him down. Then he gave him some heat before retiring the "game's dangerous hitter" on a double-play ground ball back to the mound after a 2-2 slider. That was by design.

Only after Stokes finished his work and Cora drove in a run in the bottom of the inning did a sense of security develop at Citi Field. And when Rodriguez earned his 19th save in 21 tries, the Mets had secured their seventh victory in 19 games this month.

The Mets scored twice in the first inning against losing pitcher Todd Wellemeyer (6-7) with a sacrifice fly by Ryan Church and Santos' first hit of the game driving in the runs. And they added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, all against the Cardinals' starter. Daniel Murphy's fifth home run came in the fifth and increased, to 27, the home run total of the players in the Mets' 25-man roster. Pujols has hit 26.

That 26 is nine more than the sum of the players in the Mets' starting lineup. But on this night, Pujols produced just a double that was more than offset by Luis Castillo's booming RBI double in the fourth and 12 Mets singles. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but the best way to eat a two-ton elephant is one bite at a time. That's how the Mets did it, on this one night at least.

The season has 94 games remaining, and the absences of Beltran, Delgado and Reyes will have more effect than they had Monday. But if last night proved anything... it was that this team has more heart than anyone gives them credit for.

Notable performances:

Alex "Turn up the AC because he's on fire" Cora went 2-4 with two singles, a RBI, and a walk.

Daniel Murphy continues to work his way back towards .300 with his 2-5 day, scoring twice, once on his solo homer off Wellemeyer in the fifth.

Both Ryan Church and Fernando Tatis had a hit a piece, with Church scoring once.

The performances of the night belonged to Omir Santos and his 4-4 day, scoring once and plating one, and Luis Castillo and his 3-3 day, which consisted of two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk.

David Wright went 1-3 with two walks, a run scored, and no strikeouts. His average is still at .349.

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Mets drop rubber match to Rays, skid grows to 2.

Posted on 21 Jun 2009 by Danielle

The long summer stretched ahead. What will the Mets do with it? Not that this seems all that much like summer, not that the Mets look all that much like the team they saw in the mirror of March. But their season carries on regardless of the cumulative rainfall and an overtaxed disabled list. And that question still seeks an answer, no matter how unpleasant it may prove to be.

The most recent response came Sunday, the second day of summer and 21st day of New York-turned Seattle. It was an unbecoming 10-6 loss to the Rays that continued a streak of poor play for the Mets.

A long Sunday afternoon, made longer by the requisite rain delay at Citi Field, was the appropriate ending for a long weekend which prompted -- what else? -- long faces among the Mets. Mike Pelfrey pitched effectively for four innings before the Rays battered him and his weary relief and extended the Mets' June swoon.

The Interleague loss, New York's 12th loss in 18 games overall this month, extended, to four, the number of consecutive series the team has lost and left its record one game over .500 after 67 games. And it effected another day of somber, sobering soul searching for this so-so team.

Because the Phillies can't win in Philadelphia, the 34-33 Mets are merely two games from first place. "Within striking distance" is how David Wright characterized the Mets' standing before he noted.

The Rays scored their runs in their final five turns at bat to put their Interleague record at 8-4. The Mets have lost seven of 12 games against the American League. The Rays scored four times in the fifth and seventh and twice in the eighth, and New York's offense essentially stopped after it had scored once in the seventh.

Pelfrey didn't maintain his stuff, as was the case in his previous start, against the Orioles on Tuesday, and thereby left too many innings to the bullpen. And two members of the 'pen, Bobby Parnell and Sean Green, were inadequate, facing four and three batters, respectively, and retiring none. Moreover, Jerry Manuel's use -- he identified it as overuse -- of the bullpen jeopardized the Mets' late-inning readiness for subsequent games when the opponents are the formidable late-inning teams from St. Louis and the Bronx.

Pelfrey's departure wasn't premature, it was warranted. He shut down the Rays on three hits for four innings, but he surrendered hits to the first five batters in the fifth, when Tampa Bay produced the first of its two four-run innings. Six relievers were used to achieve the final 12 outs, which links this loss to several from September 2008, including one in Washington when Manuel used six pitchers to produce nine outs.

Manuel had wanted to give Pedro Feliciano a day off or limit him to one batter as he had Friday night. Instead, the only proven left-handed member of the 'pen, who leads the big leagues in appearances with 40, faced four batters and threw 23 pitches after he was summoned to follow Green, who had loaded the bases on singles with none out in the eighth when the Mets already trailed, 8-5.

The last time Feliciano didn't appear in a game, the Mets lost, 15-0, in the Bronx; he has pitched in six straight games. Green has pitched in four straight, and Parnell, the losing pitcher Sunday, in four of the past five.

Manuel more than occasionally speaks of "managing fatigue," yet after Brian Stokes had pitched a quiet sixth in relief of Pelfrey and a three-run home run by Brian Schneider had regained the lead for the Mets at 5-4, the manager had Fernando Tatis pinch-hit for Stokes with no one on base and two outs. A rally was unlikely.

Trust in Stokes -- particularly in light of Parnell's recent workload and recent struggles -- might have afforded Parnell the day off the manager now says is essential. Manuel explained his call for Parnell oddly, saying he didn't want Parnell in the 'pen fretting about his recent shortfalls.

After allowing four hits -- they lead to four runs -- to four batters, Parnell has retired merely 12 of his past 28 batters. He has lost his past three decisions, all this month.

Much of the problem Sunday could have been avoided if Pelfrey had completed at least the sixth inning. That would have given the Mets three successive starts -- Fernando Nieve, Johan Santana and Pelfrey -- of at least six innings. And the shortfall bothered Pelfrey.

The four-run fifth inning marked the sixth time in 13 starts Pelfrey has allowed at least three runs in an inning. And it led to the 10th time this season the Mets have allowed at least 10 runs. Scoring six runs ought to be enough to win. But some games, they get the pitching and other days they get the hitting, and some days the bullpen stubs its toe.

One of the Mets was reciting that lament, or something close to it Sunday after the loss. It prompted recall of another assessment spoken about another Mets team that only occasionally put all the parts together.

Notables:

Alex Cora, Daniel Murphy, Gary Sheffield, Brian Schneider, and Mike Pelfrey each had a hit in today's game.

Carlos Beltran went 2-4 with a walk.

David Wright had a 3-5 day with two runs scored. His average jumped to .349 on the day.

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Santana back to form, but Mets can't beat Shields

Posted on 20 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Johan Santana was back in fine form, but the Mets' offense wasn't enough to beat out Jamie Shields' stellar performance.

Carlos Pena hit a tiebreaking homer off Santana in the seventh inning Saturday, sending Shields and the Rays to a rainy 3-1 victory over the New York Mets.

Shields allowed three hits in seven innings and retired his final 14 batters. He outpitched Santana, who rebounded nicely from the worst start of his career.

Both starters were lifted after a 73-minute rain delay in the top of the eighth. Dan Wheeler worked a perfect inning and J.P. Howell got three outs for his fourth save.

Ben Zobrist added a solo homer in the ninth, his 15th in a breakout season for the AL champions.

Outhit 5-4, the depleted Mets have another ailing star to worry about: Carlos Beltran plans to have an MRI exam Monday on his aching right knee.

Beltran, who said he intends to play Sunday, missed two games in late May and had a cortisone shot because of a bone bruise below the knee. Hobbling on the bases, he said he's been feeling the same sensation as before and he wants a doctor's opinion.

Santana was tagged for nine runs and nine hits in three-plus innings Sunday, losing 15-0 in the Subway Series finale at Yankee Stadium.

The sluggish performance and diminished velocity on his fastball raised questions about Santana's health, though he insisted he felt fine. After adjusting his mechanics during a recent side session, the ace left-hander looked more like himself Saturday against the top-scoring team in the majors.

Santana (8-5) squandered a 1-0 lead and took the loss, but didn't allow a hit until Jason Bartlett's one-out double in the fifth. He yielded three hits and three walks in a season-high 7 1-3 innings.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner showed better zip and command with his fastball, which clocked around 92 mph all game. That's not Santana at his best, but it was a noticeable improvement from Sunday.

His strikeout totals, however, have dropped dramatically. Santana fanned three against Tampa Bay, giving him 11 over his last four starts. He averaged 8.6 strikeouts through his first 10 outings.

Gabe Kapler had an RBI double for the Rays, who snapped a three-game slide.

While Santana pitched well, the Mets reverted back to their early-season trend of not supporting him with much offense. Tampa Bay pitchers retired 19 in a row before Beltran's two-out single in the ninth. Howell struck out David Wright to end it.

Making his 100th career start, Shields (6-5) won for the first time in five road outings since April 12 at Baltimore. The right-hander struck out four and walked none. The only run he allowed came on back to back doubles by Ryan Church and Omir Santos in the second.

Notables:

Alex Cora, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, and Omir Santos each had a hit in today's game, a quarter of the Mets' four-hit total.

David Wright went 0-4 with a strikeout to lower his average to .344

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All-Star Game Voting Page HAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!

Posted on 10 Jun 2009 by Danielle

Check out The Wright Stuff's special voting page. If you were doubting David Wright for the starting 3B, think again.


Click here to visit this cool page!

Remember, we're giving away a special prize to the winner of Part 1 and a David Wright Jersey (retailing for $80 or more!) to the winner of Part 2.

Want to learn more? Or maybe, you need a refresher?
Click here for more info.

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Mets take first game from Phils with electric 6-5 win

Posted on 10 Jun 2009 by Danielle

The Mets applied the three R's -- resolve, resilience and resourcefulness -- and mixed them with an ingredient in abundant supply since Opening Day, relief. Not after they defeated the Phillies in the most rousing game in Citi Field's 28-game history. For now, the race is maintaining its New York apartment for at least another few days. Ultimately, these bruised and aching Mets may go nowhere. But for now, the race isn't going anywhere, either.

The Mets' 6-5 victory against the first-place Phillies prompted the change of travel plans and generated a degree of excitement in the stands, the home dugout and the comfy home clubhouse. This one resonated as much as a June 9 game can. And if the Phillies weren't damaged by it nearly as much as the Mets were bouyed by it, well, so be it. The Mets could do little more than gain a game in the standings and fortify their sense of self.

The way the Mets went about their business was -- for this team in this spacious arena -- unusual, to say the least. The home run, an endangered species at Citi Field, made a rousing comeback in this engagement between the team that leads the NL in home runs, the Phillies, and the team that began the evening with the third fewest home runs in the game. And surprisingly -- no, remarkably, the Mets prevailed, though not in the slugging. The Phillies hit four home runs, each against Johan Santana, no less. But the Mets made the most of the three hit by David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church.

The seven combined, the most in one game at Citi, increased the number surrendered by the new place to 45, the fifth fewest in the NL.

Church's home run, against Chad Durbin in the seventh inning, not only provided the decisive run, it also created another Citi first, landing, as it did, in the apple basket beyond center field. It made him an honorary member of the frequently-cited Core of the Mets.
Dazzling as it was, Santana's double play wasn't the one that stood out. That distinction came an inning later after Chase Utley's home run had moved the Phillies to within 6-5 and Bobby Parnell, Santana's successor, had allowed a single by Jayson Werth. Manuel summoned Pedro Feliciano to face Howard. Four pitches produced a ground-ball double play -- Howard now is 5-for-25 against Feliciano -- and a groundout by Ibanez and left three outs for Francisco Rodriguez.

They were achieved with minimal resistance, a leadoff single by Jimmy Rollins, and K-Rod emerged with his 16th save in 16 opportunities. The Mets emerged with a sense of turned tables. This year, they have the invincible closer. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Phillies had a closer, Brad Lidge, on the disabled list.

Notable performances of the night:

The ever-gritty Alex Cora went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI.

Carlos Beltran smacked a Beltran Blast on his 1-3 night, plating himself and Cora.

Gary Sheffield was 1-3 with a walk.

Fernando Tatis was 1-2 with two walks.

Ryan Church, was 1-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, his plating occurring on his home run off Durbin in the seventh, which was the difference in the game. He also walked once.

Omir(acle) Santos was 1-4 with one run scored.

Johan Santana got in on the act two with his butcher boy play off Condrey to drive in two crucial runs.

David Wright is still red-hot in the month of June, going 2-4 with a home run (4) and a double (17) off of J.A. Happ, boosting his average to .348, second in the NL.

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