Game 155: Mets vs. Marlins @ Dolphin Stadium

With two straight wins under their belts, the Mets seek another win to add to their total as they fight off the Phillies in the standings. The first-half ace, John Maine, takes the mound for the Mets.

The Good: John Maine battled, struck out nine, and kept the Mets in the game while the offense struggled to come to life. After falling behind in the third by two runs, the Mets answered back in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer by Paul LoDuca. The Mets would fall behind again in the sixth inning but would show some life a few innings later. Right when the Phillies/Nationals score went final, as the Nats held on for a win, the Mets put together some fireworks of their own. David Wright would walk to lead off the eighth and Marlon Anderson would come up in another big spot. After failing to bunt and finding himself in an 0-2 hole, Anderson would single through the hole on the right side and the Mets would have runners on the corners. After falling into a two-strike hole as well, Moises Alou would extend his hit streak to twenty-seven games with a single to center field to tie the game. Following Alou, Delgado would step to the plate and would hit his 24th homer of the year to deep right field to give the Mets a 6-3 lead. However, Heilman and Wagner would give those runs back and the Mets would play extra innings. In the eleventh inning, Jose Reyes would draw a leadoff walk and would move to second on a Luis Castillo two-out hit. David Wright would then fall behind with two strikes but would poke a single through the middle as the runners were on the move. Reyes would come around to score and the Mets were poised for a hard-fought win. Aaron Sele would come on to save the game in the eleventh and would promptly record the first two outs. Randolph would bring in Scott Schoeneweis for the final out and he would induce a ground ball to first base to end the game.

The Bad: Another Met error, Beltran injured again (although it was on a great catch to end the sixth inning), Aaron Heilman was terrible, Wagner blew a save, the Mets had many missed opprtunities, particularly their 10th inning choke job with runners on first and third with no outs.

Overall: Keep chippin' away and finish strong. This was definitely a team-win. I liked the emotion on the bench.

Notes: Prior to the game, Lastings Milledge dropped the appeal of his three-game suspension. It was also announced that Phil Humber would get the start against the Nationals when the Mets return home to Shea Stadium. David Wright stole his 34th base of the season and Moises Alou extended his single-season club record hit streak to 27 games. He is the oldest player to record a streak as long as twenty games and continues to prove a valuable asset to the Met offense (he also gunned out Todd Linden at home plate to momentarily preserve a Met lead in the eighth inning). The Mets have now scored 7 runs in six consecutive games, extending their record of doing so (the previous record was 5.) After singling in the winning run in the eleventh inning, David Wright was greeted with a massive chant of "MVP!, MVP!, MVP!."

Final Score: Mets 7, Marlins 6. Record: 87-68. Magic Number: 5.