The Mets defeated the Marlins 7–6 in 12 innings this evening. 

As one of the announcers said, this was reminiscent of the excitement that the 2006 team had. 

Oliver Perez was dominant most of the evening, but left a few meaty pitches out there, all of which where whacked for HRs.  He gave up five runs in six innings, while striking out seven.

The bullpen was dominant, including a scoreless inning from Scott Schoenweis, and two scoreless innings from Aaron Heilman.  Heilman looked fantastic, throwing two perfect innings while striking out four.  Billy Wagner threw a perfect 10th and Duaner Sanchez gave up a run in the 12th after pitching a scoreless 11th.

The magic was on offense tonight though.  The Mets began the night with a bang from Luis Castillo hitting a 2–Run HR in the 1st inning.  With the Mets down 5–4 in the ninth, Endy Chavez did some yard work to tie the game at five.  When the Metsies were down 6–5 in the 12th, more magic was made.  David Wright walked, then Carlos Beltran hit a hard single.  With one out, the Mets were Tatis-ed!  Fernando Tatis hit a game winning single to the left field corner. 

Tonight was the first night in so long that the Mets seemed like they were enjoying the game.  There were hits, energy and vigor coming from the usually grumpy Aaron Heilman.  Jose Reyes continued to be a spark plug, and the 2006 Mets shined: Heilman, Endy et all. 

Oh, and the Mets played with a youthful vigor tonight: Coincidence that Carlos Delgado was out of the lineup? I think not…