After an abysmal loss to the Mariners last night, the Mets avoided the sweep from the Mariners and beat them 8-2 this evening. Game ball from the Mets goes to Miguel Batista, who walked five in 2.2 innings, while giving upu five hits and eight runs. 

The game had a wonderful start, sparked by a Jose Reyes walk.  Reyes was knocked in by a Luis Castillo groundout, and David Wright followed him with a solo HR, his 13th of the season.  In the second inning, Wright continued to make-up for his day off yesterday, and hit his 14th HR of the season.  The Mets scored two runs in the first inning, two runs in the second and four runs in the fourth.  The scoring in the fourth was topped off by a 3-run Jose Reyes shot to RF, his 9th of the season.  Last year, Reyes only hit 12 the entire season. 

John Maine was also solid like usual, with no hits through four innings.  He allowed two runs in the fifth but sealed it off for a quality start, allowing only those two runs in six innings of work.  Aaron Heilman and Joe Smith made quick work of the M’s in the 7th and 8th, leaving it for Duaner Sanchez to finish ‘em off in the 9th.

A great win, but it’s only important if we build on it for this upcoming series vs. the Yankees.

Not to be this guy, but there were some issues with the game today, that I’ll just throw out.  In the first inning, they left the bases loaded - and had the bases loaded with one out and failed to send any of the guys home.  We also didn’t score after the third inning, and scoring early while being passive late has been what the Mets have been doing too much of lately.  Fortunately this evening, they scored eight in the first few innings, which was enough to sustain them. 

Down the stretch, the Mets will need to start scoring late if they want to win more important games. 

The Mets did not get a hit after the third inning.  The Mets have an off-day tomorrow, before the day-night double header against the Yankees on Friday.