Even though Aaron Heilman did his best to make it otherwise, the Mets beat the Padres by a score of 6-5 this afternoon.

Mike Pelfrey logged another quality start, allowing only two runs in six and two thirds innings of work.  It was a little strange seeing Manuel take Pelfrey out in the seventh given that he had just registered a double play ball, and the bullpen is shaky given that closer Billy Wagner was just put on the DL. 

The Mets bullpen successfully bridged the gap to the ninth without allowing a hit, but Aaron Heilman suffered from some bad luck and then gave up a bomb.  Argenis Reyes and Carlos Beltran (mostly Reyes), misplayed a pop-up that they ruled a hit even though it shouldve easily been caught.  That made it 1st and 2nd with no outs, and Heilman got a hard ground ball to David Wright who was able to get the out at second but they were barely unable to turn two.  Heilman then gave up a three run blast to make the game 6-5.  However, Joe Smith then recorded a quick out, followed by Scott Schoenweis who threw one pitch to Brian Giles for the save.   

Offensively, the Mets scored their first four runs off the bat of Fernando Tatis who hit two HRs to the pleasure of the Shea Stadium crowd, who demanded a curtain call after the second.  Then the Mets rookies taught the big club a lesson in something they hadn’t been doing lately: tacking on insurance runs, which proved to be completely necessary.  With the Mets up 4-2, Dan Murphy hit a long double to left center scoring Argenis Reyes.  In the bottom of the 8th, with Carlos Beltran on 1st, Nick Evans doubled to left center.  Then Jody Gerut and Tad Iguchi both misplayed the ball, allowing Beltran to score and Evans to advance to third. 

For a full box score, go over to ESPN. 

The Mets play the Padres in game two of this three game series with Pedro Martinez taking on Cha Seung Baek.