7th Heaven! Mets Sweep Pirates, Winners of Seven Straight

METS 8

PIRATES 4

Ok Met fans, how do you feel about your team now? Heh?

Just over a week ago, Met fans were ready to fire Omar Minaya, Jerry Manuel and even Mr. Met after the team started off the season 9-12. Well, a 8-1 start to May that includes a seven game winning streak has the Mets in first place in the NL East.

The Mets found themselves in a huge hole earlier this afternoon, after Livan Hernandez put the Mets into a 2-0 deficit, which was not helped by the fact that Pirates ace Ian Snell was on the mound through the first three innings of the game. Then, as typical with Snell throughout his career, the bottom fell out.

David Wright followed a Carlos Delgado double with a blooping single to left to drive Delgado in to cut the Pirate lead in half. Wright would later steal second, and Daniel Murphy walked to set up Omir Santos. Santos laced a long deep single to right to drive in both Wright and Murphy to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Finally, in the eighth, the Mets put the game away. Jose Reyes drew a bases loaded walk to allow Santos to score, making it 5-2, Mets. Luis Castillo would tack on his second RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 6-2, and Carlos Beltran narrowly missed a three run home run as the ball smacked the top of the 16 foot wall in left. Two more runners came in to score, giving the Mets a 8-2 lead. Box Score.

Sean Green was shaky in relief in the ninth, surrendering a two run shot to Nate McCloth, but he settled down to close the ball game without forcing Jerry Manuel to call the bullpen for a closer, Francisco Rodriguez.

The Mets are now 17-13 on the season, two games ahead of the Phillies and could be a full game up on the Marlins, who are losing to the Colorado Rockies 2-0 in the fifth inning.