Mets Beat Up Fish In Finale

METS 6

MARLINS 2

You have to hand to interim Manager Jerry Manuel, he has completely turned around the Mets, and they continue to play inspired baseball right through the month of August. After today's 6-2 win against the Florida Marlins, Manuel is 42-26 as Met Manager, and has put the Mets in prime position to win the NL East.

Today, the Mets had to fight off a distrubing loss from Saturday night, as well as the threat of a tropical storm in order to win this one.

Pedro Martinez was shaking once again. It seemed that he would put two men on in every inning he pitched. In the first, Martinez gave up a lead-off single to Hanley Ramirez. Next, Luis Gonzalez doubled to right driving home Ramirez for the 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Mike Jacobs skyed to right for the sacrifice, as Gonzalez came into score, 2-0 Fish.

Martinez was so upset by his effort that he slammed his hat and glove on the bench in the dugout and was screaming at teammates as he walked down the stairs into the locker room.

Yet, the Met bats picked up the angry veteran. In the second, Carlos Beltran drilled a homerun around the left field foul pole to cut the Marlin lead in half. It was Beltran's 21 homer of the year, his 92 RBI.

In the third the Mets went yard again. Nick Evans, who had never hit a major league homerun in his life, did, as he blasted a fastball over the scoreboard in left-center to tie the game at two. David Wright followed with a solo shot of his own, in the same spot over the scoreboard in left-center to give New York a 3-2 lead.

Fastforward to the seventh and the Mets played some small ball. With Damion Easley and Dan Murphy on base, Jose Reyes singled to right to drive home Easley to give New York a 4-2 lead. Ryan Chruch then followed as a pinch-hitter and delivered with a single to center to score Murphy. It was Church's 38 RBI of the year and second since coming off the DL last week. Wright singled up the middle to load them up for Carlos Beltran. However, Beltran couldn't get enough of the bat on the ball, and flew out to center, but it was good enough to score Reyes from third to give the Mets a 6-2 lead.

Jerry Manuel mixed and matched with his bullpen for the final three innings of play, as he used five different relievers.

With the win the Mets maintain a one game lead on the Phillies who are winning 4-2 over the Cubs in the fifth inning as we speak.

The Mets now travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers. C.C. Sabathia is not supposed to pitch for the Brew Crew, but Ben Sheets will. This should be a preview of a very likely NL Division Series that will start in early October.