The new Nats may have lost five in a row, but they are still playing better baseball.  I didn’t expect much of anything from the lineup with Santana on the mound for the Mets.  To my surprise, they worked the $137.5 million dollar ace for eight hits, two walks and three earned runs including three doubles (Flores, Harris and Guzman) as well as a pinch hit homer from Ryan Langerhans.  He did strike out six, working seven innings on 94 pitches, but his somewhat early departure put the game in the hands of their struggling bullpen.

Odalis Perez, to his credit, kept up with Santana holding the Mets to eight hits, one walk and three earned runs in six innings of work.  Perez struck out five.  His good effort came undone when Saul Rivera took the mound in the 8th inning.  Two hits and a walk later, the bases were loaded with 1 out in a tied 3-3 game.  With a 2-1 count, Rivera hit Easley, which scored Wright and put the Mets ahead.  Immediately, Jesus Flores protested the call and surprisingly, Manny Acta quickly came out to argue with the umpires.  He fought hard arguing that the pitch hit Easley’s bat and though the call was never overturned, fans and players saw new life from their quiet manager.  Rivera struck out the next two batters including pinch hitter Brian Schneider.

Schneider’s at bat signaled the end of Santana’s night, but the Mets bullpen had no problem keeping the Nats quiet.  Two scoreless frames from Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano secured Santana his 10th win.

Between Manny’s display of emotion in the 8th and the good effort against a great pitcher like Santana, it was nice to see our Nats working hard, showing heart and hanging in there against the Mets.

Tonight, John Maine (9-7, 4.13) returns from the DL to face Jason Bergmann (2-8, 4.13).  Note the identical ERAs.  Bergmann’s done well against the Mets in the past shutting down Delgado, Reyes and Wright without a problem.  Beltran’s been his only real issue.  Belliard in the past has owned John Maine (career .692, 9 for 13).  Zimmerman, on the other hand, has struggled mightily against the right-hander (4 for 25).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 7:57 am and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.