CHIPPER Jones, grab the biggest fork you own because Tatis is bringing the grand salami to the longest game in Citi Field's young history.

If you don't know the result, the Mets lost. From the introduction, you probably wouldn't have guessed. But that's ok, because I've decided not to be too negative.

Plus, well, it's always fun to mock Larry, even in defeat.

Fernando Tatis hit his first grand slam since 2002 but Martin Prado had the last laugh as he hit a 12th-inning home run off of Ken Takahashi to give the Braves an 8-7 win.

Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets showed heart to come back from the brink of defeat on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they just ran out of steam.

The lead switched hands early on but when it came to the business end of the game, the Mets fell 90ft short as Jose Reyes was left stranded on third.

12 innings, 16 pitchers, 25 hits, almost 400 pitches. And it had a little of everything.

The Braves and Mets exchanged two-spots in the 1st inning and the Braves added a pair in the 3rd.

But Tatis gave the Mets a blast with a home run in the 4th to give the mets a lead they would eventually relinquish after 3hrs 46mins.

Chipper Jones, the guy who victimised the Mets at Shea as much as any hitter in the Bigs, doubled in the first run of the game to score Yunel Escobar in the 1st and Garret Anderson singled him home the following batter to make it 2-0 before the Mets came to bat.

But Jose Reyes led off for the Mets with a double to left and Luis Castillo hit a three-bagger, which was really just a misplayed single.

Carlos Beltran walked and the Braves trade a run for a double play to make it 2-2 before David Wright grounded out.

The Braves re-took the lead on the back of a walk and three straight hits in the 3rd inning, but Jo-Jo Reyes fell into more trouble in the home half of the 4th.

Beltran walked for the second consecutive time, Gary Sheffield singled to center and Wright, who had fallen into an 0-2 hole, he hit a 3-2 squibber off the end of his bat to shallow centre-field to load the bases.

Fill 'em up, bring 'em home

Buddy Carlyle came into the game in long relief, but he served up a 1-0 fastball right down broadway to Tatis for the grand salami - the seventh of Tatis' career.

The pitch was supposed to be down and away, but Tatis doubled his RBI total for the season with one swing of the lumber, driving a ball off the top of the outfield wall.

Jo-Jo Reyes left with the lead but immediately got placed on the hook for the loss and Mets starter Jonathan Niese then got pulled with two outs in the fifth, also with the lead after giving up a fifth Braves run on Chipper's sac fly to Ryan Church.

Brian Stokes recorded four consecutive outs in relief but Bobby Parnell gave up the tying run, an unearned run because of a David Wright fielding error, to Anderson in the 7th inning to make it 6-6.

Opportunities

The Mets had a chance to re-take the lead straight away, but timely mental errors cost them dearly.

Reyes doubled down the line to left on a ball that Chipper thought was going foul, but he tried to take third on next batter Castillo's ground ball that was hit to the third-base side of the shortstop.

To make matters worse, Reyes didn't even slide into the base, making Chipper's tag very simple and infinitely frustrating.

To add insult to injury, Castillo then got thrown out trying to steal second base on a tag that was probably a fraction too late. When it rains it pours.

Things didn't get any better for the Mets in the 8th when JJ Putz came in to pitch.

It seems that every outing is an adventure for JJ right now. He gave up a run on a pair of doubles yesterday and he gave up the go-ahead run on two more rocket doubles today.

Marlon Prado led off the inning with a well-hit two-bagger and after David Ross popped up trying to bunt Ross over, pinch-hitting Kelly Johnson drilled one to deep right field and off the mesh fench at the Mo Zone to make it 7-6.

Mets fans called for character and Gary Sheffield delivered in the 8th inning, depositing Rafael Soriano's fastball to left field for a solo blast to tie the game.

The 9th inning brought K-Rod into the game, but he too fell into early trouble, giving up a line drive double to left and walking Chipper intentionally.

Anderson should have bunted but instead he lofted a fly ball to Church who circled the ball, got behind it and unleashed a cannon to Wright who dove to the bag to tag out Escobar who was challenging the throw.

The Mets could not put across a runner in the bottom of the inning and they had to rely on Pedro Feliciano retiring two batters on two pitchers to stop a run from scoring in the top of the 10th.

Feliciano then retired three more in the 11th but Prado hit the go-ahead home run off the Mets' last piycher in the bullpen in the 12th.

Reyes led off the bottom of the inning with a double which looked like it was going to carry out and he advanced to third base on Castillo's sacrifice.

However, Gonzalez struck out Delgado with the high heat and Sheffield on a nasty backdoor breaking ball to seal the win.

It's a long plane ride to San Francisco. Let's hope the west coast weather get the Mets back on track.
 
*****

For those of you who were counting, here's Tatis' grand slam history, which includes the pair he hit in the same inning against Chan Ho Park.

July 2, 2002 @ Atlanta
September 16, 2000 vs Chicago Cubs
July 25, 2000 vs Arizona
August 9, 1999 @ Philadelphia
April 23, 1999 @ LA Dodgers
April 23, 1999 @ LA Dodgers

IT wasn't the pitching clinic that fans watched when Johan Santana and Josh Johnson squared off earlier this month, but the result was earily similar.

Neither starter hit the lofty heights they reached on April 12 in Florida and despite an early setback for Santana, he looked to have done enough to win.

Santana gave up two runs before the Mets ever came to bat, but he followed it with six shutout frames to give his bats enough time to rally from behind to get a 3-2 lead.

But the bullpen was not able to hold onto the lead, with JJ Putz giving up two runs in the 8th inning - the difference in Wednesday's 4-3 defeat.

Santana started the game with a nasty 83mph changeup to Emilio Bonafacio, but Cameron Maybin tripled off the centrefield wall, Wes Helms drove him home with a sacrifice fly and Santana missed with a fastball to Jorge Cantu who took him deep to left field.

The three-bagger to Maybin was the first extra-base hit he had given up to a right-hander this season. But the Mets hit straight back against Josh Johnson in the home half of the 1st inning.

Johnson left a pitch up and in to Jose Reyes who tripled to right field - the 10th consecutive game in which the Mets have hit a triple - and Alex Cora laid down a safety squeeze to score the shortstop.

Daniel Murphy, batting in the three-hole for the first time, bunted for a base hit himself the following batter, but Carlos Beltran flied out deep to Jeremy Hermida in left field and David Wright fanned yet again.

Murphy stole his first career base on a high 2-2 pitch as Ronny Paulino's throw sailed into centre field, but he as stranded one pitch later as Wright was caught looking.

Chances

The Mets had an immediate chance to tie the game in both the 2nd and 3rd inning, but Johnson -  who owns a 1.59ERA and 5-0 record in six starts against the Mets - was able to shut the offense out.

In the 2nd inning, Fernando Tatis singled to right field and Ramon Castro sent one back up the middle to put runners on first and second with one out. Santana sacrificed both men over but Reyes grounded out to first base on a sharply-hit ball to end the inning.

The following inning Alex Cora went first-to-third on Beltran's base hit to centre, but Wright - who is batting .250 with runners in scoring position - chopped a one-hopper down to Helms at third base to start the 5-4-3 double play.

The Marlins loaded the bases in the 4th on the back of a walk, Wright fielding error and intentional walk, but it was Santana's turn to work around it with a strikeout and popup to keep the game at 2-1.

The Mets did draw things even in their half of the 4th inning. Fernando Tatis singled and stole second base and Ramon Castro hit a one-out single on a low fastball to make it 2-2.

Following an scoreless 5th inning, there was a light-hearted moment in the top of the 6th when Santana was on the mound, having given up a lead-off double to Hermida.

He struck out Paulino and got Cody Ross to pop up to bring up Alfredo Amezaga. Jerry Manuel had intentionally walked him last time up when there was a runner on second with two outs to get to Johnson.

Marlins manager Freddy Gonzalez brought out Ross Gload to pinch hit in an attempt to lure Manuel to pitch to Amezaga. But the Mets skipper was not buying any of the act, giving Amezaga the free pass.

Johnson came out to bat, Jerry Manuel smiled and, from the opposite dugout, Gonzalez shared the grin and tipped his hat at his opposite number.

The Mets took the lead for the first time in the game to lead off the bottom of the 6th when Fernando Tatis hit a home run to centre field. The Marlins challenged the ruling but replays confirmed the original ruling on the field that the ball had gone over the orange line at the top of the wall and had rebounded off the railings.

Santana pitched a perfect 1-2-3 7th inning to turn the lead over to the bullpen, but it was one of the only things Manuel did wrong.

2008 revisited

Santana finished with a pair of runs on five hits, three walks - two intentionally - and seven strikeouts. But, as happened seven times last year, the Mets bullpen blew his lead and cost him a win.

Cantu and Hermida both walked and Paulino sacrified them over with a well-placed bunt. The walks came back to hurt the Mets when Cody Ross' single through the box beat the outstretched arm of Alex Cora to plate two runs and give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.

The Mets' 'anxiety' problem that Manuel spoke of after the loss on Tuesday reared its ugly head temporarily in the bottom of the 8th inning when the first two batters made outs on a combined three pitches.

Jeremy Reed, a defensive replacement as part of a double switch, tripled off the angled wall in right field, but the Mets could not bring him home.

Francisco Rodriguez kept the Marlins at bat in the top of the 9th, but despite two walks and a hit batter in the bottom of the inning, the Mets could not find a way to bring any of them in and they would leave them loaded to end the game.

Another 14 runners left on base. A bullpen loss similar to those experienced in 2008. In a game where Johan bent but did not break, it's a disappointing way to lose the rubber match and it means they will head to Philly on Friday on the back of two losses.

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TODD Coffey pitched an eight-out save and Milwaukee rescued the final game of the three-game set, beating the Mets 4-2 on Sunday.

The Mets left another 10 runners on base and batted just 2/10 with men in scoring position as they slipped back to .500 despite a fine effort from Nelson Figueroa.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead on Carlos Delgado's double in the 1st inning, but the Brew Crew plated solo runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th to turn a 3-1 lead over to the bullpen.

The Mets pulled a run back in the home half of the 7th, but Todd Coffey steadied the sinking Milwaukee ship with 2 2/3 quality innings of work, including working out of an inherited bases-loaded jam.

Figueroa, getting the start in place of Oliver Perez, had the bases loaded himself in the 1st inning on two walks and a hit, but Ryan Braun and JJ Hardy both struck out and Mike Cameron chopped the ball into the dirt to allow Ramon Castro to tag out Rickie Weeks on the force play at home.

Delgado lined a two-out one-hop double off the wall in left centre field to score Daniel Murphy in the bottom of the inning, but Corey Hart scored on Prince Fielder's groundout in the top of the 3rd inning and Corey Hart drove a sac fly to right to bring in pitcher Jeff Suppan who had singled to lead off the 5th.

Former Met Mike Cameron drilled a solo home run over the 16ft wall in centre field in the 6th and the Mets left runners at second and third base in the bottom of the inning.

Jeff Suppan looked like the pitcher of old, but he gave up a leadoff triple to catcher Omir Santos after the 7th inning stretch, and his 99th pitch of the day would be his last.

Mitch Stretter retired Ryan Church on three straight pitches and Jose Reyes drove Santos home with an infield single which shortstop JJ Hardy could not control.

Daniel Murphy flaired a bloop into shallow left field on a desperation inside-out swing and David Wright walked on four sliders to load the bases.

But Carlos Delgado grounded into a 1-2-3 pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play to end the inning, killing what could have been a big Mets inning.

Reliever Todd Coffey induced the fierce one hopper back to the mound but he could not field it cleanly. It bobbled off the tip of his glove, landed in his bare hand and allowed him to get the tying force at home to keep it 3-2.

Shawn Green pitched a scoreless 7th and Pedro Feliciano and Bobby Parnell combined to put a zero on the board in the 8th.

Carlos Beltran singled to centre field to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning and Gary Sheffield walked, but Fernando Tatis struck out swinging and Omir Santos lined into an unassisted double play when he drilled a ball directly at Bill Hall just as the two Mets baserunners took off on a 3-2 count.

The Brewers padded their lead in the 9th inning on a Rickie Weeks single and Coffey worked around another Hardy error to close out the game in the 9th.

IT was never a question of if. But when.

Mets slugger Gary Sheffield answered that question on Friday night when he hit his 500th career home run down the left field line at Citi Field.

The historic blast - his first hit in a Met uniform - tied the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at 4-4 in a contest the Mets won 5-4 on Luis Castillo's walk-off single.

The historic milestone, which makes Sheffield just the 25th member of the 500 club, came in the 7th inning on a 3-2 86mph slider from Mitch Stetter that caught a little too much of the plate.

Sheffield had taken several good cuts before he dispatched Stetter's ninth offering over the left field wall right down the line.

Sheffield raised both hands above his head as he left the batters box and jogged to first base, savouring the moment before being greeted by every Met after he crossed home plate and pointed towards the sky.

First to hug him was Reyes, then Wright, then the rest of his team mates. Some individually, others in twos or threes.

It was the start of a happy evening, even if it did take the Mets another hour to finally take the lead for good.

The Mets had taken a 1st inning 3-0 lead, but they fell behind after leaving Livan Hernandez in a batter too long.

Hernandez gave up two runs on six hits last time out against the Marlins, but he could not retire a batter in the 6th inning on Friday as the Mets had to come from behind.

Jose Reyes, Daniel Murphy and David Wright loaded the bases on 3 consecutive hits and Carlos Delgado hit a sac fly to left field to get the Mets on the board.

Beltran couldn't put the ball in play and Dave Bush walked Ryan Church intentionally to get to Ramon Castro, who has never hit a grand slam.

Castro fell behind in the count but Bush missed with a 2-2 breaking ball outside before missing with a fastball in to walk in a run.

Luis Castillo dribbled an infield single to score Wright to make it 3-0, but it could have been worsewhen JJ Hardy threw the ball away as he tried to make a play at third base which was never, ever on. Livan Hernandez struck out looking as the Mets batted around on four hits and a pair of walks.

Milwaukee nibbled away at the lead in the top of the 5th inning after Mike Cameron and Bill Hall hit back-to-back one-out singles to putmen on the corners.

Mike Rivera hit a sac fly to Beltran to make it 3-1 and starter Bush continued in his grove in the bottom of the frame to record his seventh and eighth consecutive batters before walking Wright on four pitches.

After throwing 34 pitches in the 1st inning, Bush only threw 35 combined between the 2nd and 4th innings.

By contrast, Hernandez cruised through the first four innings, began to tire in the 5th and got hit hard and knocked out of the game in the 6th.

Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart singled to lead off the inning and Ryan Braun hit a three-run home run down the line in left field to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead.

The Mets have blown a pair of three-run leads already this season, including Thursday, and they led the NL with 14 such blown leads in 2008.

However, following Sheffield's home run the Mets loaded the bases as the celebrations continued in the dugout and they also put the go-ahead run at third base in the 8th inning as Wright then left them loaded against Todd Coffey.

The Mets' bullpen did everything they were asked, with Feliciano, Green, Parnell and Putz combining for four innings of shutout ball and they gave the offense every chance they needed to win the game when they game to bat in the 9th,

Delgado led off the bottom of the 9th with a double to the centre field wall but Beltran struck out on a high fastball.

Ryan Church was intentionally walked and Omir Santos grounded out to first to move the runners over to second and third with two away, but Castillo's dribbler to the left side of the infield was hit just slow enough that Hardy couldn't get the throw across the diamond away in time.

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IT was an ugly 7th inning, but sweet revenge for a disappointing Opening Night loss.

After an evening where nothing meant everything, the Mets produced everything out of nothing to record their first ever win at Citi Field.

The New York Mets put up a four spot on the strength of a bunt single, back-to-back four-pitch walks, a stolen base, sac fly, intentional walk, error and two wild pitches to beat the San Diego Padres 7-2 on Wednesday.

Oliver Perez allowed one run on three hits and two walks over six innings; Carlos Delgado hit a hanging slider into the Pepsi Porch for his second home run of the year and Gary Sheffield made his first start of the season as the Mets improved to 4-4 on the season and 1-1 at Citi Field.

Perez, who was 10-7 with a 4.22 ERA in the 2008 season, got his first win of the 2009 campaign and the Mets bullpen pitched three innings of shutout ball as clubs around the league honoured Jackie Robinson day.

Perez threw all three of his pitches for strikes, including a slider with a nasty sinking action, and he settled into the rhythm of the game quickly after getting roughed up by the Cincinatti Reds the last time out.

Lead

After stranding Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran in the 2nd inning after they had reached base with no outs, the Mets got on the board in the 4th.

Daniel Murphy singled to centre field, David Wright singled to right and Carlos Delgado walked. Carlos Beltran singled to right to put the Mets on the board and Gary Sheffield produced a run despite grounding into a routine 6-4-3 double play.

Gary Sheffield, in his first start for the Mets, also struck out with two men on base and drew a four-pitch walk.

It was this walk which put the wheels in motion for a crooked Padres inning and marked the start of a problematic period for Padres' reliever Gregerson who threw ten straight balls in the bottom of the 7th inning after going 1-2-3 in the home half of the 6th.

Edward Mujica came in to face Luis Castillo on a 2-0 count with Sheffield on second and Schneider on first, but Castillo dropped down a perfect bunt single down the third base line.

Kouzmanoff stuttered, staggered and inexplicably headed backwards towards the bag, forcing Mujica - who got the win in the opening game at Citi Field on one pitch - to try and field the ball.

He over-ran it to load the bases for Ryan Church and he then threw the ball away on a wild pitch to score Sheffield to make it 3-1.

Church struck out on an inside slider and Mujica intentionally walked Jose Reyes to get to Daniel Murphy who lofted a deep fly ball to right field to score Schneider on the sac fly.

Reyes took off on the next pitch as Mujica threw his second wild pitch of the inning. Castillo darted home from third base to beat Hundley's throw to Mujica who had moved 60ft forward to try and block the plate and Reyes followed him home when he saw the ball squirm away.

Adrian Gonzalez made a last-ditch attempt to get Reyes at home as e knew the ball from his knees at the backstop, but the head-first slide easily beat the play to extend the lead to 6-1.

Delgado connected with a solo shot on a hanging slider in the 8th to make it 7-1 after JJ Putz had threw a zero on the board and Adrian Gonzalez hit his 100th home run in the top of the 9th inning against Sean Green.

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JOHAN Santana struck out 13 but Josh Johnson matched him pitch-for-pitch as the Florida Marlins beat the Mets 2-1 to take the series.

One big timely error cost the Mets a chance to improved their record to 4-2, but it was all about the pitching on Easter Sunday as both aces brought their best stuff to the hill.

Santana gave up the game's only two runs - both unearned - in the 2nd inning as he fanned 13 and gave up three hits over seven innings of work.

Johnson was even more impressive. Impressive is probably being modest. He was flat out filthy, giving up just five hits, walking none and striking out seven on 113 pitches.

Johnson was one strike away from his first ever complete game shutout and such was his  dominance, he only got to a three-ball count twice.

He also threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 31 batters he faced, every bit as good as his Cy Young counterpart who did it to 18 of the 26 Fish he encountered.

In fact, with baserunners at a premium, it comes as no real surprise that the game lasted just 2:04.

The Marlins were on the board first thanks to the first real rookie error we have seen Daniel Murphy make in 2009.

As it turned out, this would be all the Marlins and Johnson needed.

Santana had struck out the first two men of the inning and walked Jeremy Hermida on a pitch up and away.

Cody Ross then hit what seemed to be a routine fly ball to left field, but Murphy dropped the ball as he backed onto the warning track, allowing Hermida to score from first because he was running on contact with two down.

Ronnie Paulino also took advantage of the two-error, driving home Ross from second on an RBI single.

From there on, the Mets were always chasing the game, but they could not get anything at all going against Johnson.

The Mets got their first hit in the top of the 6th inning on Luis Castillo's broken-bat single and he advanced to second on Santana's sacrifice bunt to give the Mets their first base runner in scoring position, but Reyes grounded out to first to end the inning.

David Wright then hit a one-out single in the 7th inning but Carlos Delgado grounded into the over-shift on the right side of the infield.

It was a tailor-made double play, but Bonifacio booted the groundball and Uggla pulled Helms off the bag to leave everybody safe.

But Johnson didn't panic and he got the next batter, Carlos Beltran, to ground back to the mound to start a 1-6-3 double play - the Marlins first of the season - to finish the inning.

The Mets almost had something going in the 8th inning when Ryan Church led off the frame with a double to left field and Castillo dropped down a one-out sacrifice to move him 90 feet closer to home.

Pinch-hitting Jeremy Reed walked to putmen on the corners, but Reyes chopped the first pitch he saw back to Johnson who retired the side.

CONCERNS about the back end of the Mets rotation were temporarily eased on Saturday as Livan Hernandez turned in 6 2/3 innings of two-run baseball to help New York to a 8-4 victory.

Hernandez gave up six hits and three walks, while striking out four and keeping the Marlins off the scoreboard long enough for the Mets' bats to do the damage.

Jose Reyes hit a two-run home run and drove in three runs, Luis Castillo ended his 1/10 drought by going 4/4 and Ryan Church continued to rip the ball with two more doubles to take his batting average on the year to .526.

The Mets scored runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th inning to jump out to a 5-0 lead and they broke it open for good with a three spot in the 8th after the Fish had mounted a slight two-run rally half an inning earlier.

Hernandez, who was 13-11 with a 6.05 ERA with the Twins and Rockies in 2008, was throwing his fastball around 86mph and his slider in the high 70s and the Marlins had no answer for it until they knocked him out of the game in the 7th inning.

Equally important for the Mets was the fact that they went 5/14 with runners in scoring position, in stark contrast to Friday night when they went 1/12 and stranded 14 in the 5-4 loss.

The Marlins had the first chance to strike in the 2nd inning when Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida hit back to back singles off of Hernandez to lead off the frame.

But Cody Ross popped up a curveball to centre, Cameron Maybin struck out on a 87mph fastball and pitcher Ricky Nolasco fanned on a two-seam fastball.

With that jam out of the way, the Mets took advantage of the opening they crafted first in the top of the 3rd inning when Jose Reyes got his first extra base hit and RBI on a broken bat line drive double past Jorge Cantu to score Castillo.

Then the gold gloves took centre stage. Hanley Ramirez snagged Daniel Murphy's line drive up the middle to double off Jose Reyes at second base and in the bottom of the inning David Wright returned the favour.

Bonifacio had continued his hot start with a double and he moved to third on Jeff Baker's ground out. Ramirez then smoked a ball towards left field but Wright stuck out his glove hand, snared the ball to get the out and then dove head-first into third base to double off Bonifacio who was frozen a few steps off the base.

Marlins ace Ricky Nolasco, who was 15-8 last year, got into his main period of trouble in the 5th inning and it would be the last inning he would pitch.

Big fly

Reyes padded the Mets lead to 3-0 by hitting a two-tun home run - his first of the season - on a fastball which caught a little too much of the plate to score Castillo for the second time of the night

Daniel Murphy then singled past the diving Dan Uggla and Carlos Delgado drove him home from first with an RBI double into the right field corner on a hanging slider.

Nolasco's final line was five innings, four runs - all earned - on seven hits and two runs through 87 pitches.

Andrew Miller, who will be the Marlins fifth starter in a few week's time, came in in relief of Nolasco, but the Mets jumped right on him too.

Ryan Church led off the top of the 6th inning with his fifth double in the first five games of the year and Brian Schneider made a productive out to advance him to third.

Castillo then had his third hit of the day to drive him home to give the Mets a comfortable 5-0 cushion.

Rally

The Marlins sole runs came on a two-out RBI single in the 7th inning from pinch-hitter Wes Helms and a slap single the other way from hot-hitting Bonifacio.

Brian Stokes gave up the Marlins second run, an inherited run charged to Hernandez, against the only batter he faced, but the Mets broke the encounter open in the 8th inning.

Schneider led off the top of the 8th with an infield base hit and he advanced to second base on Cantu's throwing error after he had knocked the ball down.

Castillo then dropped down a beautiful bunt, intended as a sacrifice, but Bonifacio's throw was slightly off line and Castillo was ruled safe at first as Cantu could not make the play.

Alex Cora drove Schneider home on a ground out to make it 6-2 and Daniel Murphy drew a five-pitch walk to put men on first and second for David Wright who laced an RBI single back up the middle to make it 7-2.

Delgado made it 8-2 with a single of Hayden Penn to right field to score Murphy as Wright went first-to-third, but Beltran struck out to set down the side.

Darren O'Day, who had struggled somewhat in his previous two appearances, retired the Marlins in the 8th and one runner in the 9th, but Cody Ross scored on Ross Gload's sac fly to right to make it 8-3.

Francisco Rodriguez came in to close the game out - a non-save situation - to record the 8-4 win. 

He fanned Ronnie Paulino, gave up an RBI single to Ramirez and got Cantu to fly out to end the game.

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CONCERNS about the back end of the Mets rotation were temporarily eased on Saturday as Livan Hernandez turned in 6 2/3 fantastic innings of two-run baseball to help New York to a 8-4 victory.

Hernandez gave up six hits and three walks, while striking out four and keeping the Marlins off the scoreboard long enough for the Mets' bats to do the damage.

Jose Reyes hit a two-run home run and drove in three runs, Luis Castillo ended his 1/10 drought by going 4/4 and Ryan Church continued to rip the ball with two more doubles to take his batting average on the year to .526.

The Mets scored runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th inning to jump out to a 5-0 lead and they broke it open for good with a three spot in the 8th after the Fish had mounted a slight two-run rally half an inning earlier.

Hernandez, who was 13-11 with a 6.05 ERA with the Twins and Rockies in 2008, was throwing his fastball around 86mph and his slider in the high 70s and the Marlins had no answer for it until they knocked him out of the game in the 7th inning.

Equally important for the Mets was the fact that they went 5/14 with runners in scoring position, in stark contrast to Friday night when they went 1/12 and stranded 14 in the 5-4 loss.


The Marlins had the first chance to strike in the 2nd inning when Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida hit back to back singles off of Hernandez to lead off the frame.

But Cody Ross popped up a curveball to centre, Cameron Maybin struck out on a 87mph fastball and pitcher Ricky Nolasco fanned on a two-seam fastball.

With that jam out of the way, the Mets took advantage of the opening they crafted first in the top of the 3rd inning when Jose Reyes got his first extra base hit and RBI on a broken bat line drive double past Jorge Cantu to score Castillo.

Then the gold gloves took centre stage. Hanley Ramirez snagged Daniel Murphy's line drive up the middle to double off Jose Reyes at second base and in the bottom of the inning David Wright returned the favour.

Bonifacio had continued his hot start with a double and he moved to third on Jeff Baker's ground out. Ramirez then smoked a ball towards left field but Wright stuck out his glove hand, snared the ball to get the out and then dove head-first into third base to double off Bonifacio who was frozen a few steps off the base.

Marlins ace Ricky Nolasco, who was 15-8 last year, got into his main period of trouble in the 5th inning and it would be the last inning he would pitch.

Reyes padded the Mets lead to 3-0 by hitting a two-tun home run - his first of the season - on a fastball which caught a little too much of the plate to score Castillo for the second time of the night

Daniel Murphy then singled past the diving Dan Uggla and Carlos Delgado drove him home from first with an RBI double into the right field corner on a hanging slider.

Nolasco's final line was five innings, four runs - all earned - on seven hits and two runs through 87 pitches.

Andrew Miller, who will be the Marlins fifth starter in a few week's time, came in in relief of Nolasco, but the Mets jumped right on him too.

Ryan Church led off the top of the 6th inning with his fifth double in the first five games of the year and Brian Schneider made a productive out to advance him to third.

Castillo then had his third hit of the day to drive him home to give the Mets a comfortable 5-0 cushion.

The Marlins sole runs came on a two-out RBI single in the 7th inning from pinch-hitter Wes Helms and a slap single the other way from hot-hitting Bonifacio.

Brian Stokes gave up the Marlins second run, an inherited run charged to Hernandez, against the only batter he faced, but the Mets broke the encounter open in the 8th inning.

Schneider led off the top of the 8th with an infield base hit and he advanced to second base on Cantu's throwing error after he had knocked the ball down.

Castillo then dropped down a beautiful bunt, intended as a sacrifice, but Bonifacio's throw was slightly off line and Castillo was ruled safe at first as Cantu could not make the play.

Alex Cora drove Schneider home on a ground out to make it 6-2 and Daniel Murphy drew a five-pitch walk to put men on first and second for David Wright who laced an RBI single back up the middle to make it 7-2.

Delgado made it 8-2 with a single of Hayden Penn to right field to score Murphy as Wright went first-to-third, but Beltran struck out to set down the side.

Darren O'Day, who had struggled somewhat in his previous two appearances, retired the Marlins in the 8th and one runner in the 9th, but Cody Ross scored on Ross Gload's sac fly to right to make it 8-3.

Francisco Rodriguez came in to close the game out - a non-save situation - to record the 8-4 win. 

He fanned Ronnie Paulino, gave up an RBI single to Ramirez and got Cantu to fly out to end the game.

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THE New York Mets were left to rue stranding 14 men on base as they fell to a 5-4 defeat against Hanley Ramirez and the Florida Marlins.

The Mets had runners on base every inning, but they could only push four across the plate as Ramirez hit a solo home run and Jorge Cantu hit a walk-off RBI single to keep the Marlins as the only undefeated team in the majors.

The Mets rallied back from an early 3-0 deficit, but a lack of timely hitting meant they never had the lead in the game as the Marlins moved to 4-0 for the first ever time in their short franchise's history.

Hanley Ramirez hit a solo shot to straight away centre field in the home half of the 1st inning to make it 1-0 Marlins and Dan Uggla absolutely tattooed one to the upper deck down the line in left to lead off the 2nd inning and make it 2-0.

John Maine had previously pitched well against All Star Hanley Ramirez, who came into the contest hitting just .188 (3/16) against him and Dan Uggla who was 3/15 with seven strikeouts, and while Maine didn't pitch poorly, he got burned on the pitches he failed to locate.

Maine, who was 2-0 with a 3.22 ERA in four career starts in Florida, went five innings and gave up a pair of runs runs on two hits hits - both solo shots - walking one and fanning five on 83 pitches.

Unfortunately for Maine, the Mets didn't put any runs on the board until after he had departed.

In the first three innings the Mets had a runner on first base with one out; in the 4th and 5th  inning they had men on first and second with no outs and in the 6th inning the first two men hit safely.

The Mets rallied in the 7th and had their chances in both the 8th and 9th but it was the problems early on with runners in scoring position that really cost them.

In the 4th inning, the Mets had Carlos Delgado lead off the inning with a walk before Carlos Beltran followed it with a single.

But Ryan Church flied out to centre, Brian Schneider popped out to third and Luis Castillo, batting eighth in the lineup once again, grounded out to Hanley Ramirez at short.

The Mets had something similar going in the 5th inning. Jose Reyes worked a walk after Maine had led off the inning with a strikeout. Daniel Murphy popped out in foul territory to Bonifacio, but David Wright single to left field to put two men on for the second time tonight.

Carlos Delgado worked the count to 2-0 and 3-1 but struck out on a changeup to set the side down.

But it seemed that all the Mets needed was for Anibal Sanchez to leave.

Left-handed Dan Myer came in to pitch the 6th inning in place of Sanchez, but he gave up a long home run to Carlos Beltran who was switch-hitting from the right and a single to Ryan Church.

He walked pinch-hitter Gary Sheffield on four pitches, but Jose Reyes hit a shallow fly ball to right to strand the Mets' ninth baserunner.

The Marlins regained their advantage in the bottom of the 6th against Mets reliever Shaun Green, who gave up one run on three singles, a walk and a balk.

Emilio Bonafacio singled and moved to second on a balk to second base and he advanced to third on Ramirez's infield hit. Jorge Cantu then drove him home with his fifth RBI of the year to make in 3-1 Marlins.

But it was in the 7th inning where the Mets made their most serious charge.

Dan Meyer led off the 7th inning with a single to Daniel Murphy and Kiko Calero walked David Wright and hit Carlos Delgado on the knee by a pitch to load the bases.

Beltran scored Murphy on a ground ball to second base and hustled down to line to avoid the double play and Russ Pinto walked Ryan Church to fill them up again.

Leo Nunez - the fourth Marlin relief pitcher of the inning - was the next man to try his luck with the Mets lineup.

Fernando Tatis just missed crushing a hanging, flat slider, instead having to settle for a deep sac fly to left field, but Luis Castillo struck out looking to end the inning.

Mets reliever Bobby Parnell could not hold on to the lead though. He gave up three hits - all with two outs - to hand the lead right back to the fish.

Bonifacio started it off with a bunt down the third base line, Jeff Baker blooped a flair to shallow left and Ramirez drove Bonifacio home with his third hit and second RBI of the evening.

Beltran and Church hit one-out singles in the top of the 9th inning against closer Matt Lindstrom, and Jeremy Reed lined a single to right field to tie the game at 4-4.

But Darren O'Day gave the Marlins a walk-off win as Cantu scored Bonifacio from second, beating Murphy's throw home from left field for a 5-4 win.

THE New York Mets bullpen wasn't as convincing as fans wanted it to be on Wednesday night, but K-Rod, Putz and co had just enough to get the job done.

The Mets made hard work of the Cincinatti Reds in the second of a three-game opening series as they edged out a 9-7 victory with the bases loaded.

It wasn't a game for the purists from start to finish and both starting pitchers ran into difficulties, but the Mets brought just enough offense to the yard to squeeze out a narrow win.

The Mets trailed 4-2 after the 1st inning, but they plated three runs in the 5th and another four in the 7th to take a 9-4 lead.

The Reds scored twice in the bottom of the 7th inning and one in the 8th to make it 9-7, but closer Francisco Rodriguez escaped a bases-loaded jam to record the save.

Starting the game, Edison Volquez retired the first two batters he faced, but he walked David Wright on five pitchers and left a 1-1 fastball low and inside to Carlos Delgado who turned on it and crushed it to right field.

But the Mets' lead was short-lived as Mike Pelfrey struggled through a 44-pitch first inning as the Cincinatti Reds batted around and plated four runs at the Great American Ballpark.

Pelfrey came out throwing fastball after fastball, offering up a single to Jerry Hairston Jnr, a walk to Chris Dickerson and a line drive home run to Joey Votto.

Brandon Phillips doubled off the wall in right-centre field and advanced to third base on Jay Bruce's groundout.

Edwin Encarnacion then walked to put men on the corners, but Jose Reyes threw away a certain double play ball as Phillips scored from third.

Ramon Hernandez chopped it weakly up the middle to Luis Castillo who flipped it to Reyes for the force. But Reyes' throw to Delgado was in the dirt and, although it looked like a play the first baseman should make, it skipped all the way to the dugout to bring home a run.

Threat

The Reds had a chance to extend their lead in the 3rd inning, but Pelfrey escaped more trouble. He walked Phillips to start the inning and balked him over to second. Bruce then narrowly missed hitting one out of the park before flying out to deep centre field.

Edwin Edcarnacion could only pop up to Castillo with one out, holding the runner at third and Ramon Hernandez hit a soft fly ball to Ryan Church in right field to end the threat.

It was the Mets turn to put ducks on the pond in the 4th inning but, like the Reds in the home half of the previous frame, failed to put anybody across.

Church lined a two-out double down the line in left field and Volquez walked Schneider and Castillo to bring Pelfrey to the plate.

The Red's starter fell behind his opposite number 2-1 and 3-2 but got him to hit a weak grounder to third base to keep the 4-2 lead intact.

A similar situation arose in the 5th inning, but this time the Mets made their chance count.

Reyes hit an 0-2 fastball back through the box for a single to centre field and Daniel Murphy slapped one past the diving Encarnacion to left.

Wright then hit a grounder straight at Alex Gonzalez but the shortstop, who had a limited view of the ball coming towards him as Reyes took his lead off of second base, bobbled the play as all runners were safe.

Delgado worked the count full and brought home Reyes on a softly-hit ground ball to Joey Votto at first base as Volquez crossed the 100-pitch mark and the following batter Beltran laced a two-rbi single up the middle to knock Volquez out of the game.

The Reds had a chance to respond immediately in the bottom of the 5th inning when they put Votto and Bruce on the corners with two outs - just their second and third baserunners since they batted around in the 1st inning.

With Encarnacion batting, Bruce tried to steal second base but got caught in a run down. As Bruce backtracked towards first, Votto broke for home but got tagged out by Schneider on the throw from Castillo.

Relief

Mets Bobby Parnell pitched around a pair of two-out walks to see the Reds did not level things up and the Mets added an insurance run in the top of the 7th.

David Wright lined a double to left field and beat the throw home on Delgado's RBI single.
Delgado advanced to second on the play and Mike Lincoln intentionally walked Beltran to get to Church.

But Church walked to load the bases up again and Brian Schneider cleared them off with a 3RBI double to make it 9-4.

Votto scored the Reds' fifth run on a groundout in the bottom of the 7th against Pedro Feliciano and Ramon Hernandez cut the lead to three with an RBI single off the wall in right centre.

Chris Dickerson's sac fly scored Willy Taveras who had hit a one-out triple, but JJ Putz worked around the hit to hand K-Rod a two-run lead.

Rodriguez walked Phillips but got Jay Bruce to pop up. Encarnacion grounded out to Wright who threw on to first base, but Delgado's foot left the base early as he tried to throw Phillips out as he rounded second and slid into third.

With men on first and third, Rodriguez walked Hernandez, struck out Gonzalez on a high fastball and got Lance Nix on a deep fly ball to the warning track.

Other notes: Luis Castillo was the only Mets starter not to get a base hit, Reds' Joey Votto went 3/4 with three RBI, a walk and two runs and Jerry Hairston Jnr had to leave the game after fouling a ball off his foot in the 4th inning.