Defeat the Empire

A shaky outing by Tom Glavine, strong relief by Aaron Heilman, and solid run production meant a win today for the Mets in RFK. Glavine gave up 9 hits in 5.2 innings, but that translated into just three runs for the Nationals. Heilman came in with the bases loaded in the sixth, and promptly got Jose Guillen to ground out to second base. Heilman carried the game through the seventh and eighth innings as well, and didn't allow a hit in his 2.1 innings of relief. Braden Looper shut the door, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his 19th save in 22 chances.

Mike Cameron got the Mets offense going in the first inning, clubbing his eighth home run of 2005 to left field to put the Mets ahead 1-0. The Nats retaliated in the fourth, however, as singles by Jamey Carroll and Brad Wilkerson plated three runs. Carlos Beltran's leadoff double, his twentieth two-bagger of the season, in the sixth inning got the Mets rally started off of Livan Hernandez, and the Mets knocked in three runs to go ahead for good on Marlon Anderson and Ramon Castro singles. A sacrifice fly by Anderson in the eighth made the score 5-3, adding insurance to the benefit of the sometimes shaky Looper.

Glavine got the win to improve to 6-7. Hernandez took the loss to fall to 12-3, earning his first loss since April 19th. Kris Benson (6-3, 3.75) will face Tony Armas, Jr. (4-4, 5.27) in the series finale as the Amazins try to take three of four from the first-place Nats.