The Mets jumped on the board quickly in this one yet again. Jesus Feliciano lead off the first with a double subbing for Reyes in the leadoff spot. After Tejada reached on an error by Gaby Sanchez, Wright drove them both home with a double to center to make it 2-0. Those two RBIs gave Wright 29 in June, tying a career high in a month. Big Ike singled home Reyes on a line drive that nearly took on the second base ump to put the Mets up 3-0.
Mike Pelfrey didn't start the game all that sharp, though. He gave up a lead off double to Chris Coghlan and two batters later, Hanley drove him in with a single to make it 3-1. After striking out Cantu and watching Hanley steal second, Pelfrey watched Uggla single home Hanley to make it 3-2. Pelfrey threw 40 pitches in the first.
Alex Cora and Jesus Feliciano, both native Puerto Ricans, had Pelfrey's back. Cora lead off the second with a ball hit down the left field line that he tried stretching into a double. Uggla appeared to have him dead to rights, but Cora made the slide of the year, picking up his left arm at the last second and sneaking his right hand onto the bag to beat it out. After a hard bunt by Pelfrey that failed to advance him, Feliciano made it a moot point by singling to left to bring home Cora and make it 4-2.
Pelfrey's uneven start continued in the bottom of the fifth. He let up a leadoff single to Hanley and followed that by giving up a double to Cantu, scoring Ramirez. Uggla came right up and tied the game with a single to score Cantu. He left with two outs in the inning, handing the ball to Dessens, who got yet another clutch out to end the inning.
The Mets picked up Pelfrey in the top of the sixth thanks to some really bad Marlins defense. Cantu let a Bay grounder go under his glove and then The Animal singled him over to second. Two batters later, Cora hit a ground ball to Uggla that should have been a double play to end the inning, but Uggla did a weird hop and dropped the ball without getting any outs. Josh Thole then put the Mets ahead 5-4 with a single to center. Unfortunately, Hanley made a great snag of a Feliciano line drive up the middle and easily doubled up Cora to end the inning and save at least one run.
In the top of the seventh, the Mets extended their lead again, thanks to the fourth Marlins error on the night. Tejada was hit in the back with a pitch to lead off the inning. Cue the bad Marlins defense as Wright reached on a wild throw by Cantu and put runners on first and second. Two batters later, Bay drove in Tejada with a single to make it 6-4 and cap the scoring in the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Marlins pulled to within one in Parnell's second inning of relief. With two outs, Parnell gave up a single to Chris Coghlan and then a double into left by Gaby Sanchez to make it 6-5. K-Rod then came on and got the last out of the inning.
He made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth as he seemingly always does, but ended the game with a strikeout to end the nightmare that was the Puerto Rico trip. Boy am I ever glad that experiment is over. I thought it'd be a great idea. I still think it is, just not with the Mets involved.
Post Game 6/30/10 Mets 6 - Marlins 5
