Long after I went to sleep, Angel Pagan hit a game-winning single up the middle, scoring Jose Reyes to give the Mets a 4-3 victory in the 12th at about 11:10 PM EDT (less than an hour from the morning). Jorge Sosa vultured the win, finishing up the top of the 12th for Scott Schoeneweis. Scotty finally contributed positively, getting Chase Utley to ground into a DP to end the 11th. Starter John Maine went six plus strong innings, leaving in the 7th after a Pedro Feliz homer was followed by a Chris Coste double.
It looks like the Mets caught a break on the game-winning play, as Reyes may have been tagged out after a strong throw by mid-game replacement centerfielder Jayson Werth. I haven't seen it yet. Who cares? The call was made, so let's move on. We could use some breaks against the Phils, who suddenly started getting all the bounces last year after Jimmy Rollins proclaimed them the team to beat.
New York built a 3-0 lead, on a two-run single by Ryan Church in the 4th and an RBI single by Carlos Beltran in the 6th, both off starter Adam Eaton. After Feliz's homer, Pedro Feliciano finished the seventh, and then Aaron Heilman entered in his customary 8th inning slot. Don't get too comfy, Aaron. For the third time this season, Heilman surrendered two runs in an appearance, starting with a frightening blast by Ryan Howard, followed by a walk to Pat Burrell, a Geoff Jenkins single, and a So Taguchi RBI grounder.
Billy Wagner came in to pitch the ninth, and I'm a bit concerned about his velocity. It's April, only his second appearance, he's pitching from the full windup, and he was still only able to hit 95 on his fastball. That could be down to 92 by Summer, and maybe in the 80's by September. The slider looked great, but he tends to get wilder with that pitch as the season progresses. In this outing, the only blemish was a two-out walk to Utley, but if both the fastball and slider decline even a little bit off what they were last night, the hits might not stop coming.
At 4-4, we're still a game and a half behind Florida. Hey, Marlins, play some real teams, already! The Braves were snowed out in Colorado, which allowed them to avoid a four game sweep. Nelson Figueroa makes his first start in the bigs since 2004 tonight vs. the Brewers and Manny Parra. As I've been saying in the comments, Figueroa figures to be a replacement-level starter. Anything better will be a bonus, and we start finding out tonight if he can provide it.
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