The X-Man, Glavine, Wags, LoDuca, and The Wright Stuff

On a gloomy Monday afternoon, these were the players who combined for all the hits and runs (excluding Billy Wagner.) Xavier Nady went 4 for 4 with two doubles, and an RBI. Tom Glavine wasn't particularly sharp, but he did pitch six strong innings, giving up six hits and one earned, walking three and striking out five. He even went 2 for 2. Wagner pitched the ninth for his first save. I'll get more in-depth later... LoDuca went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a double. David Wright went 2 for 4 with a solo shot in the sixth.

For most of the game up until the bottom of the 7th, I had to get updates on my cell phone. After I got off the bus, I walked as fast as possible to get home, only to see Carlos Beltran strike out looking. The next batter, Carlos Delgado hit a foul home run, then drew a 3-2 walk. David Wright hit a homer in the sixth to right center, Mike Piazza style. That was a great flashback. I seen the shot as David came up in the 7th, and hit a broken bat single over Jose Vidro's head. Frank Robinson then went to the lefty, serial killer-looking Joey Eischen, who Floyd doesn't have a bright past against. Floyd grounded out weakly to Ryan Zimmerman at third, and took it himself for the force and third out. It was 3-2.

Heilman was back in there after a 7th inning in which he wasn't to good in. He gave up 3 hits and a run, but got out of trouble when Jose Guillen grounded into a double play. In the 8th, Heilman gave us some more heartburn. Alfonso Soriano led it off with a skying single over David Wright's glove, with David jumping as high as possible. Then, Ryan Zimmerman, a future Met killer, drove one down the line for a double. But instead of stopping at third for 2nd and 3rd with none out, Soriano decided to test Cliff Floyd and Jose Reyes. Floyd threw it in to Reyes, and Jose fired as quickly as he could to Paul LoDuca. When it was live, Soriano clearly looked out. On the replay, it went on to show that the ball fell out of LoDuca's hand, and Soriano was actually safe. LoDuca did a great job of covering it up, making Rick Reed, the home plate umpire (not the ex-Mets pitcher), call Soriano. I jumped off my couch and went crazy when Soriano was called out at home.

The fact that Aaron Heilman had a bad game is beyond me. I'm pretty sure he had butterflies in his stomach, pitching in a role that he hasn't pitched a regular season game in since last season. A lot of his pitches were high in the strike zone, but his change-up looked devastating when Brian Schneider struck out to end the inning, with the bat flying out of his hands. The Mets threatened in the bottom of the 8th, but Majewski pitched out of it.

In the ninth, "Enter Sandman". Billy got Brandon Watson on a sharp grounder to Wright, which he fielded cleanly. Then Matt LeCroy was blown away by Wagner on a fastball. Jose Vidro, the Nats last hope, smacked a Wagner offering to left-center. Beltran fielded, threw in to second where Vidro was trying to stretch a single into a double, and was tagged out by Anderson Hernandez, to end a spectacular game. Gary Cohen, a true Mets announcer, was going crazy. It couldn't have been better.

**
W- Tom Glavine (1-0) 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1.50 ERA.

L- Livan Hernandez (0-1) 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 4.50 ERA.

S- Billy Wagner (1) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA.