Pagan Grand Slam Powers Mets over Arizona

It was deja vu all over again for the Mets. Tie game in the 8th, bases loaded. Fernando Tatis came up big on Monday in that spot. This time Angel Pagan smoked a grand slam to break a tie at five and give the Mets a 9-6 win. Jerry Manuel said in his post game press conference that Pagan lacked energy in his at bats earlier in the game. But there is no question he had enough juice in his bat later when it counted.

The hit was huge for the Mets because it would have been a big blow to lose a game where they led by two after five innings. They needed to make sure their two game losing streak did not get any worse since they have a lot of teams ahead of them in the wild card hunt. Pagan rightfully received a curtain call from the Citi Field faithful. He picked a great time to hit his first long ball as a Met and his first in over two years.

The offense was great once again as all the starters recorded a hit except for Luis Castillo. The Mets were 5 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and they are getting a lot more hits in bunches and big spots. This is not a team that will out slug you with all the injuries and playing in Citi Field. They need to be able to move runners over and play more small ball, which is what they are starting to figure out. It was great to see someone like Jeff Francoeur put the ball in play with David Wright on third and one out just to get him in. It was not fancy, but it got the job done and gave the Mets a two run lead at that juncture in the game.

Oliver Perez was very spotty as usual. While he only surrendered two earned runs in five innings of work, he walked five batters in five innings, and he now has 47 walks in 48.2 innings this season. He did strike out seven, and he was getting really good movement on his pitches out of the zone, but the walks are still extremely troubling. Manuel stated in his press conference that Ollie keeps him "on the top step of the dugout". Through all his control issues, Perez did a great job escaping a few jams in the 3rd and 5th innings, including a huge double play in the 3rd where Daniel Murphy made a great scoop on a throw. It was great to see Perez keep the Mets in the game despite walking a lot of guys and giving up six hits.

The Mets improved to 50-53 on the year, and they are right back at it tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 against the D-Backs. Mike Pelfrey will go for the Mets against Jon Garland for Arizona. Big Pelf has been great in his last two starts, while Garland has gone at least six innings or more in his last 11 outings.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)