It really couldn't have gone any other way, right?
The Mets had a 2-1 lead entering the eighth inning, which meant the game was going to come down to the duo of J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. That felt right, seeing as how the Mets banked their entire offseason on fixing their faulty bullpen.
And it felt even better after Putz pitched a scoreless eighth and Rodriguez a perfect ninth. Putz walked one batter, but struck out Joey Votto and got Brandon Phillips on a grounder to Jose Reyes to avoid trouble. Rodriguez needed just 10 pitches to set the Reds down in the ninth, and got the game's final out on a slider that Ramon Hernandez swung through.
That's just the way Omar Minaya drew it up, although you'd imagine he's not crazy about his offense leaving 12 runners on base to assure that it's a tight game for the pen. The Mets struggled to capitalize with runners on base all day, with Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran coming up particularly small with two outs and multiple runners on board. Thankfully, another big 2009 bet paid off for the Mets.
Daniel Murphy homered in the top of the fifth to drive in the first run, and drove in the second with a hard groundball with the bases loaded in the sixth. Votto had no choice but to take the out at first, allowing Luis Castillo to score and giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Johan Santana could have pitched better, but he did strike out seven in awful weather conditions to balance out a four walk afternoon. But no one worried about Santana, just the guys that came after him. One day won't make those fears go away, but everyone is feeling better about late innings in Queens these days.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
