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Mets win in extra innings to increase division lead

Sep 23, 2007 - 10:24 PM By Michael Snyder PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (TICKER) -- David Wright drove home the eventual game- winning run in the top of the 11th inning to give the New York Mets a 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday.

It was the third straight win for the Mets after dropping the series opener. With Washington defeating Philadelphia, 5-3, on Sunday, New York (87-68) increased its lead over the Philadelphia Phillies (85-71) in the National League East to 2 1/2 games.

Jose Reyes walked to open the 11th and Luis Castillo singled, setting the stage for Wright, who singled up the middle off Marlins reliever Harvey Garcia (0-1).

Joe Smith (3-1) pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win. Aaron Sele got the first two outs in the bottom of the 11th and Scott Schoeneweis got the final out to record his second save of the season.

"We're making things exciting," Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran said.

"Obviously the baseball gods are making us pay a bit," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "We have to earn it."

Dan Uggla connected for his 31st homer of the season off Mets closer Billy Wagner in the ninth inning to knot the score at 6-6 and send the game into extra innings.

"I was looking for anything in the zone," Uggla said. "It's the first time that I can remember putting a ball in play against him." "Only about the 73rd time I've had to feel like this," Wagner said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy. Lately, everybody's been picking each other up and finding ways to win."

Moises Alou extended his major league best hitting streak to 27 games with a single in the eighth inning to tie the score at 3-3, then Carlos Delgado smacked a three-run homer to give the Mets a 6-3 lead.

It was Delgado's 24th homer of the season and his 431st career shot which tied Cal Ripken Jr. for 37th on the all-time list.

Alou had been tied with Cleveland's Casey Blake for the longest streak in the majors this year. The 27-game streak is also a career best for the 41-year-old Alou.

"I feel very good at the plate," Alou said. "I feel like every day I'm going to have a good game, and it's been like that for the past month and I feel grateful to feel that way. Unfortunately last week, we didn't win as many games and I was hitting the ball good, but you don't get the same satisfaction."

Todd Linden's run-scoring single had put the Marlins ahead 3-2 in the sixth, but the Marlins' bullpen could not hold the slim advantage.

Jeremy Hermida, who had three hits for Florida, singled to open the inning and Miguel Cabrera followed with a walk to drive Mets starter John Maine from the game. Maine allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.

Pedro Feliciano came in to relieve the righthander, who tied a career high with nine strikeouts, and struck out Mike Jacobs before Linden sent a ground ball to right field to score Hermida.

The Mets tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning on Paul Lo Duca's ninth home run of the season.

Lo Duca, one of four ex-Marlins in the Mets' lineup Sunday, drove an 0-1 pitch from rookie starter Chris Seddon over the scoreboard in left with Carlos Beltran aboard.

The Marlins took a 2-0 in the third inning with three straight hits off Maine. Hermida did the damage with a two-run single up the middle that plated Hanley Ramirez and Uggla.

Wright, who is 8-for-15 this series, extended his own hitting streak to 10 games with a single in his first plate appearance.

New York arrived in Miami having dropped six of its last eight games. After Thursday's loss, its lead over Philadelphia, which had been seven games on September 12, had shrunk to 1 1/2.

The Mets improved to 8-1 in Miami this year.

Maine had been 0-2 with a 9.71 ERA in three September starts but had won both his previous starts at Dolphin Stadium this season, while giving up only four runs and six hits over 13 innings with 15 strikeouts.

Overall, he entered Sunday with one win in his last six starts.

Seddon started his third game in the majors. The 23-year-old lefthander has not pitched beyond the fifth this year. He left after throwing 75 pitches and giving up two runs on three hits in five innings.

"It's a tough lineup," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "They keep sending guys up there, and they are tough outs. Moises seemed to be right in the middle of every one of their rallies."

The Mets play their final seven games at Shea Stadium. '

"We're looking forward to it," Randolph said. ''Hopefully, we can celebrate with our fans.'' The Mets admitted to doing a bit of scoreboard watching while battling the Marlins.

"I was checking the scores, I'm not going to lie to you," Alou said. "They (the Phillies) finally lost. They've been playing their (butts) off and we haven't played our best baseball and they're still 2 1/2 games out, so that's a good feeling.

Florida (66-90) has dropped seven of its last eight games.