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Santana notches 10th win as Mets down Nationals

Aug 13, 2008 - 5:31 AM By Todd Jacobson PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- A pair of unlikely heroes - Damion Easley and Pedro Feliciano - made sure Johan Santana would not see another fine start ruined.

Easley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to push across the go-ahead run while Feliciano notched his first save on Tuesday, sending the Mets to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Since regular closer Billy Wagner went on the disabled list August 2 with a strained left forearm, New York manager Jerry Manuel has scrambled to find a replacement, turning first to Aaron Heilman. The righthander struggled, blowing his third save Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Manuel toyed with the idea of using starters Oliver Perez, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey to finish games while Wagner is sidelined.

His frustration had become such that he publicly addressed the situation. A pregame meeting led by veterans Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez likely further motivated the bullpen, which had blown leads in six of Santana's starts.

"You shouldn't really have to do that," said reliever Joe Smith, who pitched a scoreless eighth.

"But there comes some times where you have to pull everyone together and say 'hey, we're trying to make a run here, this team is trying to take off and we're going to be a big part of this, and coming in, whether it's the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth inning, we're going to have to do it.'"

Santana (10-7) yielded three runs and eight hits over seven strong innings before he was lifted for a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, forcing New York to once again turned to its beleaguered bullpen.

Smith worked the eighth and Feliciano, who thought he was being brought in to retire just the first batter -- Willie Harris -- completed the ninth without incident to post his third career save.

"I looked to Jerry and I just tried to tell him that I got this," Feliciano said. "Leave me here and I'll do it."

Of course, on what was an unpredictable night, how New York scored its final run was every bit as surprising.

With the bases loaded and a 1-2 count, a fastball from Nationals reliever Saul Rivera (3-5) grazed the top of Easley's batting helmet, drawing an immediate and protracted argument from Nationals manager Manny Acta.

Third baseman David Wright scored on the play to break a 3-3 tie, but for several minutes Acta argued with home plate umpire Rob Drake that the ball had actually tipped off Easley's bat, though Drake stood with his original call after conferring with the rest of the umpiring crew.

After further reflection and another look at the play, Acta had no problem admitting he was wrong.

"I thought the ball was too high to hit him on the helmet," Acta said. "It hit the bat, that's what I thought. But they (the umpires) got it right."

Rivera recovered, striking out pinch hitters Daniel Murphy and Brian Schneider to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

Santana had overcome a shaky first to post his third straight win - a total that has come in eight starts.

After surrendering two runs on singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Jesus Flores, Santana held the Nationals in check until the seventh when pinch hitter Ryan Langerhans tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run, his first and the second pinch homer of his career.

New York had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run single by Carlos Delgado. After the Nationals tied the score in the bottom of the inning, the Mets recaptured the advantage at 3-2 in the third on a two-out double by Carlos Beltran.