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Delgado guides Mets past Nationals

Sep 10, 2008 - 3:40 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- On a night with plenty of offense, Carlos Delgado once again was swinging the hottest bat.

Delgado hit a pair of home runs for the second straight game and combined for back-to-back blasts with Carlos Beltran in the sixth inning as the New York Mets outlasted the Washington Nationals, 10-8, in the opener of a two-game series on Tuesday.

Ryan Church also homered for the Mets (81-63), who moved 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Phillies (79-66) in the National League East. The Phillies fell to the Florida Marlins, 10-8, on Tuesday.

Effective starting pitching is one reason the Mets moved to the top of the division, but Oliver Perez lasted just 3 1/3 innings and was tagged for seven runs and eight hits.

"It was good for us to pick him up tonight," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "He's been good for us for a long time."

New York compensated by pounding out 14 hits and overcoming a 7-5 deficit. Leading the way was Delgado, who has been among the hottest hitters in baseball after a slow start, driving in 53 runs in his last 49 games.

Manuel called the streak more impressive than the one that Albert Belle had back in a 49-homer season in 1998 when Manuel managed the Chicago White Sox.

"Being in a pennant race and having that type of streak is a tremendous achievement," Manuel said. "He said, 'I'm putting you on my shoulders,' and that's what he's doing."

The slugfest featured 26 hits, including five home runs.

The Nationals won five of six games from the Mets last September, contributing to New York's monumental collapse down the stretch that handed the NL East to the Phillies.

After a two-homer game in Sunday night's win over the Phillies, Delgado said that such a collapse would not happen again. The first baseman did his part to prevent it on Tuesday.

"Every night we find a way to win, not find a way to lose," Delgado said.

Ryan Church singled off Jason Bergmann to lead off the sixth and Beltran greeted reliever Charlie Manning (1-3) with a two-run homer to give New York a 9-8 lead. The home run gave Beltran 100 RBI for the third straight season.

Delgado followed by belting a 1-0 pitch over the right field fence for his 35th home run of the season. It was his seventh multi-homer game of the season and 49th of the career. Delgado also hit a two-run homer in the third.

"There's something about hitting home runs - when you try to hit them you get in trouble," Delgado said. "I'm just trying to hit the ball hard somewhere."

Cristian Guzman hit a two-run homer and Anderson Hernandez, claimed off waivers last month as part of the deal that sent reliever Luis Ayala to the Mets, drove in three runs for the Nationals.

Damion Easley, Church and Beltran each drove in a pair of runs for the Mets.

Perez had his shortest outing since he lasted just one-third of an inning in a lopsided loss at San Francisco on June 2. Mets manager Jerry Manuel compensated by using six relievers. Joe Smith (4-3) worked 1 2/3 innings for the win and Ayala, the de facto closer now that Billy Wagner will need "Tommy John" surgery and is out for the season, worked the ninth for his sixth save.

"This type of game is going to happen. It's baseball it's a long season. Today I didn't do my job," Perez said. "My slider was spinning right over the plate."

Manuel compensated by using six relievers. Joe Smith (4-3) worked 1 2/3 innings for the win and Ayala, the de facto closer now that Billy Wagner will need "Tommy John" surgery and is out for the season, worked the ninth for his sixth save.

"Smith was the key. He stopped us," Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

Washington starter John Lannan, a native of nearby Long Beach, New York, allowed five runs and eight hits, including a pair of homers, in three innings.

"I felt fine, but I made mistakes and got hurt," Lannan said. "They were locking in on my fastball."

Easley had a two-run double in the second before Guzman tied with a two-run homer in the top of the third.

The Mets regained the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third, beginning with a home run by Church. Delgado later belted a mammoth 440-foot shot to right-center field to increase New York's lead to 5-2.

The Nationals answered with six straight hits in a five-run fourth, including a two-run single by Hernandez and consecutive RBI singles by Ryan Zimmerman and former Met Lastings Milledge.