Hey Mets fans… we finally did it… our New York Mets not only notched a solid 5-2 win against the Chicago Cubs, but in doing so they won their first series of the young season after losing their first four.

Game Notes

Johan Santana had to rely on being crafty and pitching smart tonight as he got into and out of jams all night long. He’s still not the Johan of old, but did hit 90 mph on the radar gun a few times, so he seems to be slowly regaining his form. He allowed one run and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, but did not walk a batter and struck out five. It was an outstanding effort and a well deserved win.

The Mets offense was getting no-hit by Tom Gorzelanny, until Ike Davis finally broke it up with a sharp single in the fifth inning. Can you believe we had no hits off that bum until then? Anyway, who says Ike Davis struggles against lefthanded pitchers? Ike disproved that theory and went 3 for 4 with a double and a run scored, but notably two of those hits came against left handed pitchers.

The only other hits came from David Wright who had a big RBI double, Jeff Francoeur who broke a horrendous slump with an RBI single, Rod Barajas and Jose Reyes.  

The bullpen was shaky at best tonight, Fernando Nieve making his 11th appearance this season allowed a hit to his only batter. Pedro Feliciano relieved to finish the seventh and was pulled in the eighth after allowing two batters to get on. Jenrry Mejia came in, faced one batter and walked him. Enter the big guy…

What a great job by closer Frankie Rodriguez who notched a rare five-out save, his first since the 2005 season. He came into a 4-1 game with the bases loaded and one out and gave up a sacrifice fly. He then retired the Cubs order in the ninth to earn his first save of the season. Hopefully, he doesn’t have to wait as long for his second one.

Game Ball

This one’s easy, Johan Santana gets the game ball for yet another outstanding effort. For a while I feared that the Mets offense would deprive him of a win once again, but thankfully Johan got the victory tonight.

On Deck

The Mets open a three game series against the Braves tomorrow night at Citi Field, with John Maine facing Kenshin Kawakami. Game time is at 7:10 pm. Lets Go Mets!