On the Mets beat

Evening folks. Rod Boone here as tonight's guest blogger and you'll be stuck with me for the next few games.

We'll see if the Mets can build off Wednesday night's inspiring extra-inning win over the NL East-leading Marlins.

It's Claudio Vargas (1-2, 3.93 ERA) vs. Brad Penny (5-5, 5.32). The Mets have had success against Penny. Will it continue? We'll have the answer soon. First pitch is less than 10 minutes away. Be back in a sec to get this going.

Top of first: Leave it to Endy Chavez. He comes through again. Pesky Juan Pierre singled to lead off the game, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and tagged up on a fly ball to right. Chavez made a running catch and gunned Pierre down. Nice block of the plate by Brian Schneider, too.

Bottom of first: Rally-killer Carlos Delgado strikes out with runners on first and third. He swung at a pitch that bounced in the dirt and wasn't even close to making contact. Mets leave two.

Top of second: Vargas send them down in order. He's nibbling at the left corner of the plate to righthanders and it's proving to be effective so far.

Bottom of second: Mets go quietly. Three infield grounders against Penny. We head to the third and it's still zip-zip.

Top of third: Vargas is holding the Dodgers in check. He's set the last eight hitters packing. He isn't overpowering but is getting the job done.

Bottom of third: Mets get to Penny. With two outs and Luis Castillo on first, David Wright crushed a waist-high 2-and-0 fastball into the bleachers in left centerfield. Mets 2, Dodgers 0.

Top of fourth: Delgado flashed a little leather and stabbed a potential double with one out, helping Vargas roll to another rather easy 1-2-3 showing. Vargas is eating some innings.

Bottom of fourth: Weird inning. The Dodgers looked more like the Mets. Penny appeared to be out of the inning when he got Vargas to ground out. But the players were summoned out of the dugout after Russell Martin was called for catcher's interference. The Mets wound up posting a four spot, as Castillo knocked in two runs and Wright homered to right with Beltran on. All because of the error. An aside, Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-out single. Mets 6, Dodgers 0.

Top of fifth: Comeback time for the Dodgers. Former Met Jeff Kent homers to deep left to put the Dodgers on the board and Blake DeWitt takes Vargas over the field in right for a two-run shot to shave the lead in half. Mets 6, Dodgers 3.

Bottom of fifth: No drama this time. Mets go down 1-2-3.

Top of sixth: Vargas left with two outs and runners on first and second. Pedro Feliciano came in and surendered a run, and Carlos Muniz relieved him and struck out Kent for the final out. Mets 6, Dodgers 4.

Bottom of sixth: Mets get a one-out single from Reyes, but that's it. We move to the seventh.

Top of seventh: Scott Schoeneweis continues to impress. He retired the Dodgers quickly in order and looked good again.

Bottom of seventh: Chavez comes through once more. His broken bat two-out infield hit knocks in an insurance run, and Schneider tacks on one more with a single to left. More clutch two-out hitting for the Mets of late Mets 8, Dodgers 4.

Top of eighth: The bullpen remains solid. Joe Smith came in to get the final out after Schoeneweis was pulled with two outs.

Bottom of eighth: Mets don't add to their lead and have to settle for a four-run advantage going into the ninth. Smith remains in to close it out.

Top of ninth: Smith takes care of business, the Mets have their third win in a row and are back at .500. Final: Mets 8, Dodgers 4.