On the Mets beat

Hey everyone! Marc Jimenez here again as the Mets (37-37) host a three-game series against the worst team in baseball, the Seattle Mariners (26-49). Good pitching matchup tonight as Johan Santana (7-5, 3.04), who hasn’t won since June 1, faces Felix Hernandez (6-5, 2.87).

By the way, check out Ken Davidoff’s article on Mets’ CEO Fred Wilpon if you have not read it already.

Top 1st: Nice start to the game by Santana. He allowed a single to Lopez, who was thrown out at second -- by a mile! -- by Nixon.

Bottom 1st: Reyes, Castillo and Wright go down in order.

Top 2nd: You're not going to believe this put Felix Hernandez just smacked a grand slam following a costly fielding error by Wright with two outs. Before that, Santana had issued singles to Beltre and Clement. Mariners 4, Mets 0.

Bottom 2nd: Six up and six down for the Mets. King Felix is perfect through two innings.

Top 3rd: Santana settles down and gets a 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom 3rd: First time through the lineup and the Mets haven’t gotten a hit off King Felix.

Top 4th: Ok, maybe the home run was just a hiccup. Santana has worked another hitless inning.

Bottom 4th: Reyes led off with a single for the Mets' first hit, but Castillo hit into a fielder’s choice and Wright grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Top 5th: The Mariners tack on another run off Santana on a run-scoring single by Lopez. Mariners 5, Mets 0.

Bottom 5th: King Felix goes down! The Mets got a run across as Beltran led off with a double, stole third and scored on Hernandez’s wild pitch. But on the play, King Felix got hurt -- Beltran kicked his leg -- and is out of the game. He needed assistance to get off the mound. Bad break for the Mariners as Hernandez, who scattered two hits, was pitching great and didn’t want to leave. Roy Corcoran come in for Seattle and retired Chavez to end the inning. Mariners 5, Mets 1.

Top 6th: Santana issued a walk to Sexson, who is hitting .211, but nothing else.

Bottom 6th: Corcoran picked off where Hernandez left off and pitched a hitless inning. Castillo drew a two-out walk before Wright struck out.

Top 7th: Santana went over 100 pitches this inning. He allowed an infield single to Ichiro -- who beat Santana to the bag and stole second -- before fanning Ibanez to end the inning.

Bottom 7th: The Mets go down in order and are running out of chances to make a comeback.

Top 8th: Heilman relieved Santana (5 runs, 1 earned on 7 hits in 7 inn.) and worked around another error by Wright.

Bottom 8th: This is looking really bad for the Mets, who have just two hits.

Top 9th: Dauner Sanchez, who relieved Heilman, struck out Bloomquist and got pinch hitter Jeremy Reed and Ichiro to ground out.

Bottom 9th: The Mets forced in another run on an RBI single by Beltran before Arthur Rhodes came in and struck out Delgado and Easley to end the game. Final: Mariners 5, Mets 2.