On the Mets beat

Good evening Mets enthusiasts, I'm Chris Mascaro and I'll be bringing you all of tonight's live game action, as the Metropolitans (77-61) take on the Brewers (80-57) in the middle game of a three-game set from Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Mets are two games in front of the Phillies, who have Cole Hamels hurling tonight in Washington.

Met fans will get a taste of the future with 21-year old lefty Jonathon Niese taking the hill. Niese, the seventh-round pick in 2005 who is filling John Maine's spot in the rotation, was solid in Binghamton and New Orleans this season. He went 6-7 with a 3.04 ERA in 22 starts for the Double-A club and 5-1 with a 3.40 ERA in seven starts for the Triple-A squad.

It is uncertain how deep Niese will go into tonight's game, but he'll be facing quite a potent lineup, including boppers Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and more.

Those three hitters were a combined 6-for-12 yesterday against Johan Santana, but the rest of the team had just two hits, as the Mets took the opener, 4-2. The big blow for the Mets was Carlos Delgado's two-run homer off Eric Gagne in a three-run eighth inning. It was Delgado's team-leading 31st home run.

Since June 27, Delgado's 20 homers and 60 RBIs lead the National League. Tonight, Delgado and company have a tough matchup against lefthander Manny Parra (10-6, 4.00 ERA). Parra has been great in his first full season in the big leagues, and will be the de facto No. 2 starter if Ben Sheets (who left yesterday's game with an injury) is out for an extended period of time.

Parra started the year 8-2, but is 2-4 with a 4.44 ERA after the All-Star break. He gave up one run in six innings in St. Louis last Wednesday, but didn't receive a decision in what became a 5-3 loss for the Crew. Parra took the loss in his only start against the Mets this year, allowing three runs on six hits in four innings in a 4-2 defeat at Shea on April 11. Here are the Mets' career numbers vs. Parra, a combined .235 average.

The Mets have won four of their last five, including two straight, and are 10-3 on the road since August 12.

Finally, here are tonight's lineups:

Mets
1. Reyes, SS
2. Evans, LF
3. Wright, 3B
4. Beltran, CF
5. Delgado, 1B
6. Tatis, RF
7. Easley, 2B
8. Cancel, C
9. Niese, LHP

*Beltran left yesterday's game after an awkward collision with an umpire at the plate, but is back in the lineup tonight after testing out his knee earlier today.

Brewers
1. Weeks, 2B
2. Hardy, SS
3. Braun, LF
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Hart, RF
6. Cameron, CF
7. Hall, 3B
8. Kendall, C
9. Parra, LHP

Okay, plenty more to talk about as we progress tonight, so be sure to voice your opinions/comments/questions in the chat box below. And be sure to vote on the poll questions! I'll be back after each half-inning to update everyone on the game action.

We're about 15 minutes from baseball on SNY!

Top of the 1st: A 1-2-3 inning for Parra, as Reyes and Evans struck out swinging and Wright grounded out to short. Parra needed just 13 pitches in the inning. Here comes Niese...

Bottom of the 1st: Quite an inauspicious start for Niese, as Rickie Weeks hit his 11th career leadoff home run on Niese's second career pitch to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. It is the 12th homer and 40th RBI for Weeks on the year.

Niese then walked Hardy and Braun, before getting Fielder to ground out to first. Delgado bobbled the potential double-play grounder, but was able to at least get the out at first.

But it didn't bother Niese, as he settled down and got Hart and Cameron to strike out swinging to end the inning. He needed 30 pitches to get through the first.

Top of the 2nd: Nice inning for the Mets. After Beltran led off the inning with a walk, Delgado singled (in the hole on the left side) and Tatis doubled down the right-field line to score Beltran and tie the game at 1.

Then Easley hit an RBI groundout to short to put the Mets on top, 2-1. Cancel grounded out to third (moving Tatis to third), but Niese struck out swinging to end the inning.

Bottom of the 2nd: Nick Evans made an excellent catch on Bill Hall's fly ball right up against the left-field wall for the first out. Kendall walked and Parra sacrificed him to second, but Weeks popped out to second to end the inning.

The only negative besides the leadoff homer for Niese is that he has thrown 47 pitches already. (Also, I'm sure Jerry Manuel didn't want to see him walk the No. 8 hitter ahead of the pitcher, but that's nitpicking for a kid making his first start.)

Top of the 3rd: After Reyes lined out to left, Evans reached on Hardy's throwing error (Fielder couldn't make the scoop) and Wright singled up the middle.

A wild pitch by Parra put runners on second and third for Beltran, who nailed his 22nd home run to left-center field, a three-run shot that put the Mets ahead 5-1. Beltran, who has 96 RBIs now, has three home runs in his last five games.

Delgado grounded out to first for the second out, and Tatis struck out swinging to end the inning.

Bottom of the 3rd: After a Hardy walk (Niese's fourth free pass of the night), Braun blooped a single right over the head of Reyes. But Niese got three straight fly outs to end the inning.

Fielder went to left, Hart to right (with Hardy tagging and going to third) and Cameron to center. Nice job by the rook, who needed just 15 pitches this inning and now has 62.

Top of the 4th: After Easley grounded out to second (nice barehanded play by Weeks), Cancel singled to right. But Niese failed to put down a bunt and inevitably struck out (Parra's fifth K of the night), and Cancel was tagged out trying to steal second.

Parra has 62 pitches through four innings.

Bottom of the 4th: A tough inning for Niese against the bottom of the order, as Hall (No. 7 hitter) singled to right, Kendall (No. 8) doubled off the right-field chalk, and Parra (the pitcher) lined a double off the right-field wall to close the Mets' lead to 5-3 before an out was recorded.

Weeks singled up the middle to put runners on the corners, and then Hardy singled to left to score Parra and make it 5-4 Mets. After five straight hits, that was all for Niese, who went 3+ innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks with two K's. He threw 73 pitches.

Righty Nelson Figueroa (3-3, 4.99) came on for the Mets with no outs and runners on first and second. He struck Braun out looking (he was fooled with a fastball), but Fielder walked on a 3-and-2 pitch.

Hart then blooped a single over Reyes, allowing Weeks to score and tie the game at 5. But Beltran threw Hardy out at the plate; his sixth assist of the season. A nice block of the plate by Cancel, as well.

Cameron struck out swinging to end the inning.

Top of the 5th: Parra has his second 1-2-3 inning of the evening, as Reyes lined out to left, Evans grounded out to short and Wright struck out swinging.

Reyes and Evans are each 0-for-3 with a K on the night thus far. Parra is at 79 pitches.

Bottom of the 5th: Figueroa struck out Hall swinging to lead off the inning, and then got Kendall to fly out to center. Parra doubled to left-center (his second of the night and sixth extra-base hit of the year) before Weeks grounded a shot to third. Wright made a nice diving stop to his left, but couldn't throw out the speedy Weeks.

Hardy gave one a ride to left-center, but Evans tracked it down on the the track to end the inning.

Top of the 6th: Beltran ripped a single to left off Hall's glove (his second hit of the night and third time on base in three tries) before Delgado walked, prompting Ned Yost to bring in righty Guillermo Mota (4-5, 4.34).

Parra went five innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks with six K's. He threw 86 pitches.

Mota got Tatis to ground into a 5-4-3 double play and Easley grounded out to third to end the inning. Nice job by the former Met.

Bottom of the 6th: Righty Duaner Sanchez (5-1, 4.33) came on in relief of the Figueroa, who went two scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk with three K's.

Sanchez did a nice job with the heart of the order, as he pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Braun popped out short, Fielder popped out to third and Hart grounded out to short.

Top of the 7th: After Cancel struck out looking to lead off the inning, Argenis Reyes (hitting in the pitcher's spot) walked. He moved to second on a slow grounder to short by Jose Reyes. Evans grounded out to first to end the inning.

Nice outing by Mota, who threw two scoreless innings.

Bottom of the 7th: Righty Brian Stokes (1-0, 2.70) came on in relief of Sanchez, who threw a hitless inning.

Stokes did the same, as Cameron popped out to first, Hall struck out swinging and Kendall grounded out to short.

Top of the 8th: Righty Eric Gagne, yesterday's goat, came on in relief of Mota, who threw two hitless innings.

Gagne got Wright to fly out to deep right, Beltran to line out hard to center and Delgado to line out to right.

Bottom of the 8th: Ray Durham (pinch-hitting in the pitcher's spot) grounded out to first before Weeks lined one into the left-field corner. Endy Chavez, who came on as a defensive replacement, threw out Weeks on a close call at second.

Weeks slid with his feet to the right of the bag and went in hands first. The slide, which also took out the second base ump (the second time in this series we've seen that), most likely cost Weeks. Ned Yost came out to argue to no avail.

Hardy struck out swinging to end the inning.

Top of the 9th: Righty Salomon Torres (6-3, 2.54), the Brewers' closer, came on in relief of Gagne.

He had a 1-2-3 inning, as Tatis grounded out to third, Easley flied to left and Ryan Church (hitting for Cancel) grounded out to first.

Bottom of the 9th: Stokes came in for a third inning, but lasted just one batter, as he walked Braun. Manuel brought in lefty Pedro Feliciano (2-4, 3.88), who threw one pitch to Fielder and got him to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

Manuel played the matching game again, as he brought in righty Joe Smith (2-3, 3.83) to face Hart. Wright made a nice diving stop to his right and threw out Hart by a step. Nice play.

The Met bullpen has thrown six innings of four-hit ball (and no runs) thus far. Nice job by Manuel to mix-and-match, as well.

Top of the 10th: Daniel Murphy (pinch-hitting for Joe Smith) singled before a Reyes bunt. Kendall fielded the ball and fired to first, but Weeks (who was covering the bag) dropped the ball after Reyes ran into him, allowing him to reach and Murphy to move over to third.

(An error was charged to Kendall on the throw.)

Chavez (who made a stellar play in the field earlier) hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Murphy with the go-ahead run. Mets lead, 6-5.

Wright grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Bottom of the 10th: Righty Luis Ayala (2-8, 5.48) came on and got his 5th save since joining the Mets. He struck Cameron out looking and got Hall to fly out to right before Brad Nelson (pinch-hitting for Kendall) doubled into the right-field corner.

Tony Gwynn, Jr. came on to pinch run and Gabe Kapler pinch hit in the pitcher's spot. Kapler walked to bring up Weeks (who was 4-for-5 at that point). But Weeks struck out swinging to end the game.

That's the ballgame, folks! Mets win, 6-5.
Mets: 78-61 *remain two ahead of the Phillies, who won 4-0 in Washington
Brewers: 80-58

WP--Smith (3-3)
LP--Torres (6-4)
SV--Ayala (5)

HR: Mets 1 (Beltran, 22); Brewers 1 (Weeks, 12)

Here are your three stars for tonight's game:
1. Mets bullpen: 7 IP, no runs, five hits, three walks and seven strikeouts (Figueroa and Stokes pitched two scoreless innings)
2. Endy Chavez: threw out Weeks on a shot down the line and then had the game-winning sacrifice fly in his only at-bat.
3. Carlos Beltran: 2-for-3 with a three-run homer and two runs

As always, it was my honor and pleasure to bring everyone tonight's live game action. I hope to see ya'll very soon! Goodnight everybody!