Good Morning Mets Fans!

Round one of the 5th starter panic sweepstakes clearly went to Livan Hernandez. The veteran was ultra-cool, calm and collected in picking up his 148th big league win against a tough Florida Marlins club.

Livan's best pitches were his off-speed stuff--in fact, one of the very best pitches of the night was a 60 mph "curve-changeup" that he used to strike out Cameron Maybin. Another one, this time in at 62 mph, twisted Hanley Ramirez into a pretzel as he violently swung and missed.

All told the crafty veteran gave up six hits and two runs in 6 2/3rds innings of work. It was the longest outing so far by a Mets starter, and it gave the bullpen a much needed break.

"When you have a veteran like Livan who commands his pitches and can put a little on and take a little off, he can be tough for a young, aggressive-swinging team like that," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "He was able to throttle back and forth, which made him very effective."

The hitting star of the night was none other than Luis Castillo, who almost had a five hit night, but settled for four (and a sacrifice) and a Mets win. Castillo also scored three runs. Prior to the game Casillo took 100 swings of extra batting practice, and it paid results immediately.

"I feel better," Castillo said. "I don't want to think so much, and that's what I've been doing. I get frustrated sometimes, but I know what kind of player I am."

In addition to Castillo, several Mets had big games as part of a 15-hit attack.

Jose Reyes had his first three RBI of the season, including a two-run homer. Carlos Delgado finished 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Ryan Church had two more hits and is now hitting a ridiculous .526 to go along with his excellent rightfield defense.

All in all a great game for the Mets. Today we get to see Johan Santana against Josh Johnson in what should be a fantastic pitching duel.

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (3-2) «	0	0	1	0	3	1	0	3	0	8	15	1
Florida (4-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	4	11	2

Player of the Game

New York L. Hernandez IP 6.2 H 6 ER 2 BB 3 K 4

New York Mets
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jose Reyes, SS	5	1	2	3	0	1	2	.286
Daniel Murphy, LF	4	2	1	0	1	0	1	.348
Darren O'Day, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Francisco Rodriguez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
David Wright, 3B	5	0	1	1	0	2	1	.316
Carlos Delgado, 1B	4	0	3	2	1	0	0	.421
Carlos Beltran, CF	5	0	1	0	0	1	4	.381
Ryan Church, RF	4	1	2	0	1	0	2	.526
Brian Schneider, C	5	1	1	0	0	1	4	.200
Luis Castillo, 2B	4	3	4	1	0	0	0	.357
Livan Hernandez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Brian Stokes, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Pedro Feliciano, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a- Alex Cora, PH	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	.000
Jeremy Reed, LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.333
Totals	38	8	15	8	3	6
a-grounded out for Feliciano in the 8th
Batting
2B - Jose Reyes (1, Nolasco), Carlos Delgado (1, Nolasco), Carlos Beltran (1, Miller), Ryan Church 2 (5, Nolasco, Miller)
HR - Jose Reyes (1, Nolasco)
SH - Luis Castillo (1), Livan Hernandez 3 (3)
RBI - Jose Reyes 3 (3), David Wright (1), Carlos Delgado 2 (8), Luis Castillo (1), Alex Cora (2)
2-OUT RBI - David Wright (1), Carlos Delgado 2 (4)
Team LOB - 10
Fielding
DP - Wright, Hernandez-Reyes-Delgado
E - David Wright (1, Throwing)

New York Mets
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Livan Hernandez (W,1-0)	6.2	6	2	2	3	4	0	2.70
Brian Stokes	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Pedro Feliciano (H,1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.57
Darren O'Day	1.1	3	2	0	0	1	0	0.00
Francisco Rodriguez	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Pitches-Strikes - Livan Hernandez 99-62, Brian Stokes 4-3, Pedro Feliciano 1-1, Darren O'Day 33-21, Francisco Rodriguez 13-8
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Livan Hernandez 5-9, Pedro Feliciano 1-0, Darren O'Day 2-2
Batters Faced - Livan Hernandez 27, Brian Stokes 1, Pedro Feliciano 1, Darren O'Day 8, Francisco Rodriguez 3