Mets 4, Marlins 2

Al Leiter continued his after-dark adequacy, giving up just two runs on six hits and five walks in 6 2/3 innings to earn his second win in as many starts this season. David Weathers and Mike Stanton kept up their excellent work, each pitching 2/3 scoreless innings. And Armando Benitez bounced back from his blown save on Sunday to retire the Marlins in the ninth, but not without some drama. After giving up a hit and Ivan Rodriguez's franchise record fifth walk of the game in the ninth, he finally got the third out when Derek Lee hit a line drive well but right at Cliff Floyd, who was playing deep in left field.

But there were a couple of interesting stories on the offensive side for the Mets. First of all, Tsuyoshi Shinjo started in center field against the left-handed Mark Redman in place of the unsurprisingly underachieving Roger Cedeno and went 3 for 3 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly, raising his season average to .600. Unfortunately, he was batting eighth, so the offense couldn't take much advantage of his consistent on-base-ness. Roberto Alomar led off and went hitless in five at-bats, continuing to have difficulty from the right side of the plate, and the usual eighth hitter, Rey Sanchez, batted second, going 1 for 5 to raise his season average to .111. Tomorrow, righty AJ Burnett takes the mound for the Fish and if there's any justice, Timo Perez, who went hitless in his daily pinch-hitting opportunity, will get the chance to start in center.

The rest of the Mets' runs scored on a three-run bomb over the 434 sign in center by Ty Wigginton in the 3rd inning. The young third baseman is now leading Mets regulars with a .348 average and 1.116 OPS.

Tomorrow, the 4-3 Mets send Steve Trachsel to the mound against Burnett.  ¶ joe | 11:02 PM |