On the Mets beat

3:48 p.m. Well, Gagne throws 12 pitches in putting the Mets away in order. Church grounded out, Easley flew out and Schneider struck out to end it, 5-3, in favor of the Brewers. Off to talk to David Wright about his adventurous afternoon, which included a home run but also two errors.

3:40 p.m. Mets go to the bottom of the ninth trailing 5-3. Eric Gagne, who hasn't gotten anyone out in about three years and has a 12.00 ERA in three innings pitched this season, is on for the Brewers. A buzz went through the crowd when his name was announced. It sounded like hope.

3:35 p.m. And Shouse does his job, getting Delgado to ground out. 5-3 Brewers in the ninth with Carlos Muniz, who pitched a scoreless eighth, back out there for the Mets.

3:30 p.m. Sheets finally made a mistake and Wright pounced on it, sending a two-out solo home run to left on a 1-0 pitch. Wright was greeted with boos, his two errors on the day prominent in fans' minds, when he stepped to the plate. It didn't last long. After a walk to Beltran, Yost came out to get Sheets and coming in to relieve is lefty Brian Shouse to face Delgado. No chance a certain Brewers reliever named Guillermo Mota would be summoned, I guess. He lit enough fires in this place.

3:13 p.m. Fifteen straight Mets have now gone down at the hands of Sheets, who has thrown 100 pitches through seven innings. Doesn't appear as if there's any activity in the Brewers bullpen so it looks like Ned Yost will stick with Sheets, as he should.

3:05 p.m.Santana's 113th and final pitch is a 1-0 fastball, traveling 89 mph, that Gabe Kapler sent out of here for a two-run home run and a 5-2 Brewers lead. Scott Schoeneweis has been called on in relief. Santana left to cheers, but to some boos as well. Schoeneweis, cheered two nights ago for some good work against the Phillies, was booed. What a short memory these peoiple have. Schoeneweis did get Prince Fielder to end the inning. 5-2 Brewers as we go to the bottom of the seventh.

2:53 p.m. Sheets has now retired 12 straight. Who does he think he is, Nelson Figueroa? 3-2 Brewers in the top of the seventh.

2:45 p.m. Another error from Wright, this time on Corey Hart's ground ball that scooted through Wright's legs. No harm done, though, as Brian Schneider threw Braun - who had led off the inning with an infield single - out trying to steal second and Santana ended the inning by striking out Hardy. Willie Randolph has been lifting his starters of late after six innings but that isn't likely to happen today, especially with the middle of the Mets order coming up and Santana's moderately low pitch count.

2:33 p.m. Now three straight 1-2-3 innings for Sheets, with few Mets making good contact in that duration. 3-2 Brewers in the top of the sixth.

2:30 p.m. He can no longer - at least this afternoon - be called the 'weeks'-hitting Rickie Weeks. The Brewers leadoff man just hit a one-out home run to left that did just that to the stadium. Heard a "boo" or two as Weeks rounded the bases. Couldn't be for Santana, could it? Brewers grab a 3-2 lead.

2:23 p.m. If former Gov. Spitzer shows up at a future Mets game, the between-inning "Kiss Cam" really should find him...

2:21 p.m. Mets with a five-minute inning at the plate against Sheets, who looks to be settling in.

2:16 p.m. First-pitch home run from Bill Hall ties this one at 2, though the Brewers don't get any more in the inning. Something to watch: David Wright is struggling of late in getting the ball to first base. On the second out of the inning, his throw had to be dug from the dirt by Delgado. He also had an error Friday night. But fielders go through slumps sometimes, too. 2-2 here, bottom of the fourth.

2:12 p.m. And Sheets follows with his best inning to this point...

2:08 p.m. Tough inning there for the Mets not to score after Damion Easley reached on an error and went to second as Brian Schneider singled. Santana was next and he put down a decent bunt that Ben Sheets made a nice play on. Sheets fielded the ball and fired immediately to third, nipping Easley who appeared to get a late jump from second, or just isn't that fast anymore. Anyway, Wright grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Update on Reyes: he had an MRI this morning that showed a mild left hamstring strain. He is day-to-day.

In the minutes it took to write that, Santana turned in his first 1-2-3 inning of the day. Still 2-1 Mets.

And this from the department of you just don't really know anyone, do you? Logging on this morning I saw that Dr. Phil's wife left him. Hope it's not true for the sake of other television psychologists. But maybe my phrasing should be, "allegedly left," as the source for this news was the National Enquirer.

1:47 p.m. The Brewers pushed one across in the top of the second, though the run was unearned. Corey Hart led off with a firm grounder to David Wright, whose throw pulled Delgado off the bag. Hart would score when Santana errored by not looking at Hart on Ben Sheets' bunt. Hart had come down the line from third far enough to where Santana perhaps could have tagged him after fielding the bunt, but he turned and threw to first, without a glance at Hart.

The great Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times once observed that Ricky Henderson "has a strike zone the size of Hitler's heart." The same, too, could be said of the strike zone of plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. The ball four that walked J.J. Hardy in the top of the second was right down the middle. The common phrase is that I have the advantage of looking at replay while the umpire doesn't. I respond that he's closer. 2-1 Mets, bottom of two.

1:32 p.m. Didn't take long for Pagan to come around. He went to second on Sheets' wild pitch, and later scored on David Wright's foul-out to right. Carlos Beltran singled to right, then scored on Carlos Delgado's towering double off the rightfield wall. 2-0 Mets going to the top of the second.

In NFL news - if you're looking for some connection to this game, there is none - some may have taken note that Bryant Gumbel has decided against coming back for another year of play-by-work on the NFL Network. To quote Bob Uecker from Major League, "Thank God."

1:23 p.m. Santana worked out of trouble in the first. Rickie Weeks led off with a sharp single to left and moved to second on a wild pitch. Prince Fielder singled hard to left but Weeks was held at third. Santana finished the inning by striking out the always tough Ryan Braun with a slider and getting Bill Hall to ground out. Mets coming up. Just as I'm about to post that half inning, Angel Pagan led off the Mets half with a single to right. .387 and headed upward for Pagan.

1:08 p.m. Boland back as today's blogger. Hold all applause, please, until the end. The predictable standing ovation for Johan Santana as he walked from the bullpen to the dugout in the bullpen. Good pitching matchup with Santana (1-1 1.93 ERA) against Ben Sheets (1-0 0.00).