Bottom of the fourth

As I said earlier, a good test for Shawn Hill today. The first batter he faced? That would be Jose Reyes, ripping a triple. Two batters in, the Mets had a 1-0 lead.

But have no fear, fans of a team that entered this game with a 7.16 ERA in Grapefruit League play. Hill allowed some hard-hit balls, but no further damage. Single to David Wright to lead off the second, wiped out with a nice double-play ball. Two out single to Lastings Milledge, but then a grounder to get out of the iinning. A 1-2-3 third, and then two singles in the fourth but a fly out to right from Moises Alou and a nice throw from Kearns to double Delgado off second.

And, in the meantime, in the bottom of the third, Logan leads off with a triple to right, Snelling hit by a pitch with one out, Zimmerman hits his second double of the day to left to drive in one run (a ball that looked like it was out off the bat but which bounced off the track for an automatic double) and then Snelling scored on a wild pitch. Gave the Nationals a 2-1 lead in the middle of the third.

Hill's line: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (56 pitches, 34 strikes)

We're in the bottom of the fourth, in which Cristian Guzman has a two-run pinch-hit single to make it 4-1 thus proving that anything is, indeed, possible.