And It Shall Be Livan

Despite not throwing one fastball, or so it seemed, Livan Hernandez helped the Mets hand Florida their first loss of the season and with his outing, perhaps assured himself of the fifth spot in the pitching rotation. The Mets totaled 15 hits in the 8-4 victory, led by none other than .357 hitting Luis Castillo after a 4 for 4, 3 run and 1 rbi performance.

Jose Reyes helped out with the offense with his first 3 rbis of the season, including a 2 run shot and Carlos Delgado continued his hot streak going 3-4 and driving in another 2 runs.

After Hernandez (1-0) left the game after 6 2/3 innings, the Florida fans gave him a standing ovation and Brian Stokes and Pedro Feliciano combined to end the inning with minimal damage as the Marlins scored their first 2 runs in the game.

The Mets answered in the eighth with 3 un-earned runs to pretty much put the game in the bag. Florida scored 2 meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Jerry Manuel took no chances with Darren O'Day and immediately inserted KRod for the victory.