It's The Cora Niese Show!

The Mets defeated the Nationals by a score of 5-3 tonight. The man you see to your left, Alex Cora, came through with a 3-run triple. Yup, you read that right. Three. Run. Triple. Sure, it may have been his only hit of the night, but he made it count, in a situation where I would have been disgusted if nothing had happened.

David Wright also had a good night at the dish, going 3-for-5 and bringing his team-leading batting average to .312. Um...if his ticket hasn't been punched for Anaheim, there might be some serious backlash, and maybe a few tears on my part.

The other big story of the night was Jon Niese. In seven innings of work, he struck out a career high eight batters, while allowing only 6 hits and absolutely zero walks. Jon Niese shut down the Nationals, not allowing a single run to score until Met-killer Josh Willingham hit a solo home run in the seventh inning. In a time where I root for a Mets team that doesn't score for Johan Santana, it's good to see a kid like Niese do well, and to see the team as a whole come through for him.

Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect 8th inning and then the mishandling of Jerry Manuel's bullpen begins. I understand it's a non-save situation and you really don't want to use K-Rod, but why bring in Pedro Feliciano to face one batter? Why have Elmer Dessens pitching in the ninth at all? If the Nationals were destined to score those two runs, why have your long relief guy letting them off?

The Mets might be on fire, but Jerry's mishandling of the bullpen will cost them one day.

Tomorrow, in perhaps a pitching match-up for the ages, R.A. Dickey faces Stephen Strasburg.

Over/Under on Mets Runs Scored: 2

David Wright Strikeout Counter: $9.20