Most Valuable Player
For the second straight day, menacing Gary Sheffield, 40, did in the Nats with a three-run home run. Sheffield pole-axed a low-inside pitch from Jason Bergmann in the bottom of the seventh for his fifth home run.
He shall be Livan
Mets pitcher Livan Hernandez dazzled his former team, scattering nine hits, walking one, and fanning six over nine laborious (127 pitches), but largely stress-free innings. Hernandez (4-1) coaxed Nats into three double plays.
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One Dunn
Adam Dunn showed his immense power, blasting an opposite-field home run, 10 feet inside the left-field foul pole. It was Dunn’s 15th home run, third best in the NL behind the Phillies’ Raul Ibanez (17) and Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez (17).
Oops!
Three mistakes on one play: 1) Nats sending dead duck Josh Bard from second base on a sharp single to center by Angel Hernandez; 2) Bard sliding wide to elude the tag, but failing to touch the plate; 3) Umpire calling Bard out when replay showed his hand beat the tag on his second-chance lunge.
From the bench
The bullpen woes continue for Manny Acta, who turned to little-used Jason Bergmann for relief. Bergmann pitched a scoreless sixth, but faced four batters in the seventh, failing to record an out.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel got RBIs from the Latin trio of IB Fernando Tatis, OF Fernando Martinez, and SS Ramon Martinez.
