Oh, Billy! Wagner Blows Another Lead

For the second game in three nights, Billy Wagner blew a
save against the San Diego Padres. Unfortunately for Wagner, however, his
teammates couldn’t save his sorry ass this time around like they did on Tuesday.

With New York leading 7-6 heading
into the ninth inning, Wagner entered the game to shut the door on San
Diego. But the flame-throwing southpaw allowed
back-to-back doubles followed by an RBI single that gave San
Diego an 8-7 lead. The Mets did rally back again
Padres closer Trevor Hoffman—the all-time saves leader, who had a rough series in
his own right—when Jose Reyes (pictured) reached base and eventually scored on
a David Wright sacrifice fly. But Mets reliever Aaron Heilman allowed a solo
home run to Adrian Gonzalez in the tenth that proved to be the winning run,
and the Mets fell 8-7.

The Blue and Orange used a six-run sixth to rally from a 6-0
deficit, highlighted by Marlon Anderson’s pinch-hit three-run homer. Luis
Castillo also led the offense with three hits in the loss. Nonetheless, New
York saw their lead shrink
to five games over Philadelphia. No
need to panic though—the Phillies couldn’t catch a cold, let alone the Mets.