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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- Three quick blows in the seventh inning showed
why the New York Mets have been so successful as of late.
Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton and Melvin Mora all homered in the
inning as the Mets hit a season-high five home runs to beat the
Florida Marlins 10-5 on Monday night, without getting much
production from the middle of the lineup.
|  | | Benny Agbayani, with his second multi-homer game this month Monday, isn't your typical No. 8 hitter. |
While Edgardo Alfonzo, Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile
-- the heart of New York's order -- went 2-for-14, Agbayani homered
twice, Payton went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Mora homered
for the second straight game.
Pinch-hitter Mark Johnson added a two-run homer as the Mets won
their fifth straight to move within three games of idle Atlanta in
the NL East.
"There really isn't an easy out in that lineup," Florida
manager John Boles said. "It was the long ball that really got
them going. Good teams will do that."
The Mets' lineup hasn't always been so deep. But an injury to
weak-hitting Rey Ordonez and the development of Payton has actually
helped New York's offense.
Mora, who replaced Ordonez at shortstop, provides much more
offense than the three-time Gold Glove winner, and Agbayani,
batting in Ordonez's eighth slot, deepens New York's lineup.
"Hitters one through eight are contributing," said Payton, who
is hitting .433 over 15 games. "You need that to win ballgames. We
can't count on Mike, Todd and Robin every night."
The Mets, who hit their most homers in a game since Sept. 15,
1997, against Philadelphia, had three in the seventh inning off Ron
Mahay. New York has 32 homers in 16 games.
"That was a fun inning," said Payton, who got it started with
a two-out solo homer. "You're not going to see three homers in an
inning very often."
Agbayani followed with his second homer, giving him six on the
year and two multihomer games this month. Mora capped the barrage
with a two-run shot.
His five home runs in 122 at-bats this season are one more than
Ordonez has in 2,016 career at-bats.
"They've not seen nothing yet," Mora said. "I can contribute
more offensively and play good defense. But Rey is Rey. He is still
the best for me."
The Marlins (38-39), who had won nine of 11 games, failed to
move over .500 this late in the season for the first time since
winning the World Series in 1997.
Al Leiter (9-1), a member of that Series-winning team before
being sent to New York in the ensuing salary purge, wasn't at his
best against his former team. He allowed solo homers to Mike Lowell
and Derrek Lee and at least one baserunner in each inning.
But he was good enough to get the win thanks to New York's
offense. The left-hander allowed three runs, seven hits and three
walks in six innings to improve to 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA this month.
Piazza, who went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 15
games, hit an RBI single in the Mets' three-run third inning. He
has driven in a run in 10 straight games, tying the team record he
set last Aug. 11-23.
"I've been fortunate to come up in situations with guys on
base, and I've been hitting well in those situations," Piazza
said.
After Cliff Floyd tied the game at 3 with an RBI single in the
fifth, the Mets went ahead for good in the bottom half. Derek Bell
singled with one out off Reid Cornelius (2-2), and Alfonzo and
Piazza followed with walks to load the bases.
Robin Ventura, the active leader in grand slams with 14, then
hit an RBI groundout to second to put New York up 4-3.
"I was disappointed in the walks," Cornelius said. "I wish I
had a couple of those pitches back."
Johnson's first homer since 1997 made it 6-3 in the sixth.
Dennis Cook came on after Rich Rodriguez allowed two runs in the
eighth, and struck out Floyd with the bases loaded to end the
threat. The Mets used five relievers in all, with Armando Benitez
striking out the side in the ninth.
Game
notes
The game was delayed 33 minutes by rain in the top of the
second inning. ... Bell, who made a diving catch in right field in
the first inning, left the game in the seventh with slight
dehydration. ... Piazza has 19 RBIs during the 10-game streak. ...
Lee has four homers in three games. ... Florida 2B Luis Castillo,
second in the majors with 32 steals, was caught stealing in the
fifth inning by Piazza. ... Cornelius pitched for the Mets in 1995,
going 3-7 with a 5.15 ERA. ... The Mets have five pinch-hit homers
this season.
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Baseball Scoreboard
Florida Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
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Minnesota 10
Anaheim 6
Detroit 13
Cleveland 2
NY Mets 10
Florida 5
Cincinnati 3
St. Louis 2
Colorado 15
San Francisco 6
Arizona 6
Houston 1
San Diego 9
Los Angeles 5
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