Another solid outing from Oliver Perez and another offensive onslaught sealed the Mets' 9-3 win, and a three-game sweep over the Nationals. The Mets cruised through the first six innings behind Perez's dominance, and built a 5-0 lead, but Perez ran out of gas in the seventh and gave back three runs. Joe Smith got the final out of the inning, and it appeared that the rest of the game would be an interesting test of the New York bullpen. Smith got the first out in the eighth but ran into some trouble after walking Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns, so Jerry Manuel called upon Duaner Sanchez. Sanchez got out of the inning unscathed and the Mets had a 5-3 lead after eight. The suspense mounted.
