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Sports pictures of the year
From a nail-biting pass at Superbowl XLIII to a bloody WBO World Welterwight fight, here's a look at the best sports photos of 2009. Slideshow
Mets batter Reds to give Santana first win at Shea
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Mets scored a dozen runs for the second game in a row to help lefty ace Johan Santana notch his first Mets win before the home fans at Shea Stadium in a 12-6 romp over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Santana, who signed a $137.5 million six-year contract with the Mets this winter, was not at his sharpest but benefited from the slugging of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, who both had been struggling at the plate in the early season.
Beltran entered the game batting .218 with two runs batted in over his last 10 games, but the centerfielder went 2-for-3 and drove in five runs, including a bases-loaded triple.
Delgado, dropped from his usual spot in the middle of the order down to seventh in the lineup, was 3-for-4 including his fifth homer of the season.
Santana gave up 10 hits and three runs in six innings of work but that was good enough to improve his record to 4-2. The Mets are 8-2 in games started by the Venezuelan this season.
"I was hoping our bats were going to heat up a little bit," Mets manager Willie Randolph told reporters after the team improved to 18-15. "And Santana was grinding it out."
Randolph said the left-hander was not feeling his best.
"I don't think he felt too good today. He had something going on with allergies. He came in early in the game and his eyes were running. He didn't have his best stuff but he was able to get the job done."
The Mets scored one run in the second and three in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. They added two in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth.
Matt Belisle (1-3) was the losing pitcher for the Reds, who dropped to 14-22.
"It was a good day for us as a team," Beltran said. "It's not every day we are going to be able to score 12 runs, but if you score early in the games we have a lot of chances to win ball games."
The win lifted New York within two games of NL-East surprise leaders Florida and one game of Philadelphia.
(Writing by Larry Fine, Editing by Justin Palmer)
