In their penultimate spring training game, the Mets defeated the Nationals. The big story, at least at the beginning of the day, was that Carlos Beltran would be in the lineup, and he went 1-for-3 with a single while playing 5 innings in right field. Beltran's health will certainly be of the utmost importance early in the season as Jason Bay will not be ready for Opening Day.

Chris Capuano got the Mets' offense started with a 3-run double in the 2nd inning, and he came around to score on an error by the Nationals later in the inning. The Mets added some runs in the 7th inning: 3 on a David Wright home run and 1 on a Brad Emaus single.

Capuano was also the starting pitcher this afternoon, and he didn't allow a run as he threw 3 innings with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks. After that, the Mets used only relievers who will be on the Opening Day roster. Pedro Beato gave up 1 run in 1 inning, and D.J. Carrasco allowed 1 run in two-thirds of an inning. Blaine Boyer fared better, tossing a scoreless frame, and Tim Byrdak successfully recorded an out. Taylor Buchholz, Bobby Parnell, and Francisco Rodriguez each pitched a scoreless inning to finish things off. The order in which the pitchers were used today figures to correlate with the leverage in which the Mets plan to use each pitcher to begin the year.

The Mets wrap up their Grapefruit League schedule tomorrow, hosting the Marlins at 12:10 pm. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN.

Nice job by SFloridaMetsFan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.