More Video Reviews Please: Mets 7, Nationals 4

Another game, another video review by the umpires, another call going the Mets' way. This time it was Daniel Murphy's flyball in the sixth, originally ruled a double, that was overturned and credited as a two-run homerun to the Hammah. SNY replays were inconclusive, though one angle did provide a compelling argument for the "ball changed trajectory" case. From the video evidence available it didn't look like the umpires made an obviously bad call, though I can't quite imagine what they saw that provided sufficiently irrefutable visual data to actually overturn it. The result was especially propitious for the Mets, as Gary Sheffield had initially been tagged out at home after the ball had fallen into play. What Sheffield was thinking on that play, with zero outs no less, is anybody's guess. This review makes it four in five games for the Mets, three involving Sheffield in some capacity.

Prior to Wednesday's game against the Nationals, Johan Santana had walked as many as six batters in a game only three times in his career. All three were with during his years with the Twins, the last of which occurred in 2002 and saw Santana issue seven free passes, the most of his career. For a fun comparison, Oliver Perez has had fourteen starts of six walks or more, including onc this season and two last season. He has 42 starts of five-plus walks, while Santana still has just three total (all three were six-plus).

On this night, Santana was encumbered by iffy control and a tightfisted strike zone courtesy of home plate umpire Sam Holbrook, but still managed -- on grission alone, one would imagine -- to scratch his way through six innings, striking out eleven Nats in the process. He really just had the dismal fourth inning, during which he issued four of his six walks and allowed two of his three hits. Over the other five frames he allowed no runs, one hit and two walks, striking out ten.

Four relievers combined to allow just one unearned run over the final three innings, walking a batter (Putz) and surrendering just two hits. Bobby Parnell had a nice bounceback game after his bout of wildness the other night, striking out two of the three batters to face him.

Fernando Martinez went 0-for-4, narrowly missing an infield hit in the fourth. He also contributed a nice play in right field to rob Adam Dunn of a hit in the fifth. He'll get his first big league hit eventually, though with Thursday's off-day he'll have to wait until Friday for his next opportunity.

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Federal Baseball Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Daniel Murphy, +31.7% WPA, Gary Sheffield, +15.7% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Martinez, -7.7% WPA, Fernando Tatis, -5.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy two-run homerun in sixth, +21.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dunn donkey blast in fourth, -15.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +16.2% WPA
Total batter WPA: +33.8% WPA
GWRBI!: Daniel Murphy

Game Thread Roll Call

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