The New York Mets salvage the final game in Washington

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by the score of 3-1 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place in Washington D.C. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and became the major leagues first nine game winner. Dickey pitched great once again. Lucas Duda carried the Mets offense. Chien-Ming Wang pitched ok for the Nationals and their bullpen did a good job. Ryan Zimmerman led the Nationals offense. 
Dickey pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up four hits and no runs. He walked two and struck out eight. Dickey is now 9-1 on the season. Bobby Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and Frank Francisco earned his 15^th save of the season pitching an inning. He gave up a hit and a run. Wang took his second loss of the season. He pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and two runs with three walks and a strikeout. Tom Gorzellany pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a walk and four strikeouts. Mike Gonzalez pitched an inning giving up a hit.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, Josh Thole had a hit and David Wright had two hits and drew a walk. Duda had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had two hits and an RBI and Scott Hairston drew a walk. Ike Davis drew a walk, Omar Quintanilla had two hits. Duda had a double and a homerun and Wright had a triple. The Mets were 2-13 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Nieuwenhuis, Murphy and Wright each had a stolen base. Thole had two passed balls.

Zimmerman had two hits and an RBI, Adam LaRoche drew a walk and Michael Morse had a hit. Ian Desmond had a hit, Solano had a hit and Rick Ankiel drew two walks. Zimmerman hit a homerun, the Nationals were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

In the fifth Duda hit a two run homerun to break a scoreless tie. The Mets grabbed a 2-0 lead. Murphy hit an RBI single in the seventh and it was 3-0 Mets. In the ninth Zimmerman hit a solo homerun and the final score of the game was 3-1 in favor of the Mets.

The Mets improved their record to 32-26 and the Nationals record dropped to 32-23. The Mets will kick off the first installment of the Subway Series for 2012. The game will take place at Yankee Stadium and will be a three game series.