El Duque Leads Mets Way Past Fish In Win

Charlie Nobles at Mets.com, writes about the Mets 11-3 win over the Marlins:

BOX SCORE

The Mets overwhelmed Florida in two straight games. They scored 20 runs and had 33 hits, and Thursday night's 16-hit, 11-3 rout before 18,115 at Dolphin Stadium served as an exclamation point as they head home to play the Braves in a three-game series.

"We expected to be a good offensive ballclub," left fielder Moises Alou said. "But we had a great series. We're not going to get that many runs on a road trip all the time."

Center fielder Carlos Beltran, hitting in the No. 2 spot because of catcher Paul Lo Duca's absence with a sore right index finger, led the way with a 4-for-6 game that included a home run and two RBIs. Beltran had a chance for the cycle in his last at-bat, but settled for a double. He said he never even thought about going for a triple.

"With the score of the game, I don't think it would have been good if I had tried to go to third and was thrown out," Beltran said. "That would have looked like I was trying to show them up -- not a good thing."