BLOG WILL RE-ACTIVATE SUNDAY NIGHT
The Author of this blog is out of town, without internet until late Sunday night. For coverage on the Mets weekend Series vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, please rely on other blogs & news sources. Those Mets will continue its superior Mets coverage Sunday.

Some Scattered Photos, Great shots from the Series Win:

METS TAKE A SERIES THEY NEEDED

DESPERATELY TRYING TO STAY IN RACE, NEW YORK TAKES 2 OF 3 FROM CARDINALS BEHIND DICKEY'S GEM

The Mets have said all year that their goal is to win the National League East. But in the last month they have harnessed a shorter-term aspiration: to win a series. Before Thursday, the last time that had happened was late June, when the Mets won two of three against Minnesota. They failed to win their next seven series, losing six and splitting one. But in a second half that has so far been marked by nonstop malaise, the Mets found a rare positive on Thursday when they beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, to win the decisive game of their three-game series at Citi Field. As he has been so many times this season, R. A. Dickey (7-4) was a steadying force on the mound. He pitched into the ninth inning in what was his longest outing of the year. Meanwhile, Ike Davis broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with a three-run home run to center field, and the Cardinals never mustered any semblance of a comeback against Dickey’s knuckleballs. The win was critical on a number of fronts. It came in a situation that the Mets have typically struggled — they had lost 9 of 12 rubber games this season before Thursday — and it kept them from dropping to .500 on the season. The Mets have been above .500 since June 4. But since reaching a season-best 11 games over .500 on June 27, they have lost 18 of 26 games. But this week’s series against the Cardinals, who came into Thursday tied with Cincinnati for first place in the National League Central, marked a bright spot — or at least a bright spot relative to the three series on the Mets’ catastrophic 11-game West Coast trip following the All-Star break. If nothing else, the Mets could use the third inning Thursday as a case study for why not all hope is lost with the personnel they have in the clubhouse — even if they have been playing lately like a team that could use a trading-deadline acquisition or two. Jose Reyes, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, doubled down the first-base line to lead off the inning, and he advanced to third when Angel Pagan beat out a bunt that he pushed past the pitcher’s mound in the direction of the second baseman. Davis wasted no time scoring them. He swung at the first pitch from the right-hander Blake Hawksworth (4-7) and drove it over the center-field fence for his 15th home run of the season, second most among major league rookies. With Dickey on the mound, the Mets did not need any further offense (though they added one more run in the fifth when Pagan tripled and Carlos Beltran scored him with a single). The right-handed Dickey, who was working off three days’ rest, pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings on Sunday before being removed from the game, against his wishes, after slipping on the mound and favoring his leg. In eight and a third innings on Thursday, he allowed no runs on four hits and two walks, striking out two. The win was Dickey’s first since June 23; with little run support, he had lost his last four decisions, though he could hardly be blamed for most of them. Dickey received loud applause when Manager Jerry Manuel allowed him to hit with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, despite having thrown 104 pitches. (He grounded into a fielder’s choice.) But Dickey got into trouble in the ninth, allowing a pinch-hit single to Colby Rasmus and walking Jon Jay. That put the tying run on deck, and Manuel emerged from the Mets’ dugout to remove Dickey. Manuel was booed loudly as he walked toward the mound; Dickey, for his part, got a standing ovation when he walked from it. But Manuel’s decision paid off, strategically, if not emotionally. Francisco Rodriguez retired Albert Pujols on a flyout, then struck out Matt Holliday to secure a much-needed win for the Mets. (NY Times) Report from Mets.com reads as such: Turns out R.A. Dickey was just fine. Pitching on short rest after leaving Sunday's game early due to injury, Dickey fired 8 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday in a 4-0 victory over the Cardinals at Citi Field. It marked the Mets' first series win since taking two of three from the Twins back in June. Four days after begrudgingly leaving Sunday's start in Los Angeles with a sore left glute, Dickey held the Cards silent. After Jon Jay doubled with one out in the first, no other St. Louis hitter reached scoring position until Skip Schumaker with two outs in the eighth. Dickey allowed just four hits, striking out two and walking two. He won for the first time since June 23 despite posting a 1.89 ERA over his previous five starts. Ike Davis provided all the offense the Mets would need in the third, launching a three-run homer to center field off Cardinals starter Blake Hawksworth. Carlos Beltran added an RBI single in the sixth off Hawksworth, who allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.

SANTANA FALTERS EARLY, METS AMAZIN' LATE, BUT FALL IN 13TH TO PUJOLS AND CARDS

After watching their ace get battered in the first inning and slogging through another marathon game against the Cardinals in which a late rally gave them a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets faced a daunting choice: pitch to Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday with the go-ahead run on third in the 13th inning. They chose to pitch to Pujols with runners on first and third instead of intentionally walking him, which would have put another runner in scoring position with two out but also set up a force play at every base. Pujols singled through the left side of the infield off Pedro Feliciano to knock in the eventual winning run for the Cards in the Mets' 8-7 loss in front of the remnants of a crowd of 35,009 at Citi Field. "We thought that Holliday, at least tonight, was swinging the bat a little bit better than Albert," Jerry Manuel said. "It was a tough call. We were just going to try to leave the ball away and hopefully get him to hit the ball on the ground and we'd be able to get it. "We were playing with fire. We got burnt." The Mets were singed much earlier when Johan Santana had the worst first inning of his career, allowing six runs and eight hits. Santana (8-6) could not locate his fastball, and the first time he threw his vaunted changeup, Holliday pounded it over the wall in left-center. Later in the inning, Santana intentionally walked Brendan Ryan so he could pitch to his mound opponent, Jaime Garcia, but Garcia hit a two-run single. Santana brought a major-league best 0.71 ERA in July into the game, but it took him 12 batters to get out of the first inning. He delivered four scoreless innings after the first but was knocked out in the sixth and ended up allowing seven runs and a career-high 13 hits in 5-2/3 innings. It's the first time he has ever allowed more than five runs at Citi Field. "He was probably just over the middle of the plate a little bit more than he normally is," Manuel said. "He left a lot of balls out over the middle of the plate. That's lately uncharacteristic of him." "I tried to establish my fastball inside and I wasn't able to," Santana said. "I think that was the difference....I never had an inning like this before." Manuel praised Santana for lasting into the sixth inning and said he did not consider yanking the lefty as the hits mounted because "we'd have been in real trouble if we made that call that early. We have been strapped (in the bullpen) for days to come." The last time Santana matched up with Garcia - April 17 in St. Louis - the two teams ended up playing 20 innings, an eventual Met victory. Wednesday night, Manuel remembered that game, saying: "After they threw up six in the first, I said, 'This won't go 20.'" But the Mets surprised everyone who stuck around and tied the game and pushed it to the 13th, meaning the Cards and Mets have combined for 60innings of baseball in five games this season. The Santana-Garcia matchup has produced 33 innings. Mike Hessman, the callup starting at first to give Ike Davis a night off, doubled in two runs in the first inning, missing a grand slam by a few feet when his drive struck the left-field wall. Carlos Beltran hit his first homer of the season in the sixth, one batter after David Wright was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to left into a double. In the eighth, the Mets scored four times, tying the score at 7. Angel Pagan hit a two-run homer, his ninth, and pinch-hitter Davis slapped a two-run single through the right side of the infield. The Mets left the bases loaded in the inning and then got consecutive singles by Wright and Beltran in the ninth to threaten again. But Hessman struck out looking and Jeff Francoeur flew out. The Mets got one hit in extra innings, and Pujols, who started the series 0-for-8 but had three hits Wednesday night, blunted their comeback. "It's tough, but you always feel good when your team is down, 6-0, 7-2 and you come back and score that many runs late," Manuel said. "Hopefully, that indicates our offense is clicking." "It was a great comeback," added Beltran, "but at the same time, we didn't get the win." (NY Daily News)

FRENCY, NIESE GUIDE METS TO CRISP WIN

As Saturday’s nonwaiver trading deadline approaches, Jeff Francoeur has heard the rumors and fretted that he may not finish his second season as a member of the Mets. The return of center fielder Carlos Beltran from knee surgery has left the struggling team with four first-string outfielders for three positions. That has made the free-swinging Francoeur, with his occasional power, expendable and possibly attractive to certain teams in pennant races. So Francoeur — with a batting average of .248 before Tuesday’s game — was not certain to be in the starting lineup when the Mets opened a homestand against St. Louis at Citi Field with an 8-2 victory over the Cardinals.. But Francoeur’s services were needed when doctors diagnosed Jason Bay, the regular left fielder, with a concussion sustained Friday in Los Angeles. With Angel Pagan moving from right field to left, Francoeur played right, batted seventh and enjoyed one of his best moments of the season. With the game tied, 1-1, in the fourth inning, Francoeur drove an Adam Wainwright pitch over the wall in left-center field for a three-run home run to highlight the victory. The Mets won without Manager Jerry Manuel, who served a one-game suspension for bumping hat bills with the umpire Doug Eddings last Friday night during an argument in Los Angeles. The winning pitcher was Jon Niese (7-4), who fell behind by 1-0 in the first inning but worked efficiently over six innings by inducing ground balls. Niese gave up one earned run and seven hits and left with two runners on base and no outs in the top off the seventh. One of those runners reached on an error by Ike Davis, the second Mets’ error of the night. Manny Acosta replaced Niese and finished the inning by getting Albert Pujols to fly out to left and Matt Holliday to ground into a double play. Francoeur’s home run was his ninth of the season. Jose Reyes also hit a home run for the Mets, his seventh of the season, with a man on and two out in the sixth off relief pitcher Fernando Salas. The victory raised the Mets’ home record to 31-16, one of the best in baseball. But they are 20-33 on the road. In their 11-game road trip that ended Sunday, the Mets went 2-9 and were shut out four times. Along with chatter about possible trades, their slump has again raised the issue of the job security of Manuel and his coaches. Before the game, Manuel and General Manager Omar Minaya met with the owner Fred Wilpon and the chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon. Afterward, Manuel said the bosses were not happy. The Cardinals scored their first-inning run on an infield hit by Ryan Ludwick. The Mets got it back in the bottom of the second on a run-scoring groundout by Davis. After Francoeur homered in the fourth, the Mets added two in the fifth, the first of them on a sacrifice fly by David Wright, the second on a single by Beltran. With the Mets holding a 6-2 lead, the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth on two walks and an error by Wright, but Niese ended the inning by getting Aaron Miles on a fly ball to Francoeur. (NY Times)

METS DESPERATE FOR RELIEF

THEY COME HOME TONIGHT

After a disastrous road trip, the New York Mets return home in the hopes of finding their offense. Too bad they have St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright waiting for them. Wainwright will look to extend his scoreless innings streak this evening in the opener of a three-game series with the Mets at Citi Field. The right-handed Wainwright has not allowed a run in his last 25 innings, including three straight scoreless outings. He has given up just one run over his last five starts, spanning 35 1/3 innings, and won four outings in a row before a no-decision versus the Phillies on Thursday. Wainwright pitched six scoreless innings versus Philadelphia, working around six hits without a walk and six strikeouts. He is 14-5 on the season with a 1.94 earned run average and is second in the National League with wins. The 28-year-old has lost all five of his games on the road, where he is 4-5 in 10 starts with a 2.82 ERA. After making two career relief outings versus the Mets, Wainwright started against them on April 18 and went in the distance in a victory, yielding three runs - two earned - on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Tonight, Wainwright faces a Mets team that has been held to four runs or fewer in 15 of their last 16 games and is coming off Sunday's 1-0 setback to Los Angeles that ended New York's road trip out west with a 2-9 record. "It's frustrating right now," said the Mets' David Wright about his team's offensive struggles. "We have good at-bats but we don't see the results. We've got good pitching but we're not scoring many runs." R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and did not allow a run over his 5 2/3 innings of work, but exited early due to a left leg injury. New York is just 20-33 on the road this year compared to 28-17 at home, with tonight's starter going 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA in nine starts at Citi Field. Niese has lost his last two decisions since winning five straight and got a no-decision versus the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The 23-year-old lefty gave up three solo homers and six hits in all over five innings, striking out six. Niese is 6-4 with a 3.54 ERA this year and will try to shake off his memory of his first and only other career start versus the Cardinals. He faced them on Aug. 5 and exited after 1 2/3 innings due to a season-ending hamstring tear. The Cardinals will try to get to Niese early as they try for a second victory in a row after halting a three-game skid with Sunday's extra-inning win over the Cubs. Felipe Lopez hit a two-out solo homer in the 11th inning to get his team the victory, their ninth in 13 games. "It was a 3-2 count. I was just trying to get on base," recalled Lopez. "I felt confident and [Chicago's Brian Schlitter] threw me a fastball. I put a good swing on it." Albert Pujols also deposited a solo home run while Skip Schumaker went 4-for-4 and drove in a run. The Cardinals won three of four at home over the Mets on April 16-18, but lost four of six in New York a season ago.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE COACHES?

HORRIFIC SLUMP INSPIRES TALK OF POSSIBLE FIRINGS

The last time the Mets were in the midst of a 2-9 crisis was in the middle of May, when Jeff Wilpon flew to Atlanta to meet with his baseball staff. At the time, Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer, chose a course of patience that temporarily worked as the Mets won 21 of their next 29 games. The team appears to be following the same destructive blueprint, although the expiration date on Wilpon’s patience may not be quite as far away. No changes in the coaching staff were announced Monday after the Mets returned from their 2-9 trip out West. General Manager Omar Minaya met with Manager Jerry Manuel and his coaches on the plane ride back from Los Angeles on Sunday night and then teleconferenced with his front-office staff on Monday to try to find solutions to the current slump. After the Mets were shut out for the fourth time on the trip Sunday, Minaya would not say whether the coaching staff would be back for Tuesday’s game at Citi Field. But he ultimately decided not to make a change, much the way he and Wilpon refrained from doing anything in May when there was speculation Manuel would be fired. But the coaches are clearly on notice. The team is willing to give them a chance while the Mets are at home for the week against the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks, but things must improve. Because of the lack of offense, the hitting coach Howard Johnson appears to be the most vulnerable. The Mets are rather fond of Johnson and want to give him every chance to succeed. But they also see a team that continues to struggle at the plate, even before the trip began. In their last 16 games, the Mets have averaged two runs per game and have been shut out five times. They scored more than four runs only once in that stretch, and hit .212 as a team. No one was blaming Johnson for the lack of production, but neither could anyone point to another reason. “I have no idea,” said Jason Bay, who briefly emerged from his slump with multihit games Friday and Saturday after working closely with Johnson. “It started right before the break when we were at home playing against Cincinnati and Atlanta, which are good teams. Then we come out here and, give credit to the Giants pitchers. But we’re better than that. We’re better than getting shut out or scoring one or two runs..” Bay is not the only one to disappoint at the plate. Carlos Beltran looks like a fragment of his former (healthy) self, David Wright is exhausted, and no one can get Jose Reyes home. Since coming back from a strained oblique muscle July 19, Reyes has hit in all seven games (.313). But he has scored only two runs in his last 10 games, both coming in the Mets’ 6-1 victory over the Dodgers on Friday. Beltran looks slow and awkward in the field, and has only six hits in 36 at-bats (.167) since returning July 15 from a knee injury that cost him the first half of the season. Worse, there is little noticeable enthusiasm, even for the normally reserved Beltran, since his return. In the final two games in Los Angeles, Beltran walked to his position in center field for 13 of the 16 innings. Perhaps he is trying to preserve his surgically repaired knee, but it stood in contrast to the energy that drove the team before he came back. Finally, Wright needs a day off. But he said Sunday that with the team so desperate for a win, he cannot afford to rest right now. After going 8 for 44 on this recent trip, Wright’s batting average (.298) dipped below .300 for the first time since June 26. He has missed only one game all season, on May 19, and he also played in the All-Star Game. “In a perfect world, yeah, you’d like a day,” he said Sunday. “But we’ve dug ourselves a hole and I don’t think it’s possible right now. We’ll play it day by day. I want to win and if I feel like I’m helping t

A FAMILIAR FEELING

THOSE METS COLLAPSING
14 INNING LOSS CAPS OFF SWEEP FROM HELL

After finding success in the weeks following a team meeting in his office in May, Mets Manager Jerry Manuel tried the trick again Wednesday, although this time in the more spacious visitors clubhouse at Chase Field. In May, the Mets lost their first game after the cramped office confab but went on to win the next five games in a row and went 23-8 after that to draw to within a half-game of first place in the National League East. The Mets can only hope the pattern will hold, because after Wednesday’s meeting, the Arizona Diamondbacks prevailed, 4-3, in 14 innings. Pinch hitter Chris Snyder singled to deep left against Fernando Nieve to score Justin Upton from second with one out as the last-place Diamondbacks completed their first three-game sweep of the season at the expense of the Mets, who fell to 1-6 on the trip. The loss was the 11th of the season for the Mets in the opposition’s final at-bat, and it was the 11th straight game in which they scored four or fewer runs. In the bottom of the 14th, Upton led off with a double into the left-field corner and Nieve walked Miguel Montero intentionally, bringing Mark Reynolds, who already hit his 22nd home run earlier in the game, to the plate. Nieve struck out Reynolds looking, but Snyder ripped a ball over Jason Bay’s head in left to end the game. In the bottom of the 12th, Oliver Perez escaped a bases-loaded situation in his first appearance since being recalled from the disabled list earlier in the day when Adam LaRoche flied out to deep left field. Starter Jon Niese lasted only five innings, giving up three runs, all on home runs to Chris Young, Rusty Ryal and Reynolds. Angel Pagan homered for the Mets in the first inning, and Rod Barajas hit his 12th homer of the year and first since May 31 to tie the score at 3-3 in the sixth. Before the game, Manuel called a meeting to remind his flagging team that they are good enough to make the playoffs. At the time, the Mets had lost five of their first six games on this 11-game trip, and with four more games remaining against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the season had reached a critical stage. So Manuel gathered his players and coaching staff and gave them a positive speech, telling them that the team was good, despite the recent results, and not to get discouraged. He told them that there were enough games remaining for the Mets to make the playoffs. “We felt coming on this trip that the one good thing about this trip was that it’s early enough in the second-half schedule that if it’s what it is, we still feel we have a good enough team and enough time to overcome that,” Manuel said. “You don’t want to necessarily see that manifested, because that puts some pressure and a sense of urgency on the club. That’s kind of the thinking.” Manuel was hoping to regain some of the momentum from a May 21 meeting in which players and coaches jammed into his office at Citi Field to discuss some of the negativity swirling around the club at the time. Wednesday’s meeting came a day after tension surfaced in the clubhouse after the Mets’ 3-2 loss to Arizona. After the game, Alex Cora yelled at members of the news media who were laughing in the clubhouse along with Mike Pelfrey, who was not a target of Cora’s invective. Cora yelled for reporters to “have some respect” after the loss. Pelfrey sent Cora a text message Tuesday night apologizing, and on Wednesday did so again in person when he ran into Cora at the team hotel. But Cora told Pelfrey he did not even realize he had been part of the levity. His displeasure was with reporters, several of whom apologized to Cora. “Nothing against you guys,” Cora said Wednesday. “It was just a one-time thing. But it was too much.” Manuel said he was pleased that Cora took responsibility to set the right tone in the clubhouse, which was something he would do a few minutes later in the meeting. “He’s a pro, and he knows the etiquette of baseball and the locker room, those types of things,” Manuel said. “That’s just a normal reaction of a guy who knows the responsibility of how you should react in certain situations.” (NY Times)

METS COLLAPSING

SINKING TEAM LOSES SERIES TO DBACKS!

The desert was supposed to provide refuge for the Mets, a soft spot on their 11-game, three-city trip out West. The D-backs rank among the weakest teams in baseball; half a season's worth of evidence exists to support that claim. Their hitters strike out with alarming frequency. Their pitchers lose with alarming consistency. But if the D-backs are the stoppable force in this parody, then the Mets are the movable object. On Tuesday, they moved yet again -- for the fourth time in five games -- in a 3-2 loss at Chase Field. "When you go out against a team that you feel is inferior to your own and you don't get it done, it's hard," losing pitcher R.A. Dickey said. "It's sad, because you don't get that many chances to do something special." It was difficult for the Mets, too, because this loss might have been preventable. They were losing by just a run in the fourth inning, when Dickey walked catcher Chris Snyder with two outs. The next batter, Gerardo Parra, skied a fly ball to deep center field, where Carlos Beltran hesitated for a quick moment before hustling after the ball, which landed just beyond his reach. "He covered it well and the ball carries here," Dickey said. "That's all I can say about that." Instead of an inning-ending flyout, Parra notched an RBI triple. And D-backs starter Barry Enright increased the damage when he bounced a run-scoring infield single to third base. "As soon as he hit it, I thought I was going to be able to make [the catch]," Beltran said of Parra's triple. "It just kept going and it went over my head." For Beltran, that has become a common theme in his first five games since returning from offseason knee surgery. Proficient on offense, Beltran has struggled to track down balls on defense that he once gloved with ease. "You never know what to expect when a guy comes back," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "He seems to be a little ahead of pace on the offensive side, but defensively there's been some issues where there's balls that we usually see Carlos Beltran get that he's not getting." Still, Dickey pitched for seven innings, allowing those two runs and Justin Upton's homer in the third. Battling less-than-ideal conditions in an indoor ballpark at altitude, Dickey managed to give the Mets a chance to win. Against Enright, though, they simply could not convert. Until Josh Thole hit a home run off the rookie to lead off the eighth, the Mets had rallied only once -- in the first inning, loading the bases with one out. But Ike Davis and Jason Bay struck out in succession to end that threat. And from there, Enright cruised, striking out eight over eight innings. "He moved it around," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "He had all his pitches going. He was really in control of the game." For that, equal parts credit and blame must be given to Enright and the Mets' offense. The rookie delivered plenty of fine pitches, to be sure. But he also made mistakes. And the Mets, with their ideal lineup back on the field, weren't able to capitalize. Playing only their second game of the season with Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Luis Castillo all in the lineup, the Mets mustered merely seven baserunners. "We're still kind of finding our way a little bit with this setup we have now," Manuel said. "R.A. gave us every opportunity to win -- gave us a big chance. We didn't get it done. We're not quite playing the baseball that we played earlier." A fair portion of the offensive blame for this loss also settled upon the shoulders of Bay. After whiffing in his first two at-bats off Enright, Bay grounded into a double play after Davis reached on a one-out single in the seventh. He is now batting .189 in July. "He has definitely struggled, there's no doubt about it," Manuel said. "I think he's trying everything he can to come out of it. I believe that he will." But right now, he and the Mets are officially scuffling. Though Angel Pagan gave his team a modicum of hope with a homer to lead off the ninth, the heart of the Mets' lineup went in order against D-backs closer Juan Gutierrez. Had umpire Phil Cuzzi not blown a game-changing call Sunday in San Francisco, the Mets would have dropped their fifth straight game. As it was, they lost for the fifth time in their last six tries and the eighth time in their last 10, doing little to jostle Enright and hardly anything to support Dickey. They also fell 6 1/2 games behind the Braves, the furthest the Mets have been from first place since they were a season-high seven games out on May 21. Oh, and Dan Haren, Arizona's best pitcher, will start Wednesday. Something needs to change for the Mets -- and fast. "This is crazy," Beltran said. "We're getting good pitching from our starters and we haven't been able to put a good inning together."

TERRIBLE CALL GIVES METS WIN

BLOWN CALL SAVES BLOWN SAVE
A blown save was counteracted by a blown call Sunday, and the Mets escaped from San Francisco with a victory they were happy to take but might not have deserved. After Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez blew a save opportunity for the fifth time by allowing two runs in the ninth inning, the plate umpire Phil Cuzzi missed a call at home plate that television replays demonstrated should have given the San Francisco Giants the game. Instead, the Mets escaped from San Francisco with a gift-wrapped but hotly disputed 4-3 victory in 10 innings. “He missed it,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said angrily of the call. With those three words, he essentially declared his team was robbed of a victory that would have given it a four-game sweep of the Mets. Travis Ishikawa slid into the plate in the ninth inning of a tie game with what appeared to be the winning run, but Cuzzi, the target of criticism from both teams throughout the game, called him out. Mets catcher Henry Blanco, who had a vested interest otherwise, admitted Ishikawa was safe. Blanco had been outraged and frustrated by Cuzzi’s calls and behavior Sunday. Even he, however, had to acknowledge that Cuzzi’s bad call saved the Mets from what should have been a crushing defeat. “He was safe all the way,” Blanco said, “so I don’t know what. Good for us.” Given a new life, the Mets scored in the top of the 10th after Jason Bay singled with two outs and Ike Davis, who hit two home runs Saturday, brought him home with a double off the wall in right field. Mets starter Johan Santana delivered his fourth brilliant outing in a row, but he was lifted in favor of Rodriguez in the ninth after throwing 115 pitches through eight innings, and that was when things got crazy. Rodriguez, who was given the victory, walked the leadoff batter Pablo Sandoval, then gave up a single to Juan Uribe. Eli Whiteside sacrificed the runners to second and third, bringing Ishikawa to the plate. It was during that at-bat that Cuzzi and Rodriguez got into a dispute. After a close 1-0 pitch was called a ball, Rodriguez stared at Cuzzi, who responded with a vehement hand gesture, which Blanco said was an angry call for Rodriguez to get back on the mound. “I hope somebody sees that and punishes him,” Blanco said. “That’s one thing that should never happen in a baseball game. It doesn’t matter how mad you are, it should not happen, especially from them. I hope somebody was watching that. “He missed a lot of pitches, not only from us, from them, too. It was bad all game long, so I’m happy we got the win. That’s how it is.” After the argument, Ishikawa drilled a single into center field that scored pinch-runner Edgar Renteria and Uribe to tie the score, 3-3. Giants center fielder Andres Torres followed with a double into the right-field corner, sending Ishikawa to third with one out. Then with the infield in, second baseman Freddy Sanchez hit a bouncer to third base. David Wright, who hit his 15th home run in the fourth inning, threw high toward home plate, forcing Blanco to jump for the ball. It appeared that Ishikawa slid safely under Blanco’s tag, but Cuzzi called him out. Cuzzi said that he had not seen a replay but that he felt Ishikawa’s foot came up off the plate. “I’ll look at it,” he said with a tone of resignation, “but I figured I’d eat first.” The shocked Giants and their fans protested, especially after television replays in the stadium supported their argument that Ishikawa should have been called safe with the winning run. Rodriguez finally got Aubrey Huff to ground out to send the game into extra innings, where the Mets took full advantage. “I’m thinking the worm has turned,” Manager Jerry Manuel said. “Things are turning around for us. I thought that this was a game for us to win. I really didn’t think that baseball would send us through another inning and still lose; here it is, you took it back. I didn’t think they would send us through that pain of extra innings and lose the game.”

GIANTS SWALLOW TAKAHASHI

Some 2,500 miles from where Hisanori Takahashi was hurling hittable pitch after hittable pitch to Giants hitters at AT&T Park, Oliver Perez was tossing his own pitches in Buffalo, N.Y. These were not unrelated events. Perez's successes, however modest, worked to thrust Takahashi's struggles into further relief. To be certain, Takahashi's rotation spot is not in immediate jeopardy -- a Mets insider indicated that much after Saturday's game. But there were plenty of struggles for Takahashi and the Mets in an 8-4 loss to the Giants. "We obviously didn't anticipate this type of outing from Takahashi," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "I'm sure we'll have some conversation about it." Moved up in the rotation to accommodate Mike Pelfrey's stiff neck, Takahashi allowed the first four hitters he faced in the second inning to reach base, the latter two of them on RBI singles. Then, with two outs, Andres Torres broke open the game with a three-run homer to left. Buster Posey's solo home run, Juan Uribe's double and Pablo Sandoval's single then combined to knock Takahashi out of the game in the third with this rather conspicuous line: six runs on seven hits and a walk. In his last four starts dating back to June 24, Takahashi is now 1-2 with a 10.90 ERA. "He has to execute his pitches," catcher Rod Barajas said. "When he makes mistakes for the most part, he's going to get punished. He can't throw the ball over the plate and expect guys to swing and miss." By the time Takahashi exited, Perez had already put the finishing touches on his victory in Buffalo: 6 2/3 innings, three runs, seven strikeouts and two walks. It was admittedly not much -- Perez sat in the high 80s with his fastball -- and it came against Minor League hitting. But compared to the quality of Takahashi's start, Perez's outing veritably sparkled. So did that of Giants starter Matt Cain, who reeled off six shutout innings before Carlos Beltran tripled and Ike Davis hit a two-run homer into McCovey Cove in the seventh. That shot snapped a 24-inning scoreless streak for the Mets, their longest such streak since enduring 30 scoreless in July 1992. Davis hit another homer in the ninth inning off Santiago Casilla, pulling the Mets within four runs and forcing the Giants to call upon Brian Wilson to record the final out. But Wilson did ultimately record that final out. "That's a good team up there," their manager, Bruce Bochy, said. "They made us get our closer in the game and they were grinding, too." "It was late," Beltran said, "but at least we scored a few." Had they scored a few for R.A. Dickey on Thursday night or Jon Niese on Saturday, the Mets would have won. Instead, they scored a few for Takahashi, who was consistently unable to locate his pitches. Against Posey in the third inning, Takahashi elevated a cutter that was meant to run inside. Against Torres in the second, he left a fastball out over the plate. Big league hitters generally crush those pitches, as Posey and Torres were all too eager to do. "I didn't have good command this game," Takahashi said through an interpreter. "I don't know why, but something was wrong." Takahashi also said he was trying not to think about his rotation spot. And why would he? If the Mets had viable alternatives, he knows, he might already be out of the starting five. As it is, the primary alternative for the Mets is Perez, whose command issues are much better-documented than those of Takahashi. Five days prior to Saturday's outing, Perez walked five Triple-A batters in a scoreless effort. The Mets can hardly feign excitement over that. With no immediate plans to insert Perez back into the rotation, then, all the Mets can do is hope that Takahashi can improve his command. Usually able to baffle opposing hitters his first time through a lineup, Takahashi on this night allowed four of the first seven hitters he faced to score. "He's got to pitch like the crafty lefties," Barajas said, "and not give in and make quality strikes." It's a lot to ask from a 35-year-old rookie on a Minor League contract, whose scouting report has long since filtered around the league. But right now, there are no easy answers for the Mets. "It has to be somewhat concerning," Manuel said. "There have been a couple outings where he's given up a number of runs in bunches. And those things are sometimes difficult to defend or overcome. We have to sit down and evaluate it, look at it, discuss it, and we'll try to make the best decision for the team." (Mets.com)

METS HELD SCORELESS AGAIN

JERRY'S BAD LINE-UP, BAY'S STRUGGLES LEAD TO LOSS
For the second game in a row the Mets faced a Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, and did so without their most dynamic player in the lineup. Not coincidentally, for the second straight game they failed to score a run. On Thursday Tim Lincecum threw a six-hit shutout and on Friday Barry Zito produced eight masterful innings, striking out 10 and limiting the Mets to only two hits and two walks as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Mets, 1-0, at AT&T Park. Certainly it would always be a challenge for the Mets against pitchers of that caliber, but the consensus, from the manager to the players, was that more needed to be done to support their own pitchers, who have also pitched well enough to win in their last two games. On Friday, Jon Niese allowed only one run on a fielder’s choice, but it wasn’t enough to outdo Zito. “Cy Young yesterday, Cy Young today,” Carlos Beltran said. “Those guys know what they are doing. But at the same time, we need to push a little harder.” The Mets have managed just nine hits in their last two games here, and their last run came in the eighth inning of Sunday’s victory over the Braves at Citi Field. Zito, with the help of a staggering curveball that repeatedly froze and confused the Mets hitters, struck out 10, tying his season high, and allowed only two hits and two walks in eight innings, facing only three batters over the minimum. Then the hard-throwing closer Brian Wilson earned the save in the ninth by striking out Beltran, who was playing in just his second game of the season after knee surgery, on a full-count 97-mile-per-hour fastball. That left David Wright on first base, which Wright had reached on a two-out single — only the Mets’ third hit. Zito, who hadn’t won since June 12, has still been dominant in this stadium, improving to 6-1 with a 2.51 earned run average. But again, the Mets felt they should have done more against him, and after the game Manager Jerry Manuel expressed his displeasure at the lack of offensive production. “You could say the guy pitched real well,” Manuel said. “But at some point we have to unlock this offense a little bit. We have to be a little bit more consistent offensively. I didn’t see us have very many opportunities, or very many good swings. We have to do a better job of that.” With Jose Reyes still out of the lineup nursing a sore oblique muscle on his right side, and Angel Pagan sitting in favor of Jeff Francoeur against the left-handed Zito, Manuel fashioned an ad hoc lineup that featured Jason Bay batting in the No. 2 spot in the order for only the second time in his career, while the backup shortstop Ruben Tejada led off. “It is a little tough right now to get that lineup exactly like you want it,” Manuel said before the game, “trying to juggle different things here and there.” The juggling could have become comical if the Mets had managed to score in the ninth inning. Without Reyes for at least two more games, Manuel didn’t have a backup infielder. To make up for the deficiency the Mets optioned Nick Evans back to the minors before Friday’s game and called up middle infielder Justin Turner from Class AAA Buffalo. Turner pinch hit for Alex Cora in the eighth inning and then Chris Carter pinch hit for Tejada in the ninth. So if the Mets had scored, Wright would have moved to shortstop in the bottom of the ninth and catcher Henry Blanco would have played third base. On Thursday Reyes had been told by the Mets’ medical staff not to do anything until he was free of discomfort. He arrived Friday saying he felt much the same as he did on Thursday, but the Mets decided to have him take some swings in the indoor batting cage to see how he felt. Reyes emerged after taking 30 swings in front of Manuel and General Manager Omar Minaya and reported, “I feel good.” So he took regular batting practice from both sides of the plate, and now the team hopes he might be able to play Sunday, although Manuel said Monday in Arizona was more likely. “With or without Jose we got to find a way to win,” Wright said. “I don’t know when he’s coming back. Hopefully soon, but until then we’ve got to find a way to score some runs and get some offense going.” (NY Times)

LINSECUM TAKES CONTROL, SETS METS DOWN
Due up fourth in the first inning, Carlos Beltran stood on the top step of the visitor's dugout at AT&T Park, helmet on, bat in hand. With two outs and a man on first, it was his turn to bat. So Beltran said a quick prayer, stepped up to the plate and, after watching a few Tim Lincecum pitches whiz by, flied out to center. He was pleased. "I felt like it was my first at-bat in the big leagues," Beltran said. "I guess as a player when you feel like that, it really shows that at least I still have a passion for what I do." Had Lincecum not blanked the Mets for nine innings, it might have even been a triumphant return for Beltran. As it was, he recorded one hit -- a single -- in a 2-0 loss to Lincecum and the Giants. Opening the second half of the season against the two-time reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, there was little that Beltran or anyone else could do. "You come back and face a guy that fresh, that sharp," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said, "it's a little bit tough." It was Beltran, in his first game back from January knee surgery, who recorded one of the Mets' six hits off Lincecum, Beltran who gave the Mets hope when he batted with one out in the ninth. Rather than spark some dramatic comeback, however, the five-time All-Star grounded out to second base -- a popular outcome for Mets hitters on this night. Against Lincecum, Beltran finished 1-for-4. The rest of the Mets were 5-for-28. "It's hard to say it's his best because he has thrown some outstanding games," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But he had command of all of his pitches, had good stuff. He just did a great job out there." It was a difficult outcome for losing pitcher R.A. Dickey, who held the Giants to one run over seven innings. When Pablo Sandoval doubled home Buster Posey with two outs in the second, Dickey knew that against Lincecum, there was a chance that run might stand up. And it did. "Any time you're going up against a guy of that caliber -- he's a two-time Cy Young winner -- you're going to have to hold them down," Dickey said. "It's just a fact. You don't pitch any harder than you would any other day, but mentally you know there's a lot less room for mistakes." It was Beltran, too, who made a critical mistake, thrown out attempting to steal second base after his one-out single in the fourth. Joking afterward that "too many coffees and too much sugar" contributed to his decision, Beltran -- who did not attempt a straight steal in 14 Minor League rehab games -- was unable to slide in ahead of shortstop Juan Uribe's tag. There were other imperfections, also, for Beltran. In the first inning, Beltran stuttered back for a moment before ranging in to make a running grab of Aubrey Huff's fly ball. In the fourth, Beltran nearly ran into left fielder Jason Bay on another routine fly. Such are the effects of missing all of Spring Training and the entire first half of the season due to injury. Beltran is not 100 percent, and he admittedly doesn't know when he might reach that level. But the Mets, who scored an average of 1.8 runs per game in their last five games before the All-Star break, are all too happy to have him back. Eventually, the Mets figure -- if not today, if not tomorrow, if not against Lincecum -- he can help their offense take flight. "After being out for so long and going through a very long process, I was happy," Beltran said of his season debut. "I know my family was happy. And all the fans that care about me, I know they're happy also." The Mets were not happy when the bullpen allowed a second Giants run in the eighth, providing Lincecum with some wiggle room to record his fourth career shutout and his first since last June. They were not happy when they were unable to score against Lincecum in the fifth, despite putting their first two runners on base. And they were not happy when Ike Davis grounded out against Lincecum to end the game. But the perspective of this one was more important than the outcome. The Mets may have lost, but they lost to one of the best pitchers in the game. And they now have an eager Beltran back in the lineup. "I see it as a second chance," Beltran said. "God has given me a second chance to play the game."

BELTRAN SET, REYES ON BENCH

The New York Mets welcomed back one star player while they wait for another to get healthy. Carlos Beltran returned from offseason knee surgery and made his 2010 debut for the Mets, batting cleanup and playing center field against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night. Manager Jerry Manuel had written shortstop Jose Reyes' name in the lineup. But he had to scratch him when Reyes said he was still feeling pain on his sore right side. Reyes missed the All-Star game with the injury. The Mets have not had both Reyes and Beltran in the lineup together since last May 20 in Los Angeles. Reyes missed the rest of the season with a hamstring injury and Beltran missed 2 1/2 months with a bone bruise on his right knee. (AP)

SANTANA RESCUES METS

NEW YORK AVOIDS SWEEP BEHIND RED-HOT JOHAN

Johan Santana saved the Mets from a sweep with another spotless outing and rookie Ike Davis hit his latest titanic home run in New York's 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves today. Alex Cora and pinch-hitter Josh Thole delivered RBI singles with two outs, and Angel Pagan had three of New York's 13 hits. The Mets also got flawless relief work from Bobby Parnell and Francisco Rodriguez in their major league-best 13th shutout. Fantastic at Citi Field for most of the first half, New York averted a three-game whitewash by its NL East rival but finished 2-4 on a disappointing homestand against a pair of first-place teams. The Mets head into the All-Star break four games behind Atlanta, with star center fielder Carlos Beltran set to come off the disabled list Thursday night in San Francisco. The Braves, who had won four straight, still own the league's best record at 52-36. After scoring six runs in the previous four games, New York didn't manage much on offense this time, either. Playing without ailing shortstop Jose Reyes and slumping slugger Jason Bay, the Mets stranded 11 runners and grounded into two double plays. Still, Santana (7-5) and the bullpen made a few clutch hits stand up. Coming off a three-hit shutout of Cincinnati on Tuesday, when he hit his first major league home run, Santana was brilliant again. He allowed five hits and three walks in seven comfortable innings, striking out five. Following a two-start skid, the two-time Cy Young Award winner has yielded one run and 14 hits in his past three outings, covering 23 innings. Rookie shortstop Ruben Tejada, subbing for Reyes, made a diving play to end the seventh with a runner on. Parnell came on to face the middle of Atlanta's lineup in the eighth and set down Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus and All-Star Brian McCann in order. Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 25 tries. Pagan tripled to right-center with two outs in the third and scored on Cora's single off Derek Lowe (9-8). Davis drove a 2-0 pitch to center field leading off the sixth and it soared about 430 feet to the back of the black batter's eye behind the home run apple. It was Davis' 11th home run — and several have carried to rarely reached spots in cavernous Citi Field. Lowe was lifted after 5 1-3 innings. He gave up two runs and eight hits. Jesus Feliciano singled to start the eighth off Takashi Saito and scored on a single to right by Thole, who is 9 for 17 (.529) since he was called up from the minors. (NY Post)

TIM HUDSON BLANKS DECREPIT METS

In April, Mike Pelfrey seemed like one of the NL's top young pitchers. Four months later, the righthander is not going to Anaheim and he's limping into the All-Star Break, much like the rest of the Mets, who fell to the Braves, 4-0, on Saturday at Citi Field. Shortstop Jose Reyes seemed to re-aggravate a nagging oblique injury, the lineup seemed as punchless as ever, and Pelfrey endured the latest in a string of nightmare outings as the slumping Mets dropped their fifth game in seven outings. Pelfrey seemed to be pitching almost purely on guts from the start, struggling with a blister on his index finger and barely Houdini-ing his way out of jam after jam. That worked for four innings, but when the fifth came around, Pelfrey's magic ran out. The Braves rocked him for five straight hits, scoring four runs and taking control of the game. Chipper Jones led off the inning with a single, and Brian McCann followed with another single. Troy Glaus, Eric Hinske and Omar Infante continued the onslaught with singles, forcing Jerry Manuel to yank Pelfrey for reliever Elmer Dessens. Not that the Braves' barrage seemed like much of a surprise given Pelfrey's early struggles. He faced five batters in the first inning and barely escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the second, getting out of that one by inducing a Melky Cabrera groundout. In the fourth inning, Pelfrey had an even closer call. Infante and Yunel Escobar led off with back-to-back singles and pitcher Tim Hudson loaded the bases, reaching first when his sacrifice bunt ricocheted of a charging Ike Davis' glove and fell for another single. But, somehow, Pelfrey got All-Star Martin Prado to ground back to the mound, and he alertly through home to start the double play. He got another Cabrera groundout to end the inning. Saturday's debacle was the latest in a string of lackluster showings for Pelfrey. He opened the year by going 4-0 in April, and had pitched like an all-star until recently. But he missed out on a berth and has surrendered four or more earned runs in three straight starts. He allowed 12 hits on Saturday, tying the career-high for hits allowed that he set just last week in a 6-5 win over the Marlins, and threw 93 pitches in four-plus innings of work. Pelfrey's slump was hardly the Mets' lone concern. In the sixth inning, shortstop Reyes, who returned to the lineup just three games ago, made a tough play, fielding a ball deep in the shortstop-third base hole and throwing to first. He got the out, but seemed to re-injure his strained oblique muscle that's been bothering him for about a week. He was replaced by Ruben Tejeda in the seventh inning. Then again, it wasn't as if Reyes had been raking; he'd gone 0-3 and fanned twice before exiting and was part of a Mets lineup that managed just four hits against Hudson. David Wright, Ike Davis and Jason Bay - the guts of the order - combined to go 0-for-9 with two walks, and the Mets never threatened Hudson, who cruised through seven shutout innings for the win. And without a fully healthy Reyes and a confident Pelfrey, this team might not threaten anyone.

BUZZ OF RIVALRY IS REIGNITED, AND BRAVES RETURN TO PLACE ON TOP

Before this weekend, Citi Field had known nothing of the Mets’ once-fierce rivalry with the Atlanta Braves. Sure, the Mets and the Braves had played here before 12 times (with the visitors winning seven of them). But those games were not like the teams’ games from a decade ago, when the National League East was at stake and emotions ran high. When the first-place Braves began a three-game series with the second-place Mets on Friday, those emotions were back, even if the names on most of the jerseys had changed. But what began as a pitchers’ duel of the vintage seen in this rivalry’s turn-of-the-millennium heyday eventually unraveled into a 4-2 win for the Braves. The Mets could not be too upset with their starter, R. A. Dickey, for not delivering them a win. After all, for the Mets to have a realistic chance at the division title this year, they had to hope that a generally unremarkable starter like the 35-year-old Dickey would turn into an unlikely back-of-the-rotation stalwart. And that is exactly what happened. But on this night, Dickey (6-2) stayed in too long, and the last two batters he faced gave the Braves a victory. The score was tied, 2-2, in the top of the seventh inning, and Dickey appeared one out away from his eighth quality start in 10 outings. But then Melky Cabrera hit a home run to right field, and Omar Infante followed with his own blast over the left-field fence. They were unlikely torpedoes into Dickey’s otherwise buoyant outing; Cabrera and Infante had hit only a combined three home runs the entire season. In this game, though, they put together more offense than the entire Mets’ lineup. Hitting second and third for the Braves, they had seven hits in 10 at-bats and scored all four of the team’s runs. The Mets found no such performances from their hitters. Against the right-hander Tommy Hanson, the Mets struggled to get hits when they needed then. They left six men in scoring position with two outs. Dickey, of all people, ended up being the Mets’ best offensive option, singling in both his at-bats and scoring both times. Hanson allowed two earned runs in five and two-thirds innings; he gave up seven hits while striking out six and walking one. Dickey pitched one inning longer. He left the game charged with four runs, three of them earned, on nine hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Until the Braves’ timely home runs, the two teams had clawed each other for hard-fought runs, one at a time, with the Braves taking a one-run lead and then the Mets erasing it. In the first, the Braves scored off a two-out ground ball that was booted by Jose Reyes; two innings later, the Mets drew even on a sacrifice fly by David Wright. In the fifth, Troy Glaus singled to put the Braves up by a run, but again the Mets came back when Reyes hit a two-out double over the head of Braves left fielder Eric Hinske. Reyes’s hit was one bit of good news in an evening that was otherwise less than satisfying. He is still hobbled by a sore oblique muscle and can only hit from the right side of the plate. The team sent him for a magnetic resonance imaging test earlier Friday as a precaution. In light of Reyes’s ailment, Manager Jerry Manuel put him in the second spot in the lineup for the first time since 2005. He noted that Reyes would probably be at a disadvantage against right-handed pitchers like Hanson, against whom the switch-hitting Reyes typically hits left-handed. Reyes’s weakness seemed apparent in the first inning, when he flailed helplessly at an outside pitch for an embarrassing strikeout. But his double — a smoking line drive that seemed to fool Hinske — was anything but embarrassing.

METS PLAY W/O FIRE FOR FIRST TIME IN AWHILE

The left-hander Jon Niese was a wild card for the Mets entering this season. He held promise, to be sure, but he had only two major league wins to his name. But as the All-Star break nears, a start by Niese, 23, is no longer accompanied by suspense. That much was evident Wednesday night, when he struck out eight Cincinnati Reds — matching the career high he set last week — in a start that came across as almost routine. By the end of the night, though, Niese had been outdueled by Bronson Arroyo, who carried the Reds to a 3-1 win in the decisive game of the three-game series at Citi Field. The Mets, despite the defeat, are not going to complain about what they received from Niese. “We’ll take that kind of outing from a young pitcher every time,” Manager Jerry Manuel said. Niese (6-3) pitched Wednesday the way he had pitched since he came off the disabled list a month ago after injuring his hamstring: efficiently and without much drama. In seven and two-thirds innings, he gave up six hits and one walk, throwing 99 pitches. “He’s been outstanding,” the veteran infielder Alex Cora said. “He reminds me a lot of Jon Lester a few years ago in Boston — it seems like he’s getting better and better.” The start was an important one because it was Niese’s second of the season against the Reds. (He gave up four runs in a no-decision on May 5.) A young pitcher like Niese may be able to befuddle hitters the first time around, but the second time, they lose the advantage that comes with their unfamiliarity. That did not seem to be an issue Wednesday. Niese struck out three of the first four hitters he faced, and as the seventh inning began, he had allowed only one hit: a solo home run to Brandon Phillips in the third inning. At that point, the score was tied at 1-1, thanks to Angel Pagan’s home run in the first. But Niese missed a few spots in the seventh, giving up a home run to Chris Heisey and an R.B.I. double to Phillips. That was too much for the Mets to overcome against Arroyo (9-4), who located his pitches with precision and threw a sinker that moved even more than usual. He allowed one run on seven hits and no walks in eight innings, striking out three. Arroyo improved his career record against the Mets to 7-2 with a 3.31 earned run average. “Sometimes you just get comfortable with a team,” Arroyo said. “This time of year, when it starts heating up and we start getting closer to August, for some reason I always feel like I’ve got pretty good stuff.” So, too, did Niese, and that was what the Mets seemed to take away from Wednesday’s game. Niese said he thought he pitched well, an evaluation that Manuel seconded. More important, a month removed from the D.L. stint, he said he felt 100 percent recovered from the injury to his hamstring, which was operated on last year. “My main thing is to stay healthy,” he said. “If I stay healthy, I think I can help the ball club a lot, and that’s all I want to do, really.” The Mets hope so, too. Before Wednesday, Niese had won his previous five decisions, with quality starts becoming the norm. Perhaps they should not have seemed so routine; before that streak, Niese had never won consecutive decisions in his career, which before this season consisted of only eight starts. He has started 15 games this year, and Manuel expressed delight that such an inexperienced starter was able to maintain a foothold in the rotation. “He’s a very confident young pitcher,” Manuel said. “You can expect with any young pitcher you’re going to see some bumps in the road as we go, but I feel good that he’s a good piece for us going forward.” (NY Times)

A COMPLETE GAME IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE

SANTANA LAUNCHES 1ST CAREER HOME RUN IN 12-PITCH AT-BAT, TOSSES COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUT IN BIG APPLE CLASSIC
Johan Santana was determined to do it all Tuesday night. The Mets' ace pitched a three-hit shutout and hit his first home run to beat the Reds, 3-0, in the sweltering heat at Citi Field. Santana had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the ninth when manager Jerry Manuel walked to the mound to the sound of boos. Barking at his manager, Santana quickly convinced Manuel to turn around without calling for mercurial closer Francisco Rodriguez. Two pitches later, a diving grab by Ike Davis and a forceout at second, Santana had his first shutout since Sept. 27, 2008, when he beat the Marlins, 2-0. Santana seemed to be thriving in the heat that stifled Citi Field. It was 96 degrees and humid when he threw the first pitch at 7:11 p.m., but as others wilted, Santana was as strong as he has been all season. He walked just three and struck out five to earn his sixth win of the season and first in four starts. Santana threw 113 pitches. The three hits tied the fewest he has given up this season. Santana, who had just one victory over his last seven starts going into Tuesday night's game, had not gotten much run support this season. In his previous 17 starts, the Mets has scored 41 runs, which tied him for third-lowest among National League pitchers with at least 17 starts. Facing Matt Maloney, who was called up from Triple-A Tuesday to replace Aaron Harang, Santana battled through a 12-pitch at-bat in the third inning to give the Mets their first run. His two-out shot, off an 79-mile an hour changeup, hit off the right-field foul pole and dropped back onto the field. It was the first home run by a Mets pitcher since 2007, when John Maine hit one July 24 off Pirates' pitcher Ian Snell. As thrilled as Santana was with his first home run - he answered a curtain call after the shot with a big smile - the Mets have to be happy about him making his second straight solid start. Santana, who said last month that he was still overcoming mechanical problems that surfaced because of an elbow injury last season, is 2-3 in his last eight starts. From June10 to June 26, Santana had allowed four or more earned runs in four straight games for the first time in his career. After a week in which he addressed reports that he had been investigated for rape over the offseason and admitted that he still did not feel 100% back to form from offseason elbow surgery, Santana had rebounded with a solid start last Thursday in D.C. The Mets, however, managed only one run in Santana's last start and he received a no-decision in the loss. Tuesday night, the Mets gave Santana a little more room to work in sixth inning as Jason Bay's two-run single gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. Jose Reyes was back in the lineup for the first time since injuring his right oblique muscle June 29. As planned, he batted righthanded, which he said he was prepared to do even against righthanders. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored. In the top of the ninth, Santana gave up a one-out single to Scott Rolen. Jay Bruce got on when Bay missed a fly ball, breaking his streak of 263 straight games without an error dating back to Aug. 17, 2008. Davis made a diving grab of Jonny Gomes' line drive for the second out, and then Santana got Drew Stubbs to ground into a force out to finish off the night. (NY Daily News)

BIG PELF NOT HIMSELF

EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS ONLY FROM THOSE METS

Perhaps the most exciting man on the field in the second half of 2008, things in Queens where not as pretty for Mets righty Mike Pelfrey the year after. With an ERA of 5.03 in 09', and a sub-.500 W-L, big questions arose about the future of the young Ohio native. But Big Pelf set out to prove he was far from finished and came out of the gate with dominance in 2010, throwing up a 2.23 ERA in his 11 games and building up 10 wins at the half-way point to put him in contention for the all-star game with just two losses and a dynamite 1.29 WHIP. But Pelfrey, who missed out on All-Star selection Monday, seems off of late, like something has switched and the man of 2009 is back on the mound. He has given up 18 runs in his last 4 starts, surrendering seven of them Monday night against Cincinnati. He was highly tempered in front of the typical sold-out home crowd, reacting with fire to calls he didn't get at the plate. Furthermore, he atypically lost his swagger big time when a call was overturned that walked in the go-ahead run in the 5th, giving up 5 runs to close out that inning. Many insiders believe he has lost it, or something is off in his head whether from personal life business or lack of focus. Beat writer Marty Noble told ESPN "his whole demeanor is a bit off, from time between pitches to patience and temperament. This suggests there has to be a mental lapse here". Pelfrey has given up over seven hits in each those four consecutive boo-boos, with 12 and 10 in his last two. It seems not being selected for the all-star game may be appropriate, and if things continue down this road, who knows if the first round draft pick of 05' will ever throw in a midsummer classic. For now, New York holds its breath with this man on the mound, and hopes all will return to the way the Mets, and Mike Pelfrey need.

BIG PELF FALLS APART, COMEBACK FALLS SHORT

From MetsBlog: Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets, and for the second consecutive start, failed to get out of the fifth inning after allowing six runs in that frame, after a bizarre call reversal by the umpires, where, after the Reds loaded the bases with nobody out, Pelfrey buzzed Scott Rolen in on the hands, and after home plate umpire Jerry Meals originally did not call it a hit-by-pitch, the crew conferred and ultimately called it a hit-by-pitch, allowing a run to score. Later in the inning, with Drew Stubbs at the plate, Pelfrey clearly threw a strike on the outside part of the plate, but Meals called the pitch a ball, and with Pelfrey visibly angry, he lost his cool and allowed a pair of two run hits to Stubbs and Corky Miller, and then a run scoring triple to the opposing pitcher Travis Wood which made the score 7-1 Reds. However, the Mets came roaring back in the bottom of the inning with five runs thanks to a home run by Angel Pagan to leadoff the frame, and Alex Cora capped the inning with a two out, two run double to get the Mets within one run. Fernando Nieve came on in the sixth and allowed Joey Votto‘s second home run of the game which made it 8-6, and the Reds bullpen retired 14 of the final 15 batters they faced after the fifth inning, shutting the door on the Mets. In the ninth, Votto nearly hit his third home run of the night off Pedro Feliciano, driving one barely foul down the right field line. but settled for an opposite field double on the next pitch. For the seventh consecutive start, Pelfrey allowed a run in the first inning, and since June 1, he is 3-2 with a 4.56 ERA, raising his ERA to 3.39 for the season."another day, another bad game for the umpires in major league baseball…i don’t think ive ever seen a crew converse on a questionable hit by pitch, but as Keith Hernandez said during tonight’s broadcast, the umpires are conversing over more calls, and more no-brainer calls at that, than they ever have…the call on Rolen has to be the home plate umpire’s call, whether he’s right or wrong, as there is simply nobody else who can see and/or hear that ball hit the batter…i don’t really know how the first base umpire can remotely determine whether or not that ball hit Rolen, but apparently, that was enough…i’d hate to see the inning, or the game, come down to a blown call, but it did, and that is frustrating…of course, Pelfrey let that call, and the blown strike call to Stubbs clearly get to his head, and his lost his focus and his cool and melted down, and that is not what i’ve come to expect from Pelf this season"- MetsBlog

BAY, PAGAN, K-ROD EARN W IN D.C

DAVIS HOMERS, METS SPLIT SERIES WITH JULY 4TH VICTORY
Angel Pagan and Jason Bay combined to drive in 6 runs in the Mets 9-5 win over the Washington Nationals in D.C Sunday, giving New York a July 4th victory in the nation's capital. Hisanori Takahashi started, and after 4 innings of scoreless ball, he fell apart and gave up three runs in the 5th. With enough insurance runs to keep the Mets ahead, the bullpen preformed terribly, giving up a run in the 7th and 8th. Francisco Rodriguez, who couldn't retire a batter in almost every opportunity that presented itself on the road trip, got the job done to close out the game against the middle of the order. K-Rod called Saturday's loss the worst performance of his life, and was not messing around Sunday as Ike Davis made a diving play to end the game. For a detailed report on the win, wait on Google News.

REYES, NOT PELFREY, JOINS WRIGHT

ALL STAR GAME STAFF ANNOUNCED
On a day of celebration and fireworks far and wide, Major League Baseball fans can now gaze upon a sight that truly inspires oohs and ahhs. Meet your 2010 rosters for the 81st All-Star Game on July 13 in Anaheim. Twins catcher Joe Mauer, the leading vote-getter overall, and Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, who claimed the top spot in the National League, are among the starters selected by you during the largest All-Star balloting program in sports. Fans cast 21.2 million ballots, the second-highest figure in history to decide nine American League and eight NL starters. Balloting closed on Thursday night exclusively online, and it closed with a rush. Overall during the past three years of online All-Star balloting for the elected starters, fans have cast more than 650 million votes at MLB.com and the 30 individual club sites, including this year's 220 million votes. The full list of rosters will be accompanied by the announcement of 10 players, five from each league, in the 2010 All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint. Mauer, now a four-time AL All-Star and a three-time fan-elected starter, collected 5,372,606 votes, the third-highest total of all time, trailing only the 6,079,688 cast for Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1994 and the 5,397,374 for Pujols for last year's Midsummer Classic before his home crowd in St. Louis. Mauer is the first catcher to be MLB's overall top vote-getter since Ivan Rodriguez of the Rangers was first in 2000, and the Minnesota native joins Hall of Famer Rod Carew (1975, 1977-78) as the only other Twins player to lead all of MLB in votes. In addition, Mauer drew a record number of online votes for the All-Star Game MLB.com Ballot Sponsored by Sprint. Pujols, who garnered 4,380,669 votes, finished atop all NL players for the fourth time, as he led all of MLB in 2006 and 2009 and also ranked first in the NL in 2003. Mauer will not be the only member of the Twins to start the event, as his teammate, first baseman Justin Morneau, held off veteran All-Stars Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and Mark Teixeira of the Yankees in that fabulous finish down the stretch. It will mark the fourth All-Star berth and the first starting assignment for Morneau, who drew 2,933,355 votes. The pair of Twins represents one of four sets of AL teammates who will start at Angel Stadium. The Yankees' double-play tandem will remain intact in Anaheim, as teammates Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano join Mauer and Pujols as the only Major League players to top 4 million votes. Jeter has earned his 11th trip to the All-Star Game, including his sixth fan-elected start, with 4,547,485 votes, while Cano (4,135,305) will make his second All-Star appearance and his first start. Rounding out the AL infield is Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, whose 3,977,935 votes made him an All-Star for the third time in all three of his Major League seasons, including back-to-back elections by fans. Longoria joins an elite club as a repeat starter at the hot corner for the AL. Since 1970, the only other AL third basemen who repeated as the choice of fans are Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson (1971-74), George Brett (1976-86), Wade Boggs (1987-1996) and Cal Ripken, Jr. (1997-2001), along with Alex Rodriguez (2004-08). For the third consecutive year, the AL outfield will feature Josh Hamilton of the Rangers and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners. Hamilton's torrid play in June (.454, 49-108, 9 HR, 31 RBIs, .815 slugging percentage) launched him to the top spot among AL outfielders with 2,840,816 votes. Ichiro will be a part of the Midsummer Classic for the 10th time -- accounting for his entire career in Major League Baseball -- and he is now a fan-elected starter for the ninth time with 2,544,564 votes. Who snagged that competitive No. 3 outfield spot? It was Rays left fielder Carl Crawford (2,235,597), last year's Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player presented by Chevrolet. He held on against Nelson Cruz (2,011,770) of the Rangers to earn his first start in the Midsummer Classic and his fourth All-Star appearance overall. Rangers slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who has collected his ninth All-Star berth and his sixth fan-elected start with 3,926,103 votes, will return to Angel Stadium, his home ballpark from 2004-2009, as the AL's designated hitter. This will be Guerrero's fifth time representing the AL in the Midsummer Classic. The NL lineup will feature a pair of Cardinals for the second consecutive year, as Pujols will be joined by his teammate, catcher Yadier Molina, whose 2,251,285 votes held off veteran All-Stars Brian McCann of the Braves and Rodriguez of the Nationals. And what about the Phillies, who had five players on the leaderboard when the first voting update was released in May? In the end, there is one starter. Chase Utley (3,616,038) earned his fifth straight election by fans, a run eclipsed at the position only by Hall of Famers Joe Morgan (1972-78) and Ryne Sandberg (1986-1993) since 1970. And because Utley is on the disabled list after hand surgery, it means no starters for the defending NL champs. Utley will be replaced in the starting lineup by the top second baseman on the Player Ballot: Martin Prado of the NL East-leading Braves. With 2,573,961 votes, Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins will be the starting shortstop for the third straight year, the longest uninterrupted streak at that position in the NL since Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith's streak from 1983-1992. Ramirez outdueled NL East rivals Jimmy Rollins (1,788,778) of the Phillies and Jose Reyes of the Mets (1,554,069) for the starting nod. One of the most hotly contested NL races had been at third base, but David Wright of the Mets surged down the stretch to unseat Philadelphia's Placido Polanco, who had led at the position throughout the entire balloting process. In every single voting update after Polanco was first announced as the leader, Wright outtrended him, and if it seemed inevitable that Wright was going to overtake him at the wire, it appeared inevitable once Polanco also went on the DL recently. Wright drew 2,285,959 votes, ahead of the 1,792,413 for Polanco. This will mark Wright's fifth All-Star selection overall and his fourth start (2006-07, 2009). "That's what it's all about," Wright said of the fan balloting and campaigning. "There's no greater feeling of a kid wearing your jersey, seeing a fan wearing your jersey, to know that you have fans out there and people who genuinely care about trying to get you to the All-Star Game and do good things for you. That's great. I'm beyond appreciative. You want to try to go out there and put on a good show for the fans and to know that they have your back, and know that you have people out there who are trying to do nice things for you." Southern California native Ryan Braun of the Brewers led all Major League outfielders in All-Star balloting for the third straight year by collecting 2,972,525 votes. Braun now has the most fan elections in Brewers history, ahead of the two apiece for Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount. Joining Braun in the NL outfield will be Dodgers slugger Andre Ethier, who will make his All-Star Game debut after garnering 2,784,419 votes. Ethier becomes the first Dodgers outfielder to be elected to start the All-Star Game since Darryl Strawberry in 1991. The third starting position in the NL outfield has been earned by 20-year-old Braves rookie Jason Heyward, who drew 2,728,098 votes. If it is determined later that Heyward, who is currently on the DL, cannot play in the All-Star Game, then he will be replaced in the starting lineup by the top ranking outfielder from the Player Ballot who is not already a starter, and NL All-Star manager Charlie Manuel from the Phillies will name a replacement to be added to the roster. In his final year on the ballot, Griffey, MLB's all-time leader in All-Star balloting, earned 1,070,862 votes. Griffey, who retired from baseball on June 2nd, entered the season with 48,973,314 votes, giving him a total of 50,044,176 in his 22-year Major League career. Griffey also holds the single-season record (6,079,688 votes in 1994). The pitchers and reserves for both squads -- totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL -- were determined through a combination of Player Ballot choices and selections made by All-Star managers Joe Girardi and Manuel, in conjunction with MLB. Might as well get this out of the way first: Nationals rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg is not on the NL roster, just to address a popular topic of debate over recent days. AL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers David Price of the Rays, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester of the Red Sox, Phil Hughes of the Yankees and Cliff Lee of the Mariners; along with relievers Neftali Feliz of the Rangers, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees and Jose Valverde of the Tigers. AL Player Ballot position players include Cabrera; second baseman Dustin Pedroia, catcher Victor Martinez, third baseman Adrian Beltre and DH David Ortiz of the Red Sox; shortstop Elvis Andrus of the Rangers; outfielders Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays and outfielder Torii Hunter of the Angels. Pedroia and Martinez receive full honors as elected All-Stars, but because they are both injured and unavailable, they are replaced on the roster by second baseman Ian Kinsler of the Rangers and catcher John Buck of the Blue Jays, respectively. Both of them finished second on the Player Ballot at their respective positions. Girardi, in conjunction with MLB, filled out the AL roster with the following: second baseman Ty Wigginton of the Orioles and third baseman Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees, along with pitchers Matt Thornton of the White Sox, Fausto Carmona of the Indians, Joakim Soria of the Royals, Trevor Cahill of the Athletics and CC Sabathia of the Yankees. NL Player Ballot position players include Prado and catcher Brian McCann of the Braves; first baseman Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres, shortstops Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies; third baseman Scott Rolen of the Reds; and outfielders Corey Hart of the Brewers, Matt Holliday of the Cardinals and Marlon Byrd of the Cubs. Because Tulowitzki is on the DL and unavailable, he is replaced by Reyes, who was the next choice on the Player Ballot behind him. NL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies, Roy Halladay of the Phillies, Josh Johnson of the Marlins, Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals; along with relievers Matt Capps of the Nationals, Brian Wilson of the Giants and Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers. From there, Manuel, in conjunction with MLB, filled out his roster with the following: first baseman Ryan Howard of the Phillies, second baseman Brandon Phillips of the Reds (replacing Utley on the roster), infielder/outfielder Omar Infante of the Braves, outfielders Michael Bourn of the Astros and Chris Young of the D-backs; and pitchers Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals, Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers, Tim Hudson of the Braves, Evan Meek of the Pirates and Arthur Rhodes of the Reds. That leaves a 34th roster spot in each league, and this is where you come in again. Last year, you chose Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge. For this 2010 All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint, you have 10 candidates who are all focused on postseason contention beyond the Midsummer Classic. AL nominees are first baseman Paul Konerko of the White Sox, right fielder Nick Swisher of the Yankees, first baseman Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox, left fielder Delmon Young of the Twins and third baseman Michael Young of the Rangers. NL nominees are closer Heath Bell of the Padres, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, first baseman Joey Votto of the Reds, closer Billy Wagner of the Braves and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals. Submit as many ballots as you want. Voting will continue through 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, and the winners will be announced exclusively at MLB.com shortly thereafter. The final phase of All-Star Game voting at MLB.com will have fans again participating in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2010 All-Star Game MVP Vote Sponsored by Sprint. The 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and Le Reseau de Sport, and around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Game coverage. (MLB.com)