In Arizona:

• Daniel Murphy went 1-for-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. He also made a fielding error at second.
• Tobi Stoner allowed a run on two hits in two innings of relief.
• Jason Vargas got ruff'd up for five runs on four hits in two innings.

In the Dominican Republic:

• Argenis Reyes went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
• Fernando Tatis went 2-for-4 with a double.

At MetsGeek, James Kannengieser takes a look at the plate discipline of the 2008 Mets.

At Beyond the Boxscore, R.J. Anderson has a nice piece on Pedro Martinez, looking at the dominance of his past and the uncertainty of his future.

Also at BtB, Sky Kalkman has completed his positional valuation for 2008 and has distilled it down to the top fifty players at any position. The Mets land two players in the top ten and three in the top twenty.

Nice profile of Nate Silver in the New York Times for his work at FiveThirtyEight.com.

Athletics Nation reacts to the Matt Holliday deal. Purple Row does likewise.

FishStripes reacts to the Scott Olsen/Josh Willingham trade. Fire Jim Bowden does likewise.

Trevor Hoffman is looking less and less likely to return to San Diego next season. I'll say it again: If the Mets are reluctant to hand out a multi-year deal to any of the closers on the free agent market or to pony up the necessary players to trade for one, they could do far worse than signing Hoffman to a one-year deal.

Nice win for the Mets, even if it wasn't a terribly exciting game for anyone. Scott Olsen was sweating buckets early on to the point that I was actually uncomfortable watching it (thanks for nothing, SNYHD!). He was mercifully pulled before the ground crew had to be called out to add that super-absorbent sand to the pitching mound that they usually reserve for after rain delays.

Oliver Perez was solid but unspectacular, though it's hard to complain when your starter goes six innings and allows just a run. Aaron Heilman pitched the seventh and the eighth, and after shaking off some rust/Joe West's ridiculous strike zone, was mostly dominant in a couple of innings of work.

Carlos Delgado went deep -- yes, again -- and I'm sure is hoping that July never flips to August considering how hot he's been this month. Carlos Beltran had the biggest hit of the game, driving in the go-ahead run in the sixth. If he weren't so darned un-clutch he would've done it in the ninth inning, but I guess the Tron-haters will have to take what they can get.

Unfortunately, the Nationals are utterly pathetic (except against the Mets), and managed just a run against Brett Myers and the Phillies, so the Mets remain a half-game in front. If it's any consolation, the Braves lost and drop to 8.5 games back.

Big winners: Oliver Perez, +27.7% WPA, Aaron Heilman, +16.5% WPA
Big losers: Damion Easley, -13/0% WPA, Ramon Castro, -6.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran RBI single in sixth, +16.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Willingham RBI double in first, -10.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +48.6%
Total batter WPA: +0.4%

Game Thread Roll Call

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