And we're back to the wretched, intolerable Mets games of yestermonth. Sloppy defense, anemic offense, practically nothing to get excited about. The pitching wasn't terrible. Pedro Martinez got off to a rough start but mostly settled down and managed to pitch into the seventh inning. Only a David Wright error allowed the Padres' third run to score, and an Eddie "Rusty" Kunz homerun allowed -- his first since 2005 when he was playing with Oregon State -- put the game woefully out of reach at 4-2.

The Mets' hitters are back in that mode of, uhh, that thing where you don't do a lot of run-scoring. They made another mediocre starter look like the second coming of Steve Nebraska and fell back to three games behind the Phillies. There's still hope: three games is far from insurmountable, they've got plenty of games left against the Phillies and Marlins, blah blah blah. Seriously, who can stand this anymore? They'll suck me back in with an 8-2 win on Thursday, and then back in the crapper with a 3-1 loss on Friday. Eff this ess.

Big winners: David Wright, +20.5% WPA, Dan Murphy, +17.2% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Beltran, -27.3% WPA, Carlos Delgado, -21.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy RBI single, +10.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Giles single/Wright error, -18.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -6.3%
Total batter WPA: -43.7%

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Nice article by Steve Popper at The Record about Carlos Delgado's status heading into 2009. Specifically, the Mets hold a $12 million team option on Delgado which seemed very much up in the air a few months ago. Now, with Delgado's resurgence and the likely cost of replacing him, that $12 million doesn't seem so bad. As Popper deftly points out, though, it's not *really* a $12 million option. The Mets would owe Delgado a $4 million buyout if they declined the option, so picking him up for that extra year would really only cost them $8 million. Safe money is on them exercising that option.

The Mets are one of several teams who have been scouting the rehab of Freddy Garcia. Garcia has missed the whole season to this point after shoulder surgery last year, and his agent feels he will be ready to help some team in September.

At The Sun, Steven Goldman writes about the Mets' farm system and their general inability to develop (and draft) contributing players over the past ten years or so. Apart from a few studs (Jose Reyes, David Wright, maybe Mike Pelfrey), the Mets have very little to show for a dozen years of drafting and player development.

Chris McShane has a potentially troubling update on one of the NYCEDC's property acquisitions at Willets Point. Chris writes the terrific blog Develop Willets Point which contains all of the latest news and notes related to the proposed development project for the complete and utter shithole area around Shea.

At MetsGeek, Alex Nelson previews the pitchers the Mets will face against the Padres at Shea.

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.

The trade deadline is fast approaching and the list of available players is growing shorter. At the same time, the Mets continue to pitch and hit effectively and areas of greatest need are not as considerable as they were as little as a month ago. Then again, winning cures all ills and great play can often mask shortcomings.

Area of need: corner outfield

For instance, Fernando Tatis is hitting .318/.370/.520. Fernando. Tatis. Career .263/.345/.443 hitter. Much worse than that since 2000. He's hitting lefties and righties equally well, and he hasn't completely embarrassed himself in the field. We're only talking 160-some-odd plate appearances, though, and small sample size red flags abound. He's been a great story and a huge lift for the Mets with Moises Alou out for the season and Ryan Church still out as he recovers from the effects of his second concussion this season. Church may be back soon, but neither that nor his long-term status are guaranteed.

Even if Tatis were somehow able to sustain anything resembling his current level of production, Endy Chavez continues to be an offensive sinkhole in right field. Sure, the defense is great and the .272 batting average is decent, but the .316 on-base percentage is 13th among 17 National League right-fielders with at least 250 plate appearances. His .329 slugging percentage is 16th of 17, besting only Washington's Austin Kearns. Endy's .644 OPS is likewise 16th of 17. I don't know which is more astonishing: that Endy is so bad at hitting or that he's managed to accrue 250 plate appearances while being so bad at hitting. That's a poll for another day, I guess. Regardless, Endy's defense is probably good enough to justify carrying his anemic bat as a fourth or fifth outfielder, but as a starting corner outfielder he is pitifully feckless.

Area of need: relief pitching

Billy Wagner's propensity for eating it hard in big games notwithstanding, he's the Mets' best relief pitcher and still one of the best closers in the National League. Aaron Heilman has been a lot better of late and is probably the Mets' number two, which is far preferable to just plain number two, which was Heilman's nom de fan for the first two months of the season.

Duaner Sanchez is a mystery right now. He was effective if unspectacular for the season's first three months, but has been mostly horrible for a couple of weeks now and is suffering a loss in velocity and deterioration of confidence. After missing a year and a half there's no telling what shape his shoulder is in or whether his arm can hold up for an entire season. Maybe it's just a matter of fatigue and he needs a little time off. At all events, he's a definite question mark moving forward.

Pedro Feliciano is still murder on lefties, but unlike the past two seasons, this year he has been downright awful against righties, who have rocked him to the tune of .342/.419/.553. There's nothing wrong with having a lefty specialist in the bullpen, but the Mets already have one guy -- Scott Schoeneweis -- who can't get righties out, and despite his dramatic platoon splits this season I'm pretty sure Jerry Manuel still thinks that Feliciano is a quality guy to throw out there against all comers. Then again, two full years of competence is more meaningful than one half-year of ineptitude, but you still have to assign greater weight to the recent performance, and that's not good news for Feliciano or the Mets.

Joe Smith is the opposite of Feliciano: he dominates righties and has a tough time with the southpaws. Righties have hit just .190/.271/.302 while lefties have gone .293/.408/.415. If only he and Feliciano could play the field I might be inclined to pull Tatis in the late innings and alternate lefty-righty with Smith and Feliciano for an inning or two. It all comes down to how Manuel decides to use them, so let's hope that his inquisitive mind and nerd glasses mean he knows a thing or two about platoon splits.

Area of need: first base?

A month ago this would have been an obvious need, but with Carlos Delgado swinging a mighty big stick I'm not so sure any more. Given how precipitously he declined last year and how quickly he has resurged, you really have to wonder if those nagging injuries were bothering him more than he let on. The elbow in particular caused him a lot of trouble the last year and a half, and if he is finally out from under those problems then maybe it shouldn't be so surprising that he's back to mashing the ball. He's not going to OPS 1.200 the rest of the way as he has during July, but he has finally pushed his OPS over the league average for a first baseman and there's reason for optimism that he might keep it there.

Mark Teixeira and Adam Dunn will cost an arm and a leg to acquire for the remainder of this season and both will be free agents at season's end. They'll both be on the Mets's radar come November, but I think they'll stand pat this summer and hope that Delgado's resurrection is for real.

Area of need: bench

Marlon Anderson is terrible, and needs to be jettisoned as quickly as possible. I like to think that if the Mets could find anyone else worth plugging into that prestigious 25th spot on the roster that they would have already done so, but right now the dried up husks of Lenny Harris and Matt Franco both look like better options. The rest of the bench is serviceable, with Damion Easley and Argenis Reyes both providing decent production. Nick Evans and Robinson Cancel are nothing special, but the Mets seem inclined to give Evans a few looks at the big league level, and as far as Cancel is concerned, well, they would otherwise just be throwing away the rest of the post-game buffet.

Area of need: catcher?

This one's a trick, because the Mets don't actually need to acquire a new catcher; they just need to play their best catcher more often. That means more time on the pine for Brian Schneider and more cracks at the starting lineup for Ramon Castro. Here is my entire argument:

Ramon Castro: .290/.365/.538
Brian Schneider: .247/.337/.300

So, as long as Jerry Manuel continues to read this blog I think the Mets will be fine at catcher. Or, at least, have the RSS feed in his Google Reader. Either or.

In summation and in conclusion: improve the corner outfield and bench if doing so would come at minimal cost to the farm system. A solid reliever would be nice, but given the going rate of solid relievers I would be more inclined to go with what we've got or, possibly, promote from within. Perhaps Eddie Camacho, Eude Brito or Eddie Kunz -- all currently with Binghamton -- could be given a shot. They can't be much worse than Carlos Muniz has been. Stay the course at first base and catcher, giving more playing time to Castro at the latter.

Johan Santana finally gets the complete game he should have had a week ago, and drops his ERA to 2.93, good for sixth in the NL. He thoroughly dominated the Cardinals, a solo homerun by Albert Pujols the only real blemish. I'm told that Duaner Sanchez wasn't even allowed out of the clubhouse until the game was over just to be on the safe side.

The same Mets' offense that was stymied by Kyle Lohse a few weeks ago battered him relentlessly through five-plus innings, cranking out seven runs on eleven hits including three homeruns. The Mets tallied 17 hits overall including seven for extra-bases. Santana went 2-for-2 with a run batted in, everyone in the lineup had at least one hit and either scored or drove in a run.

Carlos Beltran made an in-friggin-credible catch at the wall, but let's see him come up big when it's *not* a blowout, eh? Ramon Castro continues to support my theory that Brian Schneider has incriminating photos of Jerry Manuel or Omar Minaya or perhaps both at the same time. What does this guy have to do to get into more than one game a week?

Big winners: Johan Santana, +33.0% WPA, Endy Chavez, +9.4 % WPA
Big losers: Carlos Delgado, -8.8% WPA, Damion Easley, -4.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran RBI-single in 3rd, +9.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Delgado double-play in 1st, -8.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +33.0%
Total batter WPA: +17.0%

Game Thread Roll Call

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

With Pedro Martinez unavailable while he attends his father's funeral in DR, the Mets may call up Brandon Knight from New Orleans to start against the Cardinals on Saturday. Knight made eleven appearances with the Yankees in 2001 and 2002, posting an aggregate ERA of 10.71. In five starts and eleven total appearances with the Zephyrs this year he has a 1.60 ERA and a 49-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 39.1 innings.

Also in the afore-linked article, Angel Pagan will have the torn labrum in his left shoulder repaired surgically any day now. Don't expect to see him anytime before spring training 2009.

Interesting little profile of Aaron Heilman in today's New York Sun. The piece is long on observation and short on actual quotes from Heilman, but it's a neat window into the most "cerebral" Met.

Recent draftee Brad Holt lit it up for Brooklyn yesterday, fanning 14 Vermont Lake Monsters in six innings, dropping his ERA to 1.57 in the process. The Mets grabbed Holt as a sandwich pick -- 33rd overall -- between this past draft's first and second rounds. Definitely keep an eye on him.

Turns out that Jimmy Rollins was benched yesterday for arriving late for the team's 10am reporting time. Rollins says he was stuck in traffic, but that Charlie Manuel is a stickler for the rules.

Apparently there was an imaginary clash between Carlos Delgado and Jamie Moyer yesterday after the latter lost control of his bat and the former tossed it back to him. Kevin Burkhardt was the only one who noticed.

And we'll wrap things up with a write-up of Ollie Perez in Newsday. I wrote more about him earlier today.

I'll add the requisite recap graphics and tables in a few hours, but use this to chat about the Mets taking sole possession of first place in the NL East for the first time since forever.

Quick notes:

• Oliver Perez: back on track?
• Carlos Delgado: any chance the Mets pick up his option instead of giving untold sums to Dunn or Teixeira?
• Jamie Moyer: what the hell?
• Jimmy Rollins: suck it, biotch?

Big winners: Carlos Delgado, +25.7% WPA, Oliver Perez, +24.1% WPA
Big losers: Ramon Castro, -9.0% WPA, Damion Easley, -8.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Delgado comes up huge in the 8th, +34.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Werth goes yard, -18.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +46.2%
Total batter WPA: +3.8%

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

If you want to know what a difference a day makes, go read the tail ends of the comments from the last two game threads. Baseball is an emotional game and Mets fans are likewise emotional, and vocal, and dramatic. A day ago the season was terminal and inoperable, the bullpen a wreck and the division slipping away. Now, after a tidy 6-3 win over those same Phillies, the Mets are again tied for first place and things are looking, if not up, at least not down. Everyone's back where they were before Duaner Sanchez showed us all why the Mets really *do* need Billy Wagner, despite his seeming propensity to give it up in big spots.

Carlos Delgado earned a move up to the cleanup spot and responded by going 1-for-2 with a couple of walks. With his smoking hot July tear Delgado has worked his batting line up to .262/.347/.477, unspectacular for a first baseman but so much better than what he had done in the prior twelve months that it's fun to believe he's actually returned to form. One month does not a rebound make, but maybe injuries were bothering him more than he let on. It's only been 67 at-bats, but in case you haven't checked his monthly splits in a while, Delgado is hitting .403/.481/.731 in July after OPS-ing .632, .772 and .784 for the first three months of the season.

Big winners: Jose Reyes, +21.2% WPA, Damion Easley, +11.4% WPA
Big losers: Marlon Anderson, -9.0% WPA, John Maine, -5.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Reyes woot!, +27.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Rollins RBI double, -13.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +16.0%
Total batter WPA: +34.0%

Game Thread Roll Call

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

I'm still in Austin. Anything interesting happen tonight?

Big winners: Johan Santana, +28.0% WPA, Endy Chavez, +14.1% WPA
Big losers: Pedro Feliciano, -53.1% WPA, Duaner Sanchez, -23.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Delgado two-run bomb, +19.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Taguchi two-run double, -38.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -64.0%
Total batter WPA: +14.0%

Game Thread Roll Call

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

I'm not really the type to say things like "a month ago the Mets would have never come back to win this game", but, frankly, a month ago the Mets would have never come back to win this game. Three guys made this game: Wright, Tatis and Delgado. They drove in all ten runs and went 8-for-13 with three homeruns, a double and a couple of walks. Johan Santana didn't have it tonight and was yanked after just four innings. The bullpen wasn't great, but they were good enough to keep the game close, and when the game is close and the ballpark is pint-sized anything can happen and usually does. That's especially true when you're on a big winning streak and things just find a way to go right for you.

The WPA was fascinating for this game. For starters, check out the rollercoaster graph; I think I puked at turn three. As a refresher, each team starts with a win probability of 50%. This isn't exactly accurate since home teams tend to win more games than road teams, but for the sake of simplicity all games start at 50/50. That means the game is essentially a battle for the other team's 50%. Once a team hits 100% win probability the game is over and that team has won.

Mets' pitchers contributed -60% WPA, which means they blew all of the Mets' starting pot of 50% and then some. That's not a good thing. When your pitching staff digs you into a hole like that you don't usually climb out of it. It's not possible for a team to lose more than 50% of WPA in a game, so when the pitchers lose 60% the hitters have to make up the difference, and in most cases it would be a +10% to the hitters to make an even -50% and a big fat loss. Not tonight, because the Mets' had their hitting shoes on and contributed a mind-boggling +110% WPA, which is enough to win two games and have a little left over for the third. Wow, we all say, but it gets even better. The aforementioned Delgado, Wright and Tatis combined to contribute +125.4% WPA, which means the rest of the offense contributed approximately -15.4%. Throw those three guys out and the rest of the Mets were at -75.4% WPA; keep 'em in the game and it's a Mets victory.

First place, people. How does it taste?

Big winners: David Wright, +42.8% WPA, Fernando Tatis, +42.3% WPA, Carlos Delgado, +40.3% WPA
Big losers: Scott Schoeneweis, -44.6% WPA, Johan Santana, -36.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Nine-game winning streak not enough for Wright, +35.1%
Teh sux0rest play: Show blows, -46.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -60.0%
Total batter WPA: +110.0%

Game Thread Roll Call

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