A couple of small nuggets about Raul Ibanez, who may be the Mets' top outfield target now that Casey Blake has landed in Los Angeles and Xavier Nady was shipped to the Bronx. Jason Bay is far more attractive than Ibanez -- and is right-handed to boot -- but will be pretty expensive considering his age, track record and that he's not eligible for free agency until after 2009. It may be a moot point, though, as the Pirates are less likely to deal Bay now that they've already traded Nady.

A trio of articles about Duaner Sanchez's recent struggles, two of which point to his fastball's drop in velocity and the fact that he may be physically running out of steam after missing most of two seasons. The baseball season is a grind, we're told, and Sanchez may not be in the requisite shape to endure its rigors.

Manny Ramirez may be available, but Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Mets aren't interested.

Neil Best has a profile of SNY's Kevin Burkhardt in today's Newsday. It's a nice story about how Burkhardt went from selling cars and working at a going-nowhere radio station to running around WFAN and eventually landing his current gig with SNY.

Goose Gossage will be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame this afternoon. Great pitcher, great mustache, kind of a loudmouth douche nowadays. Like when he ran his mouth about Jose Reyes's dancing last month or about Joba Chamberlain's celebrations back in May. Congrats on the hall nod, now keep your opinions to yourself.

Some sad news from Shea, as there was another escalator incident during last night's game. A man, 26, fell 25 feet from "the box-seat level to a floor near Gate D" and was taken to a hospital. He is listed in critical condition, though he is expected to survive. This comes just three months after another man died when he lost his balance and fell from a Shea escalator. Back in May of 1985, a man fell 100 feet to his death at Shea. That man was trying to slide down the railing of a non-working escalator.

Another awesome start by Mike Pelfrey. Five strikeouts (two of Albert Pujols) and no walks. His 6-to-9 groundball-to-flyball ratio is a little perplexing, but everything else was primo. Carlos Delgado continues his tear, and Argenis Reyes showing Jose how it's done.

Big winners: Mike Pelfrey, +28.9% WPA, Jose Reyes, +12.4% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Beltran, -7.5% WPA, Duaner Sanchez, -3.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: J.Reyes two-run triple, +16.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Schneider GIDP in second, -7.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +29.8%
Total batter WPA: +20.2%

---

Game Thread Roll Call

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

Name	# of Posts
LOUtheMETfan	90
Greenpoint Ian	35
JoshNY	20
Simons	19
Reg Dunlop	19
OSUmets	14
itsmetsforme	13
pingel	11
Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright	10
anonymous	6
kingcritical	1
ZaBlanc	1

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.

Name	# of Posts
BobbyV_Incognito	62
Endys Game	45
JE	33
JoshNY	23
pingel	21
itsmetsforme	19
Rod Gaspar Fan Club	8
DoctorK16	7
gogomets	2
ZaBlanc	2
goth brooks	2
Shomov	1

Ahh, three games over .500. The Mets haven't been this far to the good since they were 20-17 on 5/13, and it's nice to see them get a couple of solid victories against the dregs of the National League. Of course, if David Wright doesn't get selected as the last guy on the All Star team then the Giants will actually have more representation at Yankee Stadium next week than the Mets, though I guess that says more about the All Star Game than about either of these teams.

This was a nice win for the Mets, but the game was really pretty boring. I found myself far more engrossed in the mildly off-topic game chatter discussion than in what was actually happening at Shea. All of the Mets' five runs were scored in two innings, and the Giants managed only six baserunners all game and none after the fifth inning. After a short rain delay in the middle of the fifth, the Mets' bullpen combined to retire the final twelve Giants. The Cardinals' bullpen wasn't quite so good, and a Ryan Howard homerun (for real this time) later and the Mets are still 1.5 games back in the East. Doesn't matter, really. The Mets can't busy themselves worrying about what the Phillies, Marlins and Braves do; that's for us to dwell on.

I've spent plenty of time railing against the Mets' offense this year, but the has-beens and never-will-bes came through tonight when middle of the order didn't bother showing up. Wright-Beltran-Easley (?) went 0-for-10 with a couple of walks, while Endy, Delgado, Castro and OurAnus Reyes had eight of the Mets' nine hits and drove in four of the five runs. Though Castro's only problem has been not getting enough playing time while Mr. Six-Extra-Base-Hits-All-Year hits like a girl and we're regaled with anecdotes about how he calls a great game and has a wonderful rapport with the pitching staff. Hippo goes boom is all you need to know.

The guy I'm forgetting is Jose Reyes, who picked up a single to raise his average to .301 and added two more walks to his growing total, bumping his OBP up to .362. He's OPS-ing .846, he's a shortstop, and he just turned 25. That should keep you nice and warm at night.

Thursday matinée tomorrow, so get some sleep before the Mets go for the sweep.

Big winners: Ramon Castro, +30.4% WPA, Johan Santana, +26.7% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Beltran, -7.5% WPA, Damion Easley, -7.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Hippo goes blippo, +27.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Chavez flyout with 1st and 2nd in the third, -4.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +41.9%
Total batter WPA: +8.1%

---

Game Thread Roll Call

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

Name	# of Posts
JoshNY	36
pingel	29
itsmetsforme	24
Simons	22
kendynamo	20
kingcritical	17
Greenpoint Ian	9
DoctorK16	8
JE	6
sireric	5
Endys Game	5
future	4

The 2008 All Star rosters were announced yesterday, and Jose Reyes was left off of the reserve roster for reasons I can't begin to understand. Hanley Ramirez was rightfully elected by the fans, but manager Clint Hurdle inexplicably named Miguel Tejada to the team in lieu of Reyes. Cristian Guzman was also named as a shortstop, but the Nationals are putrid and had nobody else worthwhile to send. The Astros already had Lance Berkman starting at first so they didn't need Tejada as their lone representative. Reyes has been so much better this season it's almost laughable to have to compare them here, but for yours and Clint Hurdle's benefit here we go.

	Jose Reyes	Miguel Tejada
AVG	.294	.282
OBP	.355	.319
SLG	.482	.437
SB	31	6
HR	9	10
2B	21	20
3B	10	2
VORP	34.0	17.1
EQA	.293	.259
WinShares	12	9
WPA	0.55	-0.70

I think I speak for Jose Reyes when I say "F@#$ you, Clint Hurdle!"

What the hell was that crap about? I don't know why I bother sometimes, because staying up late to watch this team give it up like that as often as they do really takes a lot out of me. This loss was such a wretched, phenomenal failure, but none of us can say that we didn't expect the game to end poorly, at least a little bit. This team seems to be a magnet for suffering, and if there's a reasonable way to lose a game they can usually find it.

Pedro was terrible, then it rained, and then he was much better. Overall, still terrible, but he showed signs of putting things together after giving up four runs in the first. I don't know if he's still tipping his pitches or disguising them well but executing them poorly, but last night's poll still stands as a big question mark for the remainder of the season.

This loss really hurts. The Mets haven't won a single game this season during which they've trailed by more than two runs at any point. Last night they were down by four runs and they charged all the way back to take a two-run lead in the seventh. They'll kick themselves because they had a couple of chances to pad that lead: first in the seventh when Jose Reyes lined out to center to end the inning with two runners on base, and again when David Wright hit a one-out triple in the eighth, only to be stranded when Carlos Beltran struck out looking and Ryan Church grounded out to second. The Beltran-haters will come back out of the woodwork to pillory him for failing to get the runner home from third with less than two outs, but the guy has come through in that situation something like 65% of the time (per the on-screen display SNY flashed right before the whiff).

An extra insurance run or two would have made a big difference, obviously, as Pedro Feliciano promptly gave up the lead in the bottom of the eighth when this fucklick hit a two-run homerun to tie the game. Chris Duncan is generally as bad at hitting southpaws as Brett Myers is good at hitting his wife, and Feliciano has been murder on lefties this season (and in general), but those two facts blatantly disregarded each other and conspired to screw the Mets and left me with no choice but to pathetically cry myself to sleep. Again.

The real hero last night was Jerry Manual, who deftly displayed the same lack of managerial ingenuity that made Willie Randolph the target of much fan ire. With the game tied at seven in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals were set to bring up the meat of their order: Pujols, Ankiel and Glaus. Fine, tie game, other team's best hitters coming up, rollercoaster of a game possibly hanging in the balance. What to do? If you're Jerry Manuel, you bring in the worst pitcher in your bullpen and a dude who sauntered around the field before the game wearing a Hello Kitty backpack (that, of course, has nothing to do with his crappiness). Billy Wagner is twiddling his thumbs in the bullpen, and he's the best pitcher you've got, and I don't care that it isn't a save situation or that you might have a save situation next inning or the inning after. If you don't get through their team's best hitters RIGHT NOW then there won't be a game to save later. I've basically accepted the fact that a manager will never bring in his best reliever to pitch to the heart of the order in the seventh or eighth inning, even though it may be the highest leverage inning of the game. It's the right thing to do, but it doesn't happen and it might never happen because closers like to pitch the ninth inning. But this *was* the ninth inning, AND it was the highest leverage situation of the game, and Manual still made the absolute wrong decision and the Mets lost the game because of it. There were other things the Mets screwed up, and even if Muniz (or Wagner) came in to shut down Pujols, Ankiel and Glaus, there's no guarantee that the Mets would have won the game anyway. But you've gotta give them a chance, Jerry.

Of course Carlos Muniz retired Pujols and Ankiel, and of course Glaus hit his second homerun of the game. Of course the Mets lost, and of course I'm moving on.

Big winners: David Wright, +22.5% WPA, Damion Easley, +18.5% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Muniz, -35.8% WPA, Pedro Martinez, -25.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Damion Easley two-run double, +14.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: You know what, -46.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -80.9%
Total batter WPA: +30.9%

---

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by JoshNY; his effort in last night's game thread embiggens us all.

Name	# of Posts
JoshNY	25
Prince	19
JohnPeterson	12
ZaBlanc	11
DoctorK16	10
metsexile	4
gogomets	4
itsmetsforme	4
Reg Dunlop	4
LOUtheMETfan	3
goth brooks	1

I didn't see much of the game, but I heard good things. Tony Armas was poor early, better later on. The Mets' bats showed up. The bullpen was strong, Reyes got caught stealing again. Church is already back in the swing of things; Beltran needs a day off, maybe? Schneider needs a bunch of days off?

We went to free movie night again, and the Mets won, again. We saw Wanted, which was quite a bit better than the commercials made it look (for once). I never read the graphic novels; I've never read any graphic novels except for TMNT, and was shocked -- and delighted, at the time -- to find that my favorite mutated amphibians were far more crass and violent in their graphic novel incarnation. I'm told that the Wanted film adaptation isn't terribly true to the original story, but that was irrelevant to me as I had no basis for comparison. I'm not going to do a whole review thing here, but if you're into the whole action/betrayal/revenge story "arc" then you'll enjoy it.

Big winners: Ramon Castro, +23.2% WPA, David Wright, +18.2% WPA
Big losers: Tony Armas, -5.5% WPA, Jose Reyes, -11.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ramon Castro two-run double, +20.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Ankiel two-run blast, -17.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +39.8%
Total batter WPA: +10.2%

I'm going to try to get all of the June game forms filled out and the swag contest results for the month tabulated today or tonight. I know you guys are champing at the bit.

Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? Forty-one-ish games into the season and the Mets have had an up-and-down three months to say the least. Things could be a whole lot worse, though, even if the Mets have fallen well short of expectations to this point. That's what these mid-season report cards often come down to: how did Player X perform relative to what could have been reasonably expected of him? So with that as our lead-in, here are my first-half grades.

Rotation - C: The starting rotation appeared to be a strength heading into the season, and I guess relative to the offense it *has* been pretty good, but again we're talking about expectations and in that regard the Mets' starters have disappointed as a whole. Mets starters are eighth in the league in ERA and ninth in WHIP, which is fine for a middling team with a small-town payroll, but these are the Ny Effing Mets with more money committed to player salaries than any other team in the National League, so middle of the pack isn't going to cut it. Pedro has been either awful or injured and, while I think he'll pull out of it alright, he's giving the Mets nothing right now. Santana has been fine; unspectacular, but still very good. Oliver Perez, save his most recent outstanding start against the Yankees, has been equal parts terrible and inconsistent. Maine has been pretty good, though not last night.

Rock stars: Mike Pelfrey, I guess

Boxcar hobos: Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez

Bullpen - B-: This grade could be a bit higher because most of the bullpen principals have been quite good. Billy Wagner, with the exception of that execrable stretch of three games at the beginning of June, has been awesome. Scott Schoeneweis's low-three ERA seems unsustainable give his 12-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but he's been solid despite any smoke and/or mirrors he keeps stashed in his locker. Joe Smith has been inconsistent, but his numbers are pretty good across the board. Feliciano continues to walk a lot of guys, but his ERA and strikeout rates are very strong again. Duaner Sanchez was said to be the key to this relief corps heading into the season, and he's been decent. Like Smith, his numbers are mostly solid, though his ERA is nigh four and his strikeout rate is unspectacular. Aaron Heilman was horrendous in April and May but ungodly in June, so there may be hope for him yet.

Rock stars: Billy Wagner, Pedro Feliciano

Boxcar hobos: Matt Wise, Jorge Sosa

Offense - C-: I'm a little torn on this grade because I'm not sure how much blame to assign to the players and how much should be heaped on the front office and ownership. The offense has not been very good, but a lot of the guys who haven't been very good were known before they even took a swing to not be very good. Marlon Anderson, Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis: these are not good players. I hate them because they suck, but I don't blame them so much because even their respective mothers could have told us they were terrible. I'll go back to my favorite analogy to these bums: I don't blame a spoon for being unable to to cut my steak; it's a tool ill fit for the job, much like Tatis playing baseball. After a slow start, Jose Reyes has been terrific, and is at or around the top ten players in baseball in VORP. His power is much improved over last season and his walk rate has crept back up to the rate he established last season. Wright has been a little underwhelming, but I still feel like he could break out at any moment. Beltran has been his typical emotionally-subdued but otherwise extremely productive self. Delgado drove in nine runs the other day, so he's good for zippo over the next six weeks now. Church has been mostly terrific and partially injured, but his on-field performance has exceeded any expectations I had of him.

Rock stars: Ryan Church, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran (yes, Carlos Beltran)

Boxcar hobos: Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, Brian Schneider

Manager(s) - C: I don't really know how to evaluate managers, and I don't know if I ever will. Willie Randolph seemed like a nice enough guy, though he had awkward bullpen usage and often relied too heavily on established, ineffective veterans in all facets of play (bullpen, offense, defense). I didn't always care for his lineup construction, and rumors trickled in after his ouster that he had lost his clubhouse. All of this paints a pretty crummy picture of him as a manager, but even considering all of that I still don't know that he cost the Mets any more than a few games over the course of a season relative to a "great" manager, whomever that might be. Jerry Manual took over and has shown a bit more fire and a little less reliance on "his guys".

Front office - D-: Omar Minaya brought in Johan Santana for a truckload of money and a mixed bag of prospects, and despite his best efforts the Lastings Milledge deal has sorta worked out for the Mets so far (though perhaps not in the long run). However, his biggest failing (stop me if you've heard this one before) was his inability to provide reasonable contingency plans for injuries to Moises Alou and continued ineptitude from Carlos Delgado. That the first line of support has been the likes of Tatis, Anderson and Chavez is as big an indictment of Minaya's shortcomings as a GM as anything you could hold against Randolph as a manager. There are some important decisions to be made in the next three weeks about the viability of this team as a legitimate playoff contender, but despite assurances from ownership that his job is safe, Minaya has to feel that this could be a watershed season in his career as Mets GM. The NL East seems weak enough that a small bump could put the Mets over the top, but will Minaya trade away what few chips remain in the farm system for a shot at the postseason? Unfortunately, his short-term outlook and the Mets' long-term success may be diametrically opposed come July 31.

Overall - C-: The Mets are still just three (or so) games out in the NL East, but clearly they have failed to meet expectations in almost every area of their play. There's still a half-season to turn things around, but it'll get late early (Yogi!) if they keep losing every other game.

Agree or disagree, leave your grades in the comments. Or, go one step further and make some prognostications about the next 41 81 (or 40 80, now) games.

Hitters

David Wright is on pace for 126 RBI, which would best Mike Piazza's franchise-best mark of 124 in 1999.
Carlos Beltran is on pace for 98 walks, which would be second all-time behind John Olerud's ridiculos 125-walk season of 1999.
Jose Reyes is on pace for 56 stolen bases, which would be sixth best all-time behind three Jose Reyeses and one Roger Cedeno.
Jose Reyes is on pace for 16 triples, which would be fourth best all-time behind Lance Johnson's 21 in 1996 and two previous incarnations of Jose Reyes.
Jose Reyes is on pace for 74 extra-base hits, which would be sixth all-time.
Carlos Beltran is on pace for 70 extra-base hits, which would be eighth all-time (he is tied for first with 80 in 2006).

Starting Pitchers

Oliver Perez is on pace for 32 homeruns allowed, which would be second all-time (Roger Craig, 35 in 1962).
Johan Santana is on pace for 28 homeruns allowed, which would be sixth all-time.
Oliver Perez is on pace for 104 walks allowed, which sould be fourth all-time (Nolan Ryan, 116 in 1971).
Johan Santana is on pace for 18 wild pitches, which would tie for the most all-time (Jack Hamilton, 1966).
Oliver Perez is on pace for 10 20 hit batsmen, which would be the most all-time (Pedro Astacio, 16 in 2002).
Johan Santana is on pace for 206 strikeouts, which would be second most in the last fifteen years (Pedro Martinez, 208 in 2005).
Johan Santana is on pace for 227.1 innings pitched, which would be the most in the last fifteen years (Mike Hampton, 217.2 in 2000).

Relief Pitchers

Pedro Feliciano is on pace for 86 appearances, which would be the most all-time (Mike Stanton, 83 in 2004).
Billy Wagner is on pace for 36 saves, which would be fifth all-time (Armando Benitez, 43 in 2001).

Any others?

Trailing after eight innings:

Willie Randolph's Mets: 1-30
Jerry Manuel's Mets: 1-1

I had a perfectly good unhappy recap half-written before the Mets went and ruined it by astonishingly scoring a run against Francisco Rodriguez in the top of the ninth. I could have salvaged most of it had the Mets just lost in the bottom of the ninth like we all expected, but nooooo. They had to go and win the whole thucking fing and left me writing this like a goon at 2am.

Oliver Perez stunk things up as usual, but somehow managed to keep the Mets in the game despite allowing something like six baserunners per inning. The Mets' bullpen was great, tossing four scoreless innings and allowing just one hit, no walks. After tying it in the ninth, Damion Easley gave the Mets the lead in the tenth with a laser into the left-field stands. David Wright made that terrific barehand play to throw out Kendrick to start the bottom of the tenth and Wagner got the next two hitters to close things out.

Yes, hooray, we're all ecstatic about the win. Coming from behind and getting a win against K-Rod and a very good Angels team -- winning the series even -- is awesome. I'm not going to sugarcoat things here, though: the Mets' lineup is still execrable, and they're going to have a tough time winning ballgames when the only decent starters are Wright, Reyes and Beltran. The Mets are feeling good right now, but they need to do something to improve the offense or the good vibes will dissipate faster than a Tatis-Chavez-Schneider half-inning.

Enough stinkypants for one post. Let's just enjoy this one.

Big winners: Billy Wagner, +20.9% WPA, Damion Easley, +43.6% WPA, David Wright, +34.5%
Big losers: Oliver Perez, -18.1% WPA, Trot Nixon, -15.9%% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: D-Ease extra-inning bomb, +40.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Vlad two-run single in fifth, -19.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +25.0%
Total batter WPA: +25.0%