According to ESPN, slugger Adam Dunn was traded today from the Reds to the Diamondbacks in exchange for three prospects.

Dunn is known for his home-run power and low batting average, despite his ability to draw walks.  Currently, Dunn and Ryan Howard are tied for the NL lead for HRs with 32 each. 

Dunn is a free agent after this year, and is likely just a rental for the D’backs.   

The Mets take on the Pirates at home today as a makeup for a rain out in April.  Pedro Martinez will take on Zach Duke, with Pedro looking to build on the success of his last start.

Keys to the game:

• Quality 6 from Pedro. With the Mets in the midst of a stretch where they are playing 23 straight games, the bullpen is bound to get fatigued.  Pedro probably has the least endurance of all the Mets starters, but pitched well in his last outing.  To give the bullpen a break especially after yesterday, Pedro has to work at least six innings.
• Get the ball to Aaron. In his last two outings, Aaron Heilman has looked like his old self, allowing no runs in three innings while allowing only one base runner.  He was able to rest yesterday, and the Mets will be in good shape if they can hand him the ball with a lead in the 9th.

The game can be see on SNY and listened to on WFAN.

For a full lineup, head over to Adam Rubin’s blog Surfing the Mets.

For in-game chat, banter and discussion head over to the Hot Foot Bleachers.

Added by Rob Harding

Today’s game is in a rain delay, new start time is 1:40 EST.

The Mets won their second in a row against the Marlins, third in a row overall by a score of 8-6 this evening. 

Brian Stokes was serviceable in his spot start, allowing four runs in his 5.2 innings of duty.  His fastball touched the high-90’s and he was able to strike out six.  The winning pitcher was Scott Schoneweis who finished the sixth.  Duaner Sanchez threw a scoreless seventh, however Joe Smith faltered in the 8th leaving it to Pedro Feliciano who got out of the inning with a double play. 

For the second evening in a row Aaron Heilman made a strong effort, walking Hanley Ramirez in the ninth but allowing no other hits or walks.   

The offense scored four first inning runs, the first two off an RBI double by Carlos Beltran, who seemed comfortable in the clean-up spot all night.  The second two runs came off of a Carlos Delgado HR to right field that they estimated at 445 feet.  Notably, later in the game Dan Murphy hit his first MLB home run and Carlos Beltran ended an extended HR drought with a solo bomb to dead center.   

The Mets look to sweep the Marlins tomorrow as Mike Pelfrey takes on Josh Johnson at 1:10. 

The Mets led by Oliver Perez take on the Marlins and Ricky Nolasco this evening. 

Keys to the Game:

• Insurance Runs.  As we’ve all seen, the Mets bullpen has been blowing leads game after game lately.  On Tuesday, the Mets were able to keep the lead despite allowing a 3-run HR in the ninth because they tacked on insurance runs late in the game.  The entire season the Mets have been scoring most of their runs early in games, while failing to tack on extra runs late.  Ideally, the bullpen should be able to hold onto a lead once in a while, but just in case the Mets need to score some extra runs late. 
• Let Ollie loose.  In the past week, manager Jerry Manuel has pulled Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana in situations where they had the lead, were pitching very well, and seemed as if they were posed to pitch deeper into the game.  In Pelfrey’s start, the bullpen almost blew the lead (they would have if it weren’t for the insurance runs), and in Johan’s start the bullpen did what it does best: successfully blew the lead.  If Perez is pitching well without having thrown way too many pitches, let him keep on pitching. 

The game can be seen on SNY, listened to on 660 WFAN on  your AM radio dial with first pitch at 7:10 pm. 

For in-game chatter and banter, head over to the Hot Foot Bleachers. 

For a full lineup, head over to Adam Rubin’s blog Surfing the Mets. 

In my household, there will be some serious flipping going on in between the Mets and the Olympics.      

At Fox Sports, Kevin Hench organized a list of the top nine players who had to unexpectedly fill in this season.

Ranking number five on the list is Fernando Tatis, filling in for the injured Moises Alou and Ryan Church this season.  About Tatis, he writes:

Moises Alou has hit .342 in his first 102 games for the Mets. The problem is the Mets have played 276 games over that stretch. The fact that Alou blew out his hamstring while rehabbing a calf injury pretty much sums up his tenure in New York. Enter Tatis. The once-promising third baseman most famous for hitting two grand slams in one inning as a member of the Cardinals had played 28 games in the bigs over the last four seasons. But reinvented as an everyday outfielder Tatis has enjoyed an improbable resurrection this season in Queens, hitting .310 with an .873 OPS.

Tatis is batting .310 with 9 HRs and 33 RBIs in 184 ABs this year.

If this were Deal Or No Deal baseball edition and we were told Fernando Tatis would bat .280 with 5 HRs and 25 RBIs in the same span, I know I would have taken the deal right away because I wasn’t confident in Tatis’s ability to play baseball at the major league level.  Fortunately for us, Deal Or No Deal baseball edition does not exist and Tatis’s stats have been much better than that.

Frankly, we’ve taken Tatis and his surprising production for granted.

The look on my face when we first called up Fernando Tatis was similar to the look of the average person when he realizes that he stepped in dog crap on the street - frustrated, annoyed and helpless all at once.  Yet, I had that same look for Jose Valentin in 2006.  Both times I feared that we were calling up an aging re-tread that was no longer good enough to be playing baseball on the major league level.  However, both times Tatis and Valentein turned in more than adequate performances, which could have easily been well below average.

The following are a list of clues for you to guess three different Ex-Mets:

Player #1 (easy):

• This ex-Mets SP pitched for the Mets in 1999 as a 40-41 year old.  However, he spent most of his career with the Dodgers.
• For the Dodgers, he won the Cy Young in 1988 and led them to a World Series victory that same year. 
• Since his retirement, he has been the pitching coach of the Rangers and an analyst for Baseball Tonight.

Player #2 (medium):

• This OF journeyman made the Mets roster in the second half of the 2006 season, with the Mets needing OF help from the bench down the stretch.  Surprisingly, he made the Mets post-season roster over Lastings Milledge. 
• He bounced around in his career, playing for the Royals, Braves, Reds, Cubs, Giants, Phillies and Mets. 

Player #3 (hard):

• A football and baseball player at Central Florida, where he caught passes from QB Daunte Culpepper, this OF was drafted by the Cardinals in the 18th round of the 1998 draft.  The Mets claimed him off of waivers in 2001, before he ever played a big league game.   
• His speed was always his greatest tool.  In nine minor league seasons he stole 507 bases.  Notably in 2000 for to Potomacc Cannons (high A) he stole 109 bases.
• The Mets were the only big league team he ever played for, playing for them in 2002 and 2004.  Despite his limited power, he hit a walk-off HR against the Expos in 2002 in the 11th inning.  In 13 at-bats for the Mets that season he also stole four bases. 

Post your guesses in the comments section, and good luck.  Answers will be posted here tonight. 

According to Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors, Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez passed through waivers.  Once a player has passed through waivers, he can be traded after the July 31st deadline. 

For Sanchez, Dierkes writes, “His velocity is down 3.6 mph from ‘06.  Sanchez is under team control through ‘09.”

As for Schoeneweis he notes, “His strikeout rate is down, but so is his ERA.  Apparently no team wanted to risk taking on his contract - $3.6MM this year, $3.6MM in ‘09.”

I’m extremely surprised, neither of them have big contracts and both should have a use in any bullpen. 

Whenever something goes wrong with Aaron Heilman, Mets fans don’t like the scared look on his face.  Fans don’t like that he gave up the home run to Yadier Molina in the 2006 NLCS, and they don’t appreciate his mostly poor showings this year that have involved way too many home runs. 

I’m probably the last guy left that does, but somehow and for some reason I believe in Aaron Heilman and I’ll try to defend him here.  For some Heilman hate, read Rob Harding’s piece here on Hot Foot. 

First of all, Heilman has been over worked this season.  He’s thrown the third most games of any NL reliever.  Consistently getting worked so hard year after year has to take a toll on a player.  Manuel has to do a better job resting his relievers, probably by letting starters go a little deeper in games.  While Heilman’s imploded a few too many times and lost a few too many games for the team, much of it has just been bad timing combined with a heavy work load. 

We also tend to look for Heilman to be the scape goat for our general bullpen issues.  We never liked him from the beginning, as we expected him to be a top part of the rotation starter and after some failure (and some success) he was converted into a reliever.  We’ve never liked him because he gave up that home run to Molina, or because he always has a deer-in-headlights look on the mound.  But let’s take a look at our bullpen statistics in the month of July:

• In 16 innings, Heilman had a 4.41 ERA while striking out 21. 
• In 11.2 innings, Duaner Sanchez had a 3.86 ERA while striking out nine. 
• Joe Smith had a 5.25 ERA in 12 innings while striking out six. 
• Scott Schoeneweis had a 3.00 ERA in nine innings while striking out ten.   

Well, Duaner clearly cannot close because of his noted velocity issues lately.  Even though his numbers seemingly look good, it’s tough for his off speed pitches to look good when his fastball is barely scraping 86 MPH. 

Last month, Smith was worse than Heilman.  Plus, as a reliever Smith is really a role player.  While righties hit a meager .235 off of him in his career, lefties lick their chops against him with a .292 batting average career.  Smith also lacks the K-factor: the ability to strike people out.  Late in games and in many crucial spots, strikeouts are needed to calm the situation. 

Similar to Smith, Schoeneweis and Feliciano are really only specialists.  In general, they are much better vs. lefties.  Their pitching to righties shouldn’t be strictly forbidden, but they definitely should do so as minimally as possible. 

Sure, there are Eddie Kunz and Ruddy Lugo, but are we really ready to throw Kunz into the fire already?   

I’m not writing this trying to convince  you that Heilman should be our closer while Billy Wagner is out, because that is clearly illogical.  However, the “Never-pitch-Heilman-again-because-he-sucks-and-looks-grumpy-all-the-time” bandwagon is becoming too popular and I can’t resist disagreeing and thinking that he’s the scape goat for all of the bullpen’s struggles lately.   

Heilman has the ability to consistently strike hitters out, which others in the bullpen lack.  He should also be put carefully into situations, because this season lefties have hit extremely well against him (although that hasn’t been true most of his career).  For now, the Mets should treat the ninth inning just like any other inning where we use relievers, like the 6th, 7th and 8th.  Manuel should play the match ups and go with whichever reliever is right for the situation.  But don’t blindly hate on Heilman, please - he’s serviced us well for a while, he has earned some patience.     

Even though Aaron Heilman did his best to make it otherwise, the Mets beat the Padres by a score of 6-5 this afternoon.

Mike Pelfrey logged another quality start, allowing only two runs in six and two thirds innings of work.  It was a little strange seeing Manuel take Pelfrey out in the seventh given that he had just registered a double play ball, and the bullpen is shaky given that closer Billy Wagner was just put on the DL. 

The Mets bullpen successfully bridged the gap to the ninth without allowing a hit, but Aaron Heilman suffered from some bad luck and then gave up a bomb.  Argenis Reyes and Carlos Beltran (mostly Reyes), misplayed a pop-up that they ruled a hit even though it shouldve easily been caught.  That made it 1st and 2nd with no outs, and Heilman got a hard ground ball to David Wright who was able to get the out at second but they were barely unable to turn two.  Heilman then gave up a three run blast to make the game 6-5.  However, Joe Smith then recorded a quick out, followed by Scott Schoenweis who threw one pitch to Brian Giles for the save.   

Offensively, the Mets scored their first four runs off the bat of Fernando Tatis who hit two HRs to the pleasure of the Shea Stadium crowd, who demanded a curtain call after the second.  Then the Mets rookies taught the big club a lesson in something they hadn’t been doing lately: tacking on insurance runs, which proved to be completely necessary.  With the Mets up 4-2, Dan Murphy hit a long double to left center scoring Argenis Reyes.  In the bottom of the 8th, with Carlos Beltran on 1st, Nick Evans doubled to left center.  Then Jody Gerut and Tad Iguchi both misplayed the ball, allowing Beltran to score and Evans to advance to third. 

For a full box score, go over to ESPN. 

The Mets play the Padres in game two of this three game series with Pedro Martinez taking on Cha Seung Baek. 

The Mets take on the Padres for a three game series at home with Mike Pelfrey taking on Chris Young.  The game has a 7:10 PM first pitch and can be seen on SNY.

Keys to the game:

• Help J-Rey.  Jose Reyes has been mashing lately especially in the last series vs. Houston.  However, the rest of the team failed to produce and they only scored seven runs in the three game series despite the great production from Reyes.  The Mets lineup has to figure out how to manufacture runs against a poor Padres team. 
• Prove We Don’t Need Billy.  Prior to tonight’s game, Billy Wagner was placed on the DL with a hurt forearm.  Ruddy Lugo was called up from AAA, and before the game manager Jerry Manuel suggested a number of pitchers can be used at the end of the game, but most likely Aaron Heilman.  Wagner has blown seven saves this year, and Manuel really just has to treat the 9th like any other inning - play the match ups and chose what pitcher is right for the moment. 

For a full lineup, head over to John Delcos’s blog at the Journal News, where you’ll see that Dan Murphy is playing LF and batting 2nd. 

For in-game banter, complaining and conversation head over to chat at the Hot Foot Bleachers. 

Win…please…   

According to RotoWorld, the Rockies have called up RHP Steven Register.  This year the Mets drafted Register as a part of the Rule V draft, but he did not make the team in spring training.  Because he did not make the team, he was returned to the Rockies who have been using him as a closer for their AAA affiliate the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. 

Register has a 3.28 ERA with 16 saves in 48 appearances this season for the Sky Sox. 

Gee, do I miss him.  It was so cruel of the Mets management to draft him, and allow Mets fans to grow so attached to him before ripping him away by not adding him to the major league roster. 

I had already imagined myself saying to friends, “He Register-ed another hold” or, “He Register-ed another K.”

I already had my Steven Register uniform and t-shirt. 

I kid, I kid.  Steven, we hardly knew you but best of luck. 

Hat tip to Jake Ewald for the news.     

After a needed off-day today, the Mets have 23 straight games without a rest.  That’s three weeks of baseball without a chance for the team to catch their breath, or for relievers to rest their arms.  Without a doubt, it will put a strain on the team. 

On the bright side, 14 of the games are at home, while the nine road games aren’t far at all - Washington, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  Also, of the 23 games the Mets have in the next 23 days, only five of those games are against teams that are above .500 - the Florida Marlins who they play at home beginning on Friday and two games against the Phillies to end the trip. 

They begin this long stretch with three games against the Padres (43 - 69), who have the third worst record in baseball and have the second worst offense in baseball.  Perhaps the only factor that is keeping the Padres from having the worst record in baseball is ace Jake Peavy, who is 8-7 with a 2.59 ERA this season.  Luckily for the Mets, they don’t have to face Peavy. 

Following San Diego, comes the most difficult part of the stretch - playing the Marlins (59 - 53).  Given the team’s numbers and records so far this season, it should be a fairly even match up with an edge headed towards the Mets because it’s at Shea.  The Mets are 33-26 at home this season, compared to 26-27 on the road. 

Then, the Mets play Pittsburgh (51 - 60) at home for a game as a make-up game for a contest rained out in April.  They then play Washington (41 - 70) for three games on the road, who not so proudly sport the worst record in baseball. 

The Mets then have a quick flight to Pittsburgh where the Mets have the chance to play four games against the mediocre Pirates. 

Following that, the Mets return home to play three games against their long-time rival, the Atlanta Braves (51 - 60).  The Braves were sellers at the deadline, dealing star 1B Mark Teixeira to the Angels.  The Braves staff ace Tim Hudson also has heard the worst news a pitcher can here: Tommy John Surgery.  Hudson is visiting the always dreaded Dr. James Andrews to have the procedure done and will be out for at least a year of rehabilitation.  Despite the rivalry, this is a weak Braves team of which the Mets can take advantage. 

Nearing the end, the Mets have a four game series against the Astros (53 -57) at home.  The Astros are a below average team, and the Mets should come out with a chip on their shoulder following an embarrassing sweep this past weekend.  

Finally, the Mets play two games against the division leading Phillies (61 - 50), before a much needed day of rest. 

All in all, the mets have a long but extremely easy stretch coming up.  18 of the 23 games are against sub .500 teams.  This is an opportunity for the Mets to avenge some bad losses (yes, I’m talking about Houston), and to at least catch up to the Phillies if not pass them.  Too many times the Mets let lousy teams beat them, and if the Mets seriously want to contend they are going to have to learn how to take advantage of easy patches in the schedule when they can. 

Tonight on 60 Minutes, a segment aired with Morley Safer interviewing the father of Sabermetrics, Bill James.  

Among other things, James said the best player in the game is Albert Pujols, and the most underrated player is Chase Utley.  However, when asked if he could have anybody on his team, he answered, “David Wright, of the Mets.” 

Why?

James answered, “Because he does everything I like, and he’s very young.”

To watch the part of the segment where James answers this, watch below and zoom to 2:20 into the video:

This is part 2 of the segment.  To watch part 1, head over to youtube.