How long will the Mets keep up this charade of having three catchers? The only barely cognitive reason for having three is so the backup catcher can hit. Flying in the face of logic, the Mets have pinch-hit the third catcher, Robinson Cancel, leaving either Brian Schneider or Ramon Castro as the emergency catcher. That was bizarre enough, but now Cancel is getting occasional starts? No, this has got to stop.

When Cancel started his first game of the season, his first start since 1999, he contributed an 0-for-5 night at the plate, leaving four men on base. He helped that game along to an unnecessary 14 innings when it should have been wrapped up sooner.

In his second start of the season, on Sunday, he avoided going hitless. But he canceled out the goodwill of that lone hit by absurdly getting thrown out at third base with two outs and David Wright at the plate. He finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and three men left on base, lowering his season average to .211. He also struck out with the bases loaded, one of two such instances for the Mets on Sunday.

There are some public-relations reasons why Cancel got the start. Castro suffered a nasty collision in a play at the plate in Saturday’s game, plus it was the day game after a night game. But there’s no reason why Schneider should not have gotten the start on Sunday. He barely played in Saturday’s game, coming in the bottom of the ninth inning and catching less than two innings.

Yes, the Mets were facing lefty Randy Wolf and Schneider is a lefty, while Cancel is a righty. Is that really enough reason to start a third catcher over Schneider? Schneider’s batting just .190 against lefties, but Cancel only had four at-bats versus them before Sunday’s start. That small sample size doesn’t put a man barely on the roster above Schneider. Besides, if Jerry Manuel looked to blindly follow the match-ups, why did Castro start on Saturday night against RHP Roy Oswalt? Manuel looked to have a good bat against Oswalt’s arm, but Castro starting on Saturday sets up a decision between Schneider or Cancel. So, in other words, Manuel, who has said he has looked to get Cancel a few starts here and there, mapped out Cancel’s start on Sunday. Scary planning.

Boy, Cancel should really never start again. Some might argue that it’s nitpicking, but it’s these idiotic decisions that cost ballgames.

Houston Astros closer Jose Valverde is in the Shane Victorino category of “If Jose Reyes gets so much flack, why doesn’t he?”

Valverde is the most boisterous closer on the mound in the majors. He makes Joba Chamberlain’s fist pumps look tame by comparison. Because after all, does Chamberlain do a fist pump after the first and second outs of an inning? Does he start dancing around the mound and pointing wildly to the sky after a save?

In particularly close situations in which Valverde still gets the save, he will hit the apex of his jubilation, pumping his fist repeatedly and shouting aloud to the heavens. He’ll punch the inside of his glove until an opposing team’s fan wants to punch the television screen. What an amateur.

It is hard to accurately judge Billy Wagner’s tenure as the Mets closer. At times, he has been unfairly compared to the likes of Armando Benitez and Braden Looper just because he isn’t perfect, as hardly any closers are. At other times, he’s amazingly gotten the benefit of the doubt from a fanbase that is usually so quick to boo.

While Wagner’s 2008 season has been good statistically, one wants to simply shake his or her head and conclude, “Too many blown saves.” On Saturday, Wagner recorded his seventh blown save. He’s never had as many blown saves in a season outside of a rough 2000 in Houston.

This is especially surprising when you consider how many bad feelings his 2006 had around it. That was the year Wagner had the 4-run meltdown against the Yankees in May that does not show up in the “blown saves” category. However, Wagner still had four blown saves in the first half, causing mild alarm. He then had a dominant second half with only one blown save and none after August 1.

Wagner turned in the same blown save number (5) in 2007, but that year was the exact opposite. He’d only given up one blown save all year until August 10. From that date to the end of the year, he added the final four and raised his ERA from 1.28 to 2.63.

This caused all the talk of the offseason and spring training about Wagner wanting to transcend simply being an “effective closer” and become one that not only converted saves but had clean, quick innings. Wagner was certainly dominant this year, carrying a 0.00 ERA and only one blown save into May 23. But a disasterous week of June 8-12 (three blown saves) and lingering injury problems has roughed up his season.

Since 2001, Wagner has never had more than six blown saves. He now has seven with two months left in the season. The Mets are 3-4 in games Wagner has blown. Even so, fans are still easy on Wagner, because his numbers are so sparkling. He has a 2.30 ERA with 52 strikeouts and only 10 walks. What a great K/BB ratio. He has 27 saves and so looks to finish with a healthy total, not that saves number matters much. His WHIP is only 0.89, and opponents are only batting .185 against him. A small comfort in the games Wagner has blown is that since his WHIP and walks total are so low, his blown saves are usually simply because the opponent beat him. There are no loading the bases with walks, as was the occasional happening in the previous two years.

His numbers suggest that he never has those games where he struggles but still saves the game. He is either lights-out or blows it completely. Does that mean that the meticulous Wagner is now prone to meltdown whenever anything bad happens? I’m not sure if that is good or bad. Wagner’s season looks great but “too many blown saves.”

The Atlanta Braves traded Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday for Casey Kotchman and Steven Marek.

As Buster Olney mentioned on ESPN SportsCenter in reaction to the deal, this makes the Teixeira deal of 2007 a bad move. The Braves had to either win a World Series in 2007 or 2008 or lock up Teixeira long-term. The team did not make the playoffs in 2007 and ended up selling off Teixeira for less value a year later. Meanwhile, the four top prospects the Braves gave up a year ago still have their upside.

The Angels are kind of in the same situation, especially considering the division race looks to be locked up before acquiring Teixeira. However, the Angels have less riding on the line because they gave up less value than the Braves did in 2007. Regardless, getting Teixeira makes the Angels the clear favorites to win the World Series. With Teixeira, Vladmir Guerrero, and Torii Hunter, the Angels have a mighty potent lineup.

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On Wednesday, the New York Yankees traded Kyle Farnsworth to the Detroit Tigers for Ivan Rodriguez. Also, the Yankees traded LaTroy Hawkins to the Astros for a prospect.

The Yankees could use an upgrade at catcher in light of Jorge Posada’s injury, and Rodriguez is an upgrade offensively at catcher. However, the Yankees had to part with a serviceable set-up man in Farnsworth to shore up the very bottom of their order. One wonders if Yankees GM Brian Cashman thinks the bullpen is worthless. While Hawkins has been abysmal in 2008, he is more bullpen depth thrown away for nothing. Ultimately, the Farnsworth for Rodriguez deal feels like the Yankees traded from a weakness to add to a strength.

The Tigers needed Farnsworth with the mess their bullpen has been as of late. However, it seems like Rodriguez should have netted at least a prospect in addition to Farnsworth. Maybe, I’m misvaluing Farnsworth’s “worth.” It isn’t a question of contract as both are half-season rentals.

Also, how crazy is Astros GM Ed Wade? Couple this with the acquistion of Randy Wolf, and he might be the most laughably bad general manager in baseball.

—

As Andrew Beaton reported Thursday on Hot Foot, the Chicago White Sox acquired Ken Griffey Jr. from the Cincinnati Reds for two prospects.

As Beaton commented, this is a perplexing deal as far as Chicago goes, considering the team doesn’t really have an obvious spot for Griffey. What I’d guess is perhaps Nick Swisher will alternate between playing centerfield and first base. On days that Swisher plays CF, Paul Konerko would play 1B. On days that Swisher plays 1B, Griffey would play CF.

Of course that means Griffey goes from a place where he plays everyday to a place where he doesn’t. In that sense, his move to a contender would be a little bittersweet. Also consider that the White Sox are barely holding onto their AL Central lead and even if they make the playoffs, they will be major underdogs compared to the likes of the Angels, Red Sox, and Rays. It was Griffey’s choice whether to invoke or waive his no-trade deal, and he chose the move. Only time will tell whether it was good or not for Griffey or White Sox GM Kenny Williams.

As Gary Grund previously reported here at Hot Foot, the Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired Manny Ramirez in a three-team deal, which also sent Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox and four prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

If the Dodgers don’t win the World Series, general manager Ned Colletti lost this trade. As the Boston Herald pointed out:

Ramirez agreed to waive his no-trade rights stemming from the 36-year-old’s 10-5 status (10 years in majors, five with one team) in return for the agreement by the Dodgers to get rid of the two $20 million team options for 2009 and ’10.

Earning $20 million in a year is nothing to sneeze at. Clearly, Ramirez wants to become a free agent in the offseason and get a multi-year deal. So if the Dodgers don’t give Manny said deal, the worth of the trade is all on 2008. To be honest, even with Ramirez, are the Dodgers suddenly the team to beat in the NL? The Dodgers may prove me wrong, but on paper, it doesn’t look like it.

The Dodgers’ outfield was already overcrowded. With Colletti giving foolish deals to Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones, the team’s outfield is very expensive. Funnily enough, with the addition of Ramirez, Pierre and Jones don’t look to play regularly. Both Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp have more at-bats than Pierre and Jones, who have both rode the pine or been injured this season. Having one of Pierre or Jones on the bench doesn’t look great. Having both on the bench looks terrible as far as getting your bang from your buck. At the same time, the Dodgers have to bench both to maximize their chances, considering Ethier and Kemp are better players. Even so, Pierre has been decent and sitting his 36 stolen bases will be tough. In summary, outfield help was hardly a need for the Dodgers.

As for Boston, Bay is only under contract through 2009. The Red Sox have to lock up Bay for this trade to look good. If the team doesn’t, they lost this deal, as well. If Bay only stays a Red Sox through 2009, they gave up too much to get rid of Ramirez.

On this day, Pittsburgh looks to be the big winner. The Buccos didn’t take away a king’s ransom, but they got more than they would have from the rumored Rays deal. All the prospects the Pirates got look to have some upside, with Andy LaRoche probably having the most.

I have a love-hate relationship with the trade deadline. On one hand, like with the hot stove, it’s really fun and interesting to see all the rumors and buzz swirling around before it finally hits the wall on July 31 at 4 p.m. On the other hand, logic and rationale sometimes goes out the window — both for teams and media alike.

For example, the media, such as the Baseball Tonight crew, interpret the trade deadline as a sort of chess match. Everyone is perceived to be on the same plane at each position come the trade deadline. So whoever makes the best trade deadline move, regardless of team makeup, has the advantage to win.

Case in point: 2007’s Mark Teixeira trade had industry analysts lauding the Atlanta Braves for bringing in the bat. What the Braves gave up was largely ignored, as is the case usually when it is a package of prospects, no matter how highly touted. It’s usually just called “Teixeira for prospects” in those ESPN ticker updates. (Read: Teixeira for nothing.) The jury is obviously still out on the deal, but the Braves traded their three top prospects, according to Baseball America that year.

But hey, the Braves landed Teixeira, and the team deserved credit for throwing all the chips on the table and going for it in 2007. That took guts; it took moxie, I tells ya. What really makes the blood boil, though, is when John Kruk starts calling out the Mets on air for not making a corresponding move. See, what the media wants in these instances is a hasty, reactionary move. Whenever general managers care to make such moves, they are usually bad or at least settling for less. The Phillies trading for Joe Blanton was probably a reactionary move to all the starter trades earlier in the month. That team needed starting pitching help, but Blanton wasn’t necessarily the right fit. He was just the next guy down the rung of available starting pitchers. It would not be surprising if on July 31, the St. Louis Cardinals were asked to “respond” to the C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden deals.

Oh, and while Teixeira hit well for Atlanta, the Braves ended up in third place. The team doesn’t look to contend this year, either. So, unless the Braves get something worthwhile in trade for Teixeira or draft a future superstar with one of their two draft picks, that trade will be unsuccessful. Not to mention, the bounty from any trade or the draft picks would need to exceed what the Texas Rangers got for Teixeira. So I guess that trade isn’t as sparkling as it once looked, was it?

Not only do teams supposedly react wildly when rivals make deals, they also react wildly to very recent results. Taking Teixeira as an example again, various reports kept saying that the Braves were taking a “wait and see” approach on whether they should be buyers or sellers. That’s all fine and good until the calendar turns to July. I’m sorry, but I highly doubt that the Braves decided to trade Teixeira when they lost two out of three to the Phillies last weekend. Somehow that seems like really short-sighted thinking, akin to the kind bandied about during the Willie Randolph debacle. No competent GM thinks like that. Maybe the losses of Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones would inspire such thinking but not the results of one three-game series in July.

Of course, sports journalism is no stranger to “anonymous sources,” and these faceless question-mark heads come out of the woodwork around this time. Reading an anonymous source quote is akin to watching an episode of Dateline and seeing a darkened shroud explain the nature of a crime. A “Mets official” could be a low man on the totem pole. If this official has any scruples, why is he giving out such information? A man “with knowledge of the situation” or a man “close to the team” could be the hot dog vendor. This leads to a trade popping up on a reporter’s blog as being “close to happening” and then two hours later, the reporter updates, saying the trade didn’t take place and will never take place.

Then there are those who simply test the trade market during this time in a morose sort of game. A’s GM Billy Beane and Red Sox OF Manny Ramirez are the biggest offenders of this act, though Beane has at least traded many of those players he dangled for three years or more. Ramirez will not be traded, and the case of Huston Street looked like a ploy from the get-go.

The trade deadline is certainly an exciting time for fans. Heading into the last two months of the season, teams ponder whether they should add “that hitter” or “that pitcher.” GMs wonder if they are really one player away from that World Series championship club. It shakes things up, and it is intriguing. But for every trade, there’s at least 100 rumors, and sometimes August 1 is a blessing.

In a close second to the Jose Reyes‘ maturity debacle, this constant underwhelming feeling given to Johan Santana for his 2008 performance has been a ridiculous theme of this season.

Santana has been the ace of the Mets, and he’s been better than two-thirds of other teams’ aces in several categories. He is in the top 10 in ERA in the NL (No. 6) and MLB (No. 9). He’s No. 7 in the NL in strikeouts and No. 12 in all of baseball. He’s never gotten injured (knock on wood), answering the bell 22 times out of 22 when his number came up in the rotation.

What is most frustrating is this myth of Santana being a complete-games factory. People act like Santana doesn’t go deep enough in games, for some reason. What exactly is this standard Santana is adhering to? Santana is 3rd (!) in the NL in innings pitched and 5th in all of baseball. You know that complete game he hurled on Sunday? That was the seventh complete game in his career. Then why has Karl Ravech and John Kruk, among others, acted like Santana’s 2008 season has been disappointing because he hasn’t churned out complete game after complete game like Roy Halladay? By the way, Halladay has about 10 innings over Santana this season.

In fact, many of his 2008 numbers have come up in synch with his career numbers. Since 2002, his ERA has always finished hovering around 3.00. His 2007 final ERA was the high watermark since he’s become a starter, 3.33, which should make his 2008 performance look all the better. Right now, he is on pace for a few less strikeouts and a few more walks, but his WHIP is still just a tick higher than his average. Hardly anything to decry the value of Santana for. He looks to also stay around his career totals for innings pitched and home runs allowed.

I suspect the real difference, the real reason why the Kruks of the world say Kyle Lohse has been a better pitcher, is the wins and losses. Is the reason why Santana wasn’t named to the All-Star Game because he isn’t among the league leaders in wins? Newsflash: Santana’s 2004 and 2006 Cy Young seasons weren’t good simply because he finished with 20 and 19 wins, respectively, though that’s probably why he won the awards. They were good because of his overall performance, which led to the wins.

I’m a big fan of team wins, but “pitcher wins” have long led to misvaluing pitchers and disporportionally rewarding pitchers with good offenses and bullpens to back them. Santana has been very unlucky in that regard, and this has led to his 2008 season being misvalued.

While the pitching has carried the Mets at times recently, it wasn’t quite there on Saturday. Outside of Billy Wagner and Aaron Heilman stepping up to fill the void of available players, it was on the bats of the Mets lineup. The team showed the kind of fight they did in 2006, not willing to go down quietly.

Even so, 14 innings was unnecessary. This game shouldn’t have even went into extra innings, and it certainly shouldn’t have went 14.

This is mostly Tony La Russa’s fault. In the top of the sixth inning, La Russa made one of the most ignorant, pointless decisions of the 2008 baseball season. He chose to bat Jason Isringhausen with two outs and runners on second and third. Keep in mind, this is already a bad decision. Isringhausen should not have batted here. Saying La Russa wanted to save his bullpen is an incredibly weak argument when runs are at stake like this, especially considering the Cardinals carry eight relievers.

After Isringhausen was quickly dispatched, he, amazingly, did not take the mound for the next half-inning. Instead, it was Ron Villone. Unbelievable. So not only did La Russa choose to flush a key, run-scoring opportunity down the drain, but it served no purpose because Isringhausen didn’t even continue. It is conceivable that if one of the pinch-hitters still on La Russa’s bench at the time, such as Brendan Ryan, got a basehit, the game wouldn’t have entered into extra innings.

Starting Robinson Cancel at least had a little logic behind it. He had caught some of Brandon Knight’s starts, so maybe Cancel catching would make things go smoother. Even if Knight pitched six scoreless, this still isn’t a good move. I usually think these familiarity moves are just dubious coddling that doesn’t amount to much on the field. The bottom line is that Cancel proceeded to go 0-for-5 and left four men on base in his first start since 1999. It was not a good move and amounted to just another reason why the game went to extras.

Obviously, the game also wouldn’t have gone to extras if the Mets offense wasn’t so potent, powered by the likes of Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and Fernando Tatis. Unfortunately, the Mets really struggled with runners in scoring position, especially in extra innings. The Mets had golden opportunities in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings and managed not to score. What really makes one pull his or her hair out is the fact that Kelvin Jimenez, who pitched the 11th and 12th innings, pitched so abysmal. He walked five batters in two innings of relief work. It could be argued that the Mets only didn’t win here because they didn’t let him finish the job of walking everybody. It happens, but this is a tough one to lose.

Don’t mean to sound too gloomy after one of the Mets’ rare July losses. After all, as Metstradamus wrote today, this is a game that would have probably been a blowout in April or May. The game was also fun to watch, even if the Mets lost. There were just some frustrating things about it.

As was reported yesterday here at Hot Foot by Rob Harding, the Yankees acquired OF Xavier Nady and LHP Damaso Marte from the Pirates in exchange for four prospects, headlined by OF Jose Tabata.

Newsday said the move filled two of the Yankees’ three immediate needs to address for the trade deadline: a right-handed outfielder and a left-handed reliever. The other need is a starting pitcher, and there continues to be buzz about Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn, said Buster Olney on the trade reaction video on ESPN.com.

The immediate reaction from fans and commentators, myself included, is that the Yankees fleeced another team, considering the Pirates dealt away two of their big trading chips and didn’t get back headliners like Ian Kennedy or Austin Jackson.

But this trade needs perspective. Sure, to the Pirates, losing Nady and Marte is a key loss to the team’s 2008 season, but that’s because it’s the Pirates. Notice how Nady is one of the big hitters in the Pirates lineup, whereas in the Yankees mighty order, Nady fits somewhere toward the bottom. On other, more successful teams, Nady and Marte aren’t as valued. It doesn’t make sense to think the Yankees value these guys as much as the Pirates.

It was obvious to teams all around baseball that the Pirates were using this trade deadline to sell high on a few players. Over his career, Marte has mostly posted end-of-year numbers around a 3.50 ERA, which earns him the description of a “good reliever.” In a market with closers talked of like Huston Street and George Sherrill, the Pirates can’t expect Marte to be valued as the No. 1 reliever on the market. Is this fair? Absolutely not, especially since Marte may be having a better season than both Street and Sherrill, but it pays to have the flashy title of “closer.”

Cost and contract length also have to play a factor. Through arbitration, Street and Sherrill are playing for less than Marte this season, and they can be maintained for longer than Marte. For the Yankees, Marte is actually a rental, with only a half year on his contract left. There’s a $6 million option for 2009, which is a mildly expensive price for a non-closer. Obviously, the Yankees can handle it, but it may have dissuaded other suitors. $6 million is more than LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth are making in 2008.

As for Nady, a knowledgable GM cannot be naive enough to simply use tunnel-vision and only focus on the 29-year-old Nady of 2008, assuming this is what the future for the player holds. He does have a .330 batting average, specifically a .335 batting average against righties, which is gold to a Yankees team with a right-handed outfielder as an imperative need. He’s still batting .313 against lefties, too, and curiously enough, his OBP is actually way higher against lefties (.434 vs lefties and .368 vs righties). Nady’s 2008 has been sparkling.

However, as a 29-year-old, his 2008 provides career highs across the board. This is a guy who has never finished a year with a batting average above .300 or even an OBP above .350. He notched his first year with at least 20 HRs in 2007 (with a modest 20) and has never even come close to racking up 100 RBIs until this season. It would be surprising if Nady continues his torrid pace for more career years. And like Marte, Nady isn’t locked up by any means, approaching the end of his arbitration years.

So the value of Marte and Nady was skewed by their prominence among the Pirates organization and their early asking prices for the players. Even so, the Pirates still got a decent haul. Baseball America ranked Tabata as the Yankees’ No. 3 prospect for 2008, and Ross Ohlendorf as the Yankees’ No. 9 prospect. Tabata may be struggling, but he’s still very young and has upside.

At Bucs Dugout, Charlie, who ultimately approved the deal, had this to say on Tabata and George Kontos:

Tabata has had a rough year at AA, but he’s still 19 for another month. He has hit well in the past and has all kinds of time to make himself into a good big-league outfielder. Kontos looks like a bona fide starting pitching prospect, with a good fastball, a passable change, an excellent slider and a pitcher’s build. He turned 23 last month.

If Tabata and Kontos come the Pirates’ way, they’d immediately become the second and third-best prospects in the system, behind Andrew McCutchen. Pedro Alvarez, if/when he signs, would obviously bump them down a notch, too.

EDIT: At the time of writing, I wasn’t aware that the deal had changed, and it is even possible that the deal actually changed while I was writing this morning. MLB.com reports that it is now RHP Jeff Karstens and RHP Daniel McCutchen to the Pirates instead of Kontos and Phil Coke. The original points stand.

While the Mets lineup didn’t score 10 runs a game against a Phillies’ pitching trio that was at least two-thirds questionable, the team’s starting pitching carried the team to a series win.

Johan Santana pitched one of his best games as a Met on Tuesday, going eight strong innings and gave up only two earned runs. There was a ton of controversy over whether he should have pitched in the ninth inning, and he probably should have. While he has only six complete games in his career (including one at Shea Stadium against the Mets in 2007), he only threw 105 pitches. He had a comfortable three-run lead at the time, and he should have at least gotten the shot to begin the inning.

Chances are, Jerry Manuel was turned off because Santana didn’t complete his last few innings in a squeaky clean manner, giving up a solo home run in the 7th and a stand-up double in the eighth. Even so, as has been discussed to death, the Mets bullpen should have gotten the job done. What Tuesday ended up was a heart-wrenching loss that he could have easily crushed the resolve of the Mets for this series right there. But it didn’t.

John Maine, the “main” question mark among this series’ starters, went seven strong innings, his longest outing since May 7. He battled and produced that “quality start” in his vintage manner, hopefully getting right against a team he’s historically been good against.

But the real star turned out to be Oliver Perez on Thursday, who pitched about as well as I’ve ever seen him pitch. He was absolutely dominant, striking out twelve and only allowing one run through seven and two-thirds innings. When Eric Bruntlett becomes the offensive standout for the Phillies, the starting pitcher is most likely doing something right against this lineup. The only infuriating thing about the game was that Perez had Ryan Howard, a man with a batting average below .100 against Perez, dead to rights. Howard took two ugly swings to start the count 0-2 and then coaxed a walk to pull Perez from the game.

SNY’s Gary Cohen mentioned on Thursday’s telecast that this was the first time the Mets starters had pitched at least seven innings in four consecutive games since 2005. Doesn’t that stat sound similar to the stats rang off during the Mets winning streak during their last homestand? Maybe getting out of Great American Ballpark was just the ticket after all.

This is suddenly a pretty big series. As luck should have it, both teams walk in sharing first place in the National League East. This series won’t decide the division, but it will give the winner a great boost of confidence.

As if the division rivalry and the standings weren’t enough, we, the fans, are treated to some intriguing pitching matchups for this series. While the Mets elected to hold off on Pedro Martinez until the weekend, the Phillies are debuting a new acquisition on Tuesday and welcoming back a struggling starter on Wednesday. These two go from the frying pan and into the fire, it seems.

The series opener sees Mets ace Johan Santana go up against new Phightin’ Phillie Joe Blanton. Santana is coming off his worst start of the season against the Reds, but that was a series (and a lineup and a ballpark) that the Mets pitchers all struggled with. Regardless of most recent performance, this matchup clearly favors the Mets, as Santana had just shaved his ERA under 3 before the Reds game.

Blanton is in the midst of his worst season as a professional, and those are numbers he put up in the pitching haven of McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. He’s 3-3 with a 5.73 ERA on the road this season. However, Shea Stadium is a pitcher’s park, and Blanton has a brief but good history against the Mets. Blanton has thrown 15 shutout innings against the Mets in two previous starts. On the other hand, both those games took place in Oakland and both in years (2005 and 2007) when Blanton had “good” seasons. So Blanton’s performance on Tuesday is anyone’s guess, but hopefully, with the added pressure of it being a debut, he’ll choke.

The middle game features the return of Brett Myers going up against John Maine. Maine has been bad as of late, raising his ERA from 3.73 to 4.22 over the course of the last four starts. He’s also only managed to pitch at least five innings once during that span. This could be Maine just having another tough second-half stretch, but it seems like it’s more than that. It will be tough for Maine to right the ship in such a big series against a division rival, but MLB.com reminds that Maine has a good track record against the Phillies.

In his return to the rotation, Myers is an abysmal 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA in 17 starts this season. Since his demotion on July 1, Myers made four minor league starts: two with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, one with Double-A Reading, and one with Single-A Clearwater. The Philadelphia Daily News compiled the overall stats of this four-start stint: “1-3, 3.00 ERA, 28 strikeouts and seven walks in 27 innings.” The stint basically broke down to three good starts and one bad one. Oddly enough, Myers went backwards, pitching his Triple-A starts and then going to Double-A and then Single-A. There must be some geographical reasoning behind that. Regardless, if the point of the trip was to get his confidence back, it did the trick. If it was to make a fair assessment of Myers’ state, I’m not sure that’s the most accurate course of action.

If Myers does poorly over another stretch, will he return to the bullpen? I don’t know if the Phillies need the help with guys like J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge, but Myers was effective last season. I would guess this is a tough position for Myers to walk into, but then again, he did fan the flames by talking trash about the Mets once again. Maybe he’s fine with the spotlight. We’ll see on Wednesday. For what it’s worth, Myers is especially bad on the road: 0-6 with an 8.18 ERA.

Thursday showcases the more familiar matchup of two lefties: Jamie Moyer and Oliver Perez. Exactly the opposite of Maine, Perez has been good over his last four starts, pitching at least six innings per outing and never allowing more than two earned runs. As has been well documented, Perez has been good in big games, and the Phillies are no exception. He’s thrown 18.1 scoreless innings, holding the Phillies to a .169 BAA. Clearly, he’s taking advantage of a few of those lefties.

Meanwhile, Moyer has been annoyingly good against the Mets this year, posting a 1-1 record with a 3.38 ERA in 18.2 innings. He’s lowered his ERA to under 4 once again this season, and hopefully, the Mets can bump it right back up again. Chances are, this will be the pitchers’ duel of the series, though.

It’s hard to pick this series because there’s so many untested variables. How will Blanton do in his new environment? How will Myers return? Will Perez continue his success? Will Maine make adjustments and return to his old self? On paper, these look to be three interesting contests.

After an exhiliarating 10-game winning streak, the New York Mets were finally hitting on all cylinders and limiting the opposition to just a few hits per game to boot.

This looked to be the breakthrough, but unfortunately, as the ebb and flow of the baseball season constantly reminds, it is impossible to go on an indefinite winning streak. After suffering two straight losses to the Cincinnati Reds, the team stands at a crossroads. To maintain their current momentum, the team could stand to win Sunday’s game and take two out of three from the Phillies. If these things don’t happen, the team’s morale, as well as the fans’, could get diminished once again.

Now that’s simply stating the obvious. These games aren’t must-wins by any means. After all, that 10-game winning streak made sure that the Mets were back in the race, and the Phillies weren’t about to build an insurmountable lead. But the team is going into a little stretch of three key series, two against competing divisional foes (Phillies and Marlins) and one against a Wild Card foe (Cardinals). Sure, if the team does poorly, it could come back in an August with mostly lesser opponents, but doing well during this stretch would be a real morale booster.

I say this because even while the Mets’ winning streak began to lead the ESPN Radio updates, contrarians were quick to chirp in. Ken Rosenthal commented on a Mets-Rockies Saturday affair during the streak that many teams have gotten well against the NL West. At the time, I mentally argued that while these were the Giants and Rockies that the Mets were pulverizing, they were decisively winning these games. They outscored the Giants 19-3 in a three-game series. The Rockies only scored one run in their three-game series. Plus, the streak began with three big wins in Citizens Bank Park against those Phightin’ Phils.

But then again, maybe opponent plays a bigger role than I figured. Two of those Mets-Rockies wins were 2-1 and 3-0, hardly nights where the Mets offense was on fire. The fact that their pitching staff and bullpen were so brilliant during this span helped the cause, clearly. Surely, the staff wouldn’t stay as razor sharp, and when they eventually struggled a bit, the bullpen would be called on more. Then the bullpen might be prone to struggle a bit, and this is exactly what has happened thus far in this infuriating Mets-Reds series.

It should also be no surprise that the pitching struggles in the bandbox of Great American Ballpark against a good hitting club. What should be surprising is how the Mets’ hitters didn’t answer the bell on Friday and Saturday, especially with all the chances they had on Saturday. So while the Reds aren’t a very good team, perhaps the best medicine for the Mets will be to get away from them and return to Shea Stadium for these upcoming six games.

ESPN reported early Sunday morning that Mets starter Pedro Martinez would miss his scheduled Tuesday start against the Phillies. The Mets are pushing him back to a weekend game in the following series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The article really gives no reason for the sudden change of heart, even mentioning a few times that Martinez’s bullpen session was viewed as successful. In a quote, Mets manager Jerry Manuel simply attributes it to taking their time with Martinez’s healing process.

At seeing this article, my first thought was, well, here we go again. It seems like with all Martinez’s injuries, the first report is that it is nothing significant. Then suddenly it requires just a few days recovery, and then before you know it, weeks and months are added.

But then I figured other elements were at play. Mostly, I think the Phillies series is viewed as a big series and having Martinez “rushed back” for his Tuesday game might affect both Martinez and the Mets with a bad showing.

But seriously, after suffering through the last three tumultuous years of this four-year contract, I’m almost ready to see the end of the Pedro era as a Met. Injury-ridden veterans are getting to be insufferable.

This piece will not be as timely, considering the All-Star Game was days ago by now, but I just wanted to comment on Terry Francona’s dilemma.

I’ve obviously had plenty to gripe about as far as the All-Star Game goes, whether it be the notion of it “counting” or the faulty player selection from all involved. But the games of the last three years have certainly been entertaining, and I can safely say that Tuesday’s game was the most entertaining All-Star Game I’ve ever seen.

Games go extra innings all the time, but rarely do they have as many key, dramatic spots in getting there. Miguel Tejada should not have went to the All-Star Game, but he certainly put on a show while there. The opposite can be said for Dan Uggla, who seemed to be cursed or something. How about all those double plays that extended the game? How about that Nate McLouth throw to the plate?

While Uggla made blunders, he was simply nervous and having bad luck. Francona should know how to manage a game better than he did. With all the legends and pre-game speeches and whatnot about how this game means so much, it seems like the only person who didn’t believe that come game time was Francona, who was determined to get everybody in the game.

Of the American League starters, only Cliff Lee went two innings. This led to three closers — Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria, and George Sherrill — going more than one inning each. Sherrill set the high watermark for relievers, going two and a third innings. If I was an Orioles fan, I would be really angry. Not that my closer was getting taxed, but that it was so avoidable if the manager had been competent.

Meanwhile, the National League had three starters that went two innings each to kick off the game. None of their relievers pitched more than an inning, and Clint Hurdle even held back his own starter Aaron Cook to do a little long relief, showing both his commitment to the cause and his foresight.

So while both managers were basically in the same boat if there was a 16th inning, Hurdle got there in a much more respectable and effective manner. The All-Star rosters already are overloaded, so it is absolutely laughable that Francona ran out of players. The All-Star experience is what it is about. Sure, players would like to get in the game, but honestly, I don’t think there’s much difference from getting in that one-third of an inning under your belt and leaving. But that’s how long the AL saves leader Francisco Rodriguez pitched before Rivera relieved him, one of a few Yankee-pandering moves Francona made that night. Another game-management lowlight was pitching Roy “Seven Complete Games” Halladay for a mere inning.

Toward the end of the game, the FOX crew began to take pity on Francona. After the win, they highlighted that Francona was ecstatic, implying he felt lucky the game ended when it did. It felt like ESPN, FOX, and the national media implied that Francona was at fault for his game management but never really blamed him. In fact, Francona even patted himself on the back in the post-game press conference for getting everybody in. I wonder if New York, Kansas City, and Baltimore are as pleased.