The Mets go for the four game sweep of the Pirates this afternoon starting at 12:35 EST. John Maine will look for his second straight win, and will be opposed by lefty Paul Maholm. The game can be seen on SNY and can be heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Another Good One By Maine: Maine came off the DL Wednesday to throw five shutout innings against the Nationals, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Maine should be able to pick through through this weak Pirates offense and deliver another great outing today.
• No Jose Jose Jose: Jose Reyes gets the day off today, with Damion Easley sliding over to play SS today. The Mets lose a lot at the top of the lineup without Reyes, but with the team playing well and Argenis Reyes playing better on the roadtrip, they should be able to pickup the slack without Reyes.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets look for their sixth straight win today against the Pirates, starting at 1:35 EST. Johan Santana will look for his 11th win, and will toe the rubber opposite Jeff Karstens, who has a sparkling 1.23 ERA since being traded from the Yankees to the Bucs in the Xavier Nady deal. The game can be seen on the CW11 and can be heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Wright Sits: With the team streaking, and playing a second division ballclub, Jerry Manuel has decided to give David Wright a much deserved day off. Interestingly, he has not moved anyone around in the batting order to accommodate Wright’s loss. Damion Easley will play third, and slot into the third position in the order.
• Johan the Magnificent: Santana has been stellar this year, but does not have the W’s to show for it. With the main cogs in the Mets bullpen starting to come together as one group, and throwing the ball better as a whole, Santana should be getting more wins for his efforts over the course of the next six weeks.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets face the Pirates in game two of their four game weekend set tonight starting at 7:05 EST. Pedro Martinez will look to build on his last start, and will be opposed by lefty Zach Duke, who is 4-10 on the year. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Get On Top Early: The Mets have scored in the first inning in four of their last five games, and are 4-1 during that stretch. When a team goes on top early on a team out of the race, most of the time those teams will sail into the sunset, unless you hand them the game of course. The Pirates are a second division team, and we should be able to beat these guys.
• Pedro Turning It Around?: Martinez has gone six innings in his last two starts, allowing two runs and one run during the two starts. He will face the Pirates, who just five days ago held to one run in six innings. I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable with Pedro on the mound.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets look for the sweep over the Nationals tonight starting at 7:10 EST. Oliver Perez will toe the rubber opposite of rookie Colin Balester. The game can be seen on SNY and can be heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Get the Rook Early: The rookie Balester is only 2-4 through his rookie season thus far, showing that he can be hit. The offense was clicking on all cylinders last night, and we need another big victory heading into the four game set against the Bucs.
• Keep on Going Murph: Daniel Murphy was 3-6 with a homer and 3 RBI last night. Murphy is still hitting well over .450 through his first two weeks in the bigs, and is reminding me a little bit of Kevin Youkilis, in the sense that he is a patient hitter who goes the other way well.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets look to build on last night’s win tonight against the Nats at Nationals Park. John Maine will make his return to the hill after a few weeks on ths sidelines, and will be opposed by right hander Jason Bergmann. Gametime is slated for 7:10 EST and can be seen on SNY.

Keys to the Game:

• Need A Strong Return By John: Maine needs to be on top of his game tonight against a weak Nationals lineup. Maine looked like he was getting tired before going on the disabled list with an injury, so maybe this rest was a blessing in disguise and will be able to keep him fresh for September.
• More Of the Same From the ‘Pen: Before last night’s game, reliever Scott Schoeneweis held a meeting for all relievers. It was a meeting to let out some stuff internally, and to try and get this bullpen going in the right direction. Well, maybe it worked. Pedro Felciiano and Joe Smith each worked a scoreless inning, and the bullpen finally saved the game for Johan.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game, head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets look to start a successful roadtrip tonight when they face the Nats at Nationals Park, starting at 7:05 EST. Johan Santana will look for his 10th win, and will be opposed by southpaw Odalis Perez. The game can be seen on SNY and can be heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• At This Point, We Need 9: If we all lived in a perfect world, Santana would throw a nine inning complete game every time out. That’s not always the case, but tonight we need Johan to toughen up and make an exception. The bullpen is fried, overworked, and is downright terrible right now. We all know Santana’s track record says he’s not a nine inning guy, but we could really use him tonight.
• Blastro Makes His Return: Ramon Castro makes his first start in a week and a half since he injured his ankle on a play at the plate against the Astros last Saturday. Castro’s bat is vital to this team’s success, so it is great to have him back.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

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

The Mets let one get away today against the Pirates as they fell by a score of 7-5 this afternoon. Denny Bautista got the win for the Pirates, and Aaron Heilman got his 7th loss for the Mets. John Grabow got his 2nd save of the year.

Pedro Martinez was great again, as he went six innings, allowing one run. Martinez had his helmet on, ready to bat in the bottom of the 6th, but was pulled in favor of a pinch hitter. Big mistake.

The offense came via the home run today, David Wright hit a three run homer and Robinson Cancel added a solo shot, the first of his career. Cancel also added a run scoring single.

The bullpen combined to surrender six runs today. The culprits were Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Scott Schoeneweis. Duaner Sanchez added four outs of scoreless relief.

Heilman allowed an RBI double to Ryan Doumit to tie it at 5-5, and Scott Schoeneweis gave it up, giving up a two runs single to rookie Steve Pearce.

At a loss for words. This team is going nowhere with this current bullpen. Paging Omar.. Paging Omar..

Mets face the Nats tomorrow. Johan Santana will face Odalis Perez.

The Mets look to sweep the Marlins out of town today at Shea starting at 1:10 EST. Mike Pelfrey will toe the rubber opposite Josh Johnson. The game can be seen on the CW11, and can be heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Pelf, Bounce Back: Two starts ago, Pelfrey had his worst start since late May against these Marlins, giving up five runs in four innings. Pelfrey needs to keep the ball down against this team, and get those groundballs, as we have seen they can certainly hit the longball.
• The Super Subs:Today, Argenis Reyes makes an appearance at 2nd, and Endy Chavez gets his first start since the last roadtrip. With Tatis and Easley struggling at the dish, it makes sense to give these guys a shot and see if they can give a jolt to the lineup.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game, head to The Hot Foot Bleachers.

The Mets and Marlins play the middle game of their three game set tonight at Shea. Brian Stokes will make his first career start for the Mets against Scott Olsen. Game time is slated for 7:10 EST and can be seen on SNY.

Keys to the Game:

• Innings from Stokes: Stokes will face a predominantly right handed lineup tonight, and with most of the Marlins top hitters struggling since the all star break (Ramirez, Uggla, and Willingham), he might be able to give this team a quality start tonight. I’d take six innings and two runs from him anyday of the week, so I’ll be ecstatic if he can deliver that.
• Put the Hammer Down: Make this a a statement series. Go out there tonight, play some crisp baseball and make a sweep tomorrow possible.

For a lineup, head to Adam Rubin’s blog for the Daily News.

As always, to chat during the game head to  The Hot Foot Bleachers.

LETS GO METS.