The Baltimore Orioles have declined their $7.5 million club option for 2008 on former Met RHP Kris Benson. Benson missed the 2007 season with shoulder surgery.

Benson, 32, signed a three-year, $22.5 million contract while with the Mets prior to the 2005 season. He was traded to the Orioles for current Mets pitcher John Maine and relief pitcher Jorge Julio, who was again traded away by the Mets to Arizona for pitcher Orlando Hernandez.

Benson last pitched in 2006 going 11-12 with a 4.82 ERA for the Orioles.

Roughly two weeks ago, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald pointed out that Benson could be among one of the free agent targets for the Marlins in the offseason as his price will come down tremendously after missing the 2007 season due to an arm injury.

According to Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News, the Mets have set a conference call for the media at 4:15PM to discuss the futures of OF Moises Alou and IF Damion Easley.

Rubin believes it is a safe bet that they will both be returning to the team in 2008.

Former New York Mets outfielder Mike Cameron will receive a 25-game suspension for a banned stimulant violation.

Mike Cameron spoke about the situation with the Padres’ flagship radio station…

“The one thing I wanted to make sure was explained is, no steroids,” Cameron told AM 1090, the Padres’ flagship radio station. “I never took nothing like that before in my life. That would be 50 games, and that would affect me a whole lot more.”

Cameron, 34, hit .242 in 151 games with 21 HRs, 78 RBIs, 88 Runs and 18 stolen bases for the Padres last season.

Mets veteran pitcher Aaron Sele and veteran catchers Mike DiFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr. have all filed for free agency. This brings the total to nine Mets who will test the market.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is seeking a one-year deal worth $13 million and he believes there is a “realistic chance” that the Red Sox will not re-sign him. The Phillies have been rumored to have interest in Schilling, however the team reportedly only has $20 million to spend on free agents this season.

Peter Abraham of the Journal News was on WFAN with host Steve Somers early this morning. Abraham discussed the news of the day, that being Joe Torre signing on to manage the Dodgers.

Abraham believes that it’s going to be a three-year deal for Torre and that it could get done within the next 24 hours.

Click Here to listen to the interview.

Peter Abraham of the Journal News reports former Yankees manager Joe Torre will manage the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008. The Dodgers have chosen to fire Grady Little and hire Torre to replace him and an announcement could come as early as tomorrow.

Don Mattingly is expected to accompany Torre to Los Angeles as his bench coach. Torre is also interested in hiring Kevin Long, his hitting coach with the Yankees.

• According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies reached out to Tadahito Iguchi about playing third-base in the upcoming season. Iguchi told them that he preferred to sign elsewhere as a second baseman.

• The Twins have offered free-agent pitcher Carlos Silva a three-year deal worth slightly more than $7 million a season. Silva, however, wants at least one more year on a contract.

• Seattle Mariners right fielder Jose Guillen will likely leave the team and head to free agency. Guillen wants a multiyear contract. The Mariners are hesitant to give him one. The Mariners will likely use the money to look towards a starting pitcher.

• White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen wants SS Juan Uribe to lose some weight and show up in shape. The team has until 15 days after the World Series to pick up Uribe’s $5 million option or give him a buyout. The Sox could give Uribe a $300,000 buyout and attempt to re-sign him if they fail to land a free agent like David Eckstein, who can bat leadoff and play shortstop, or fail to trade for a younger shortstop.

• Former Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd would like to end his career playing for the Florida Marlins organization again. “If I don’t get an opportunity to come here, hopefully I’ll get a good job that’ll give me an opportunity to play the outfield and DH.”

The St. Louis Cardinals have reached an agreement with starting pitcher Joel Pineiro on a two-year deal pending physical, according to Joe Strauss of STLToday.com.

Pineiro, 29, was 6-4 with a 3.96 ERA in 11 starts after the Cardinals acquired him from the Boston Red Sox in a July 31 non-waiver deadline deal.

Update - 2:36pm - According to Ken Rosenthal at FOXSports.com, Pineiro’s contract is worth $13 million over two years.

John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds will be picking up the $13.5 million club option on 1B/OF Adam Dunn’s contract.

The Reds CEO Bob Castellini stated that there’s a possibility that Dunn’s contract will be extended.

Dunn, 27, finished off the season with a .264 average, 40 home runs, 106 runs batted in and 101 walks. Dunn has hit 40 home runs or more in the past 4 seasons with the Reds.

The New York Mets swept the Florida Marlins over the weekend getting gems from starting pitchers, Orlando Hernandez, John Maine and Jorge Sosa. This marks the first time the Mets have swept the Marlins in Miami during series since 1993.

The last time the Mets swept the Marlins in Miami came on the final three games of the 1993 season. Dave Telgheder, Sid Fernandez, and Pete Schourek got the wins for the Mets in the series.

Nice to see that we finally did it after 14 years.

The New York Mets defeated the Colorado Rockies 2 to 1 in 12 innings.

A pitching duel between starting pitchers Aaron Cook and Orlando Hernandez with the game winning run coming in on a bunt in the 12th inning. El Duque pitched a gem of a game tonight allowing only 4 hits in 7 innings. Aaron Cook pitched a very similar line but allowed 6 hits in 7 innings.

Billy Wagner came in to pitch the ninth after Aaron Heilman pitched a successful 8th. Wagner walked Jamey Carroll to lead off the 9th. After a Garrett Atkins fly out to center, the Mets turned a double play to retire the side.

Fast forwarding down to the top of the tenth inning where the action finally started. With Billy Wagner pitching, after Yorvit Torreabla hit a two-out double, the Rockies sent in Willy Taveras to pinch run. Troy Tulowitzki then tripled to deep right-center field that brought in Taveras from 2nd. Wagner limited the damage by striking out pinch hitter Chris Iannetta to end the top of the 10th.

Shawn Green came to the plate in the bottom of the tenth and grounded out to second to leadoff the inning. Jose Valentin then flied out to left field. The Mets sent up utility infielder Damion Easley to pinch hit for Billy Wagner. With a 2-2 count against Rockies closer Brian Fuentes, Easley hits a deep home run to left centerfield to tie the game at one.

Scott Schoeneweis relieved Billy Wagner in the top of the 11th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

 In the bottom of the 11th, the Mets got things started with Paul Lo Duca leading off the inning with a single against Rockies reliever Jeremy Affeldt. The Mets then pinch ran for Lo Duca, sending out Endy Chavez. Carlos Beltran followed with a big fly out to deep centerfield. Next up was Carlos Delgado who hit a rocket to first baseman Todd Helton who knocked it down with his glove. Helton got the out at first but was unable to get Chavez who advanced to second. After Affeldt walked David Wright, the Rockies brought in Ryan Speier to pitch. Moises Alou came to the plate with a chance to send the Mets home, but failed to come through, grounding into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

In the top of the 12, the Mets sent Schoeneweis back out to start the inning, moved Endy Chavez to play left field and Ramon Castro behind the plate. After Schoeneweis got out the lefty Helton, Willie went to the bullpen and brought in Joe Smith to face a pair of right handed hitters. He retired both hitters and we went to the bottom of the 12th.

Shawn Green lead off the inning with a walk. Jose Valentin was asked to drop down a sacrifice bunt to move Green over to 2nd and did just that. With only one hitter left on the bench, David Newhan pinch hit for pitcher Joe Smith. Newhan had the chance to win drive the winning run in from second, but struck out swinging. After the Rockies walked Reyes intentionally, he took 2nd in the defensive indifference. Endy Chavez came to the plate for his first at bat of the game. With a runner on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Chavez on an 0-1 count drag bunted the ball past the pitcher to the right side and Shawn Green came home and scored the game winning run.

Notes:
- The Mets bullpen gave up just two hits in five innings of relief tonight.

- The top four hitters in the lineup when a combined 1-19.

- David Wright saw a two hit game tonight with one walk. He had a very nice at bat during the 11th inning. He showed a lot of patience drew a walk in the process.

- In 10.0 innings, Joe Smith has yet to allow a run and is averaging a strikeout per inning.

Preview:
The Mets will send young Mike Pelfrey (0-1, 5.86 ERA) to the mound against the Rockies in which the Mets will go for the sweep. The Rockies will counter-strike righty Josh Fogg (0-1, 6.61 ERA). The game is set for a 1:10PM start.

TV: SNY
Radio: WFAN

Final: The Mets defeated the Cardinals by a final score of 4 to 1, Tuesday night.

Pitching: Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez tossed shutout ball in the first six innings before giving up a solo home run to Scott Rolen in the 7th.  Scott Schoeneweis came on in relief in the 8th inning to giving up one hit and walking one before being pulled when Albert Pujols came to the plate. The Mets called on Aaron Heilman to get the superstar out and he did just that, getting Pujols to pop flied to center to end the inning. Billy Wagner came in for the 9th and shut down the Cardinals 1-2-3 for the save.

Batting: Oddly enough, the only man to have two hits tonight was the pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who first singled to right and later on sent a double down the left field line that put the Mets ahead 4-0 in 6th inning. Jose Reyes went 1-4, with a walk and scoring two runs. Carlos Beltran went 1-4 with an RBI. David Wright was on base three times tonight with one hit and two walks.

Notes:

The Mets did not strike out anyone in the Cardinals lineup tonight.

The Mets left 19 runners on base, with corner outfielders Alou and Green combining to leave 11 on base collectively. In Sunday's game, the Mets left 14 on base.

The Mets turned three double plays tonight putting their season total up to seven, just two games into the season.

Looking Ahead:

With not enough painkillers in the world to fix this headache he once caused, the Mets square off against former Met reliever Braden Looper. Making the switch from the bullpen to the starting role this season, Looper was announced as the #3 starter for the Cardinals this opening series as the Mets will send John Maine to the mound. Maine went 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals in the NLCS this past October.

First pitch is at 8:10PM on SNY and WFAN.

Bring it on Looper!