The Mets dropped a tough one to the Braves this afternoon by a score of 3-2. Jeff Ridgeway got the win for the Braves, and Scott Schoeneweis took the loss for the Mets. Mike Gonzalez nailed it down in the 9th for his 10th save.

Johan Santana’s stats will show he had a good game: seven innings+ and two runs, but Santana had base runners almost every inning, and probably should not have even been sent for the eighth.

The Mets two runs came on a Damion Easley RBI single and a Brian Schneider RBI double play grounder, both off Mike Hampton to put the Mets up 2-0.

Lost in the shuffle may be the Mets missed opportunity in the 6th, when they had bases loaded with no outs, and Easley at the plate. Easley grounded into a DP, and the Mets left the inning with no runs.

What’s even worse, the Braves had an 0-29 record on the road in one run games since last year. Fitting they would break it against us, huh?

Game two begins in less than an hour, with Jon Niese going up against Jo-Jo Reyes.

The Mets ran into the Brett Myers freight train and were blanked by the Phillies by a score of 3-0 this evening. Myers, who went eight innings, K’ing 10, got the win. Mike Pelfrey took the loss in hard luck. Brad Lidge got the save.

Pelfrey pitched another good game, allowing three runs (two earned) in seven innings. The sad part is this game could have been easily 0-0, had a Gregg Dobbs‘ homer not tipped off Church’s glove and Brian Schneider not made an errant throw on a stolen base.

The Mets offense was shut down tonight, but Daniel Murphy had another two doubles. He keeps on raking.

Ricardo RIncon made his Met debut, getting Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to flyout and strikeout, respectively.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks bad, but if they do play baseball it’ll be Pedro Martinez versus Jamie Moyer.

The Mets squandered a three run lead, and fell to the Marlins by a score of 4-3 in Miami this evening. Former Met Matt Lindstrom got the win, and Aaron Heilman took another loss for the Mets.

Starter Mike Pelfrey finally solved te Marlins, allowing only two runs in 6.2 innings. The Bullpen was asked to get seven outs, and didn’t do the job once again.

The Mets offense was courtesy of David Wright and Luis Castillo tonight. Wright had a two run homer in the 1st and Castillo had an RBI single in the third, both were off Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco. Again, the Mets score early, and fade into the sunset.

Mike Jacobs, who couldn’t buy a hit before this series, went 3-4, including a game tieing homer off of RP Duaner Sanchez.

Sanchez just doesn’t have it anymore, and should not be pitching in late game situations, especially when Al Reyes comes up on Monday.

Heilman, after a 60 pitch inning on Tuesday, didn’t allow a hit in the 9th. Good News, right? Wrong. Heilman walked four Marlin batters (two were intentional) and walked in the game winning run.

At least let them earn it Aaron, Jeez.

Although the bullpen laid an egg again, Brian Stokes performance should not be pushed to the side. Stokes came in with 1st and 2nd and 1 out, and struck out Luis Gonzalez and John Baker to end the threat.

I love what Stokes is doing, but before long hitters will realize he has a straight fastball, and will try to jump on it early in the count before he gets ahead.

The Mets look for the rubber game tomorrow, with Pedro Martinez on the mound. He will be opposed by Scott Olsen.

The Mets were defeated by the Astros by a score of 6-4 this afternoon at Shea Stadium. LaTroy Hawkins got the win for the ‘Stros and Pedro Feliciano took the loss for the Mets. Jose Valverde closed it for his 33rd save of the year. The Mets and Phillies are now tied in the loss column in the NL East.

Starter Oliver Perez went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs, most notably a two run shot off the bat of Hunter Pence. Aaron Heilman relieved Perez in the 7th, and pulled a usual Heilman move. He went a third of an inning, allowing two hits, one inherited run to score, and got his only out on a play at the plate when Fernando Tatis threw out Geoff  Blum.

Carlos Beltran did some yardwork today, hitting two homers from the right side of the plate off noted Met killer Randy Wolf. They were only Beltran’s third and fourth homers from the right side of the dish this year.

Joe Smith Scott Schoeneweis and Luis Ayala combined on 2.1 innings of scoreless ball.

In the 10th, Feliciano allowed homers to the unusual suspects, Brad Ausmus and Darin Erstad to put the game out of reach.

On a day where the Astros were basically handing us the game by sitting their big slugger Lance Berkman, the Mets flopped and were not able to get the job done against the weaker part of the Astros lineup.

The last 15 Mets were retired in order. This is the second time the Astros pitching staff has retired more than 15 Mets in a row, the first spanned between the 1st and 2nd games, when Roy Oswalt and Brandon Backe retired 34 straight Mets.

The Mets look for the split tomorrow with Mike Pelfrey opposing Brian Moehler.

The Mets were never really in this one, and lost to the Astros 8-3 this evening. 

John Maine was not on his game at all, and the Astros beat him every which way.  There were singles, extra base hits, walks and homeruns.  All in all, he allowed eight runs in 5.2 innings of duty, giving up 10 hits, eight runs and two walks. 

The bullpen allowed no runs, even though Duaner Sanchez gave up two hits while finishing the sixth inning, allowing inherited runners to score.  Joe Smith and Brian Stokes combined for a perfect seventh, eighth and ninth. 

Welcome back Ryan Church who in his second game since returning from the DL had an RBI double, while going 2-4.  The other two runs came off the bat off newly found slugger Brian Schneider, who remembered how to hit home runs in the last two weeks.

Oliver Perez takes on Mets killer Randy Wolf at 1:10 pm tomorrow. 

The Mets sorely missed Jose Reyes this afternoon, and lost to the Pirates 5-2.  Reyes was given the day off today, one day after David Wright was given the day off.   

Initially, the Mets seemed to be doing fine without Jose, with Argenis Reyes starting the game in fine fashion.  He singled to center, and Nick Evans followed him with a double.  However, the Mets were only able to score one run in that inning off a sac-fly from Carlos Beltran.  The Mets scored again in the fourth off of a Carlos Delgado groundout to make the game 2-0. 

Jerry Manuel was ejected arguing in the fifth, after Argenis Reyes was tagged out after running through first base and apparently making a turn into fair play.  Reyes unintentionally made this turn and did not know, so he was casually tagged out.  While he did appear to make the turn, Manuel disagreed and was given the boot by cowboy Joe West. 

John Maine did not have his fastball or his control this afternoon, but managed to throw five scoreless innings.  Maine walked four and allowed two hits while throwing 96 pitches in those five innings. 

Brian Stokes relieved Maine to begin the sixth and promptly gave up a 2-run HR.  After that the bullpen moved things along to the eighth, where Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez combined to allow three runs while recording only one out.  Joe Smith worked out of the jam to prevent further damage.

After a solid 6-1 road trip, the Mets take on their classic rival the Atlanta Braves with Oliver Perez taking on Jo-Jo Reyes. 

Breaking News:

The Mets held a lead for Johan Santana!

After Johan had to leave the game after allowing three runs in seven innings for a pinch hitter, the Mets were able to successfully record six outs to finish the game this evening.

The night got off to a rocky start for Johan, who allowed two runs in the first, giving back a two run lead that the Mets built up in the first.  The scoring in the first for the Mets came off the bat of Carlos Delgado who had a 2-RBI single.  The Mets tacked on another run in the third, on a double by Carlos Beltran.  Batting in the four hole, Beltran continues to rake against lefties going 3-4 today. 

Johan then settled down, only allowing one more run in the seventh on a solo-HR to Ryan Langerhans.  The bullpen was solid tonight, with Joe Smith pitching a scoreless eighth, striking out ex-Mets Lastings Milledge and Jesus Flores (who never actually played for the big club).  Even though Eddie Kunz was warm, Jerry Manuel played the match ups and was rewarded by a 1-2-3 ninth inning from Pedro Feliciano, who struck out two.       

Thank god. . . . . .

The Mets take on the Nationals again tomorrow as John Maine comes off of the DL and faces Jason Bergmann. 

The Mets fell in the final game of their series against the Marlins today by a score of 8-2. Josh Johnson got the win for the Marlins, and Mike Pelfrey took the loss for the Mets.

The Marlins dominance over Pelfrey continued, as he surrendered six runs in 4.2 innings. In all three of his starts this year against the Fish, Pelfrey has failed to make it to five innings. Since late May, nearly two and a half months, Pelfrey has three losses. They are all against the Marlins.

As SNY’s Gary Cohen said, the Mets have a bunch of off days in September. They might want to setup a rotation so Pelfrey will miss this team, as they own him.

The Mets two runs came on a Jose Reyes RBI groundout and a David Wright RBI single.

Carlos Muniz allowed two solo homers to Luis Gonzalez and Mike Jacobs in the 6th inning. Jacobs killed his former team this weekend, popping two homers and two doubles.

With the loss, the Mets fell to two games back of the Phillies in the NL East.

The Mets welcome the Pirates into town for a one game makeup tomorrow starting at 1:10 EST. Zach Duke will face Pedro Martinez.

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. 

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 story of the afternoon for the Mets was leaving runners on base and boneheaded plays on the base paths.  The Mets had nine hits and failed to score a run.

In the first inning, Carlos Beltran was picked off first base with David Wright at the plate.  Wright ended up walking.  In the third inning, Robinson Cancel attempted to steal third with two outs and David Wright at the plate.  Cancel was caught, and made the final out of the inning at third base.

In the fourth, the Mets had the bases loaded with one out, and left all three runners stranded.  In the fifth the Mets loaded the bases again, only to leave all three runners left on base.

The Astros scored all four of their runs off Oliver Perez, who allowed four earned runs in six innings of duty.  Often when Ollie gives up runs it’s because he hurts himself by walking batters and throwing too many pitches.  This afternoon Ollie was just hittable, he did not walk any batters and only struck out three.

In his debut, Eddie Kunz looked extremely nervous.  While he only allowed one hit in his one inning of work, he made a throwing error on a play to first.  Scott Schoenweis and Carlos Muniz worked to pitch a scoreless eighth.

Yes, you read that correctly - the Mets bullpen gave up no runs this afternoon.

On this road trip against the Marlins and Astros, the Mets were 1-5.

Tomorrow, the Mets have a much needed off day and come back home Wednesday for a seven game home stand beginning with the Padres.

The Mets lost to the Astros 5-4 in 10 innings tonight. 

Johan Santana executed wonderfully through 6.1 innings tonight, allowing only one run on three hits.  However, the bullpen continued its trend of throwing batting practice.  Scott Schoenweis allowed a run, while recording two outs, and Billy Wagner blew his seventh save of the year in the ninth inning by allowing two runs. 

In the 10th, Aaron Heilman was unable to record an out while putting guys on base, while Pedro Feliciano allowed the winning run in on a sac-fly. 

Duaner Sanchez manged to record the final two outs of the seventh, but his velocity is still worrisome.  His fastball was topping out at 86 MPH, and was saved by a spectacular catch made by rookie LF Dan Murphy.  Murphy caught the ball full flight against the left field wall, and had the presence of mind to throw the ball back in after catch to double Hunter Pence of second base.  In his debut, Murphy was 1-4 with a run scored in addition to the spectacular play in the field. 

The Mets runs were scored on a two run HR by Damion Easley, a Carlos Beltran double and a Carlos Delgado sac-fly.  Beltran was batting in the 2-hole, and rewarded Manuel with the RBI double knocking in Jose Reyes.     

Oliver Perez faces Randy Wolf tomorrow at 2:05 pm, as the Mets look to salvage the final game of this three game series. 

The Mets lost to the Astros by a score of 7-3 tonight in Houston. Doug Brocail got the win for the ‘Stros and Aaron Heilman took the loss for the Mets.

Pedro Martinez looked good at times, and bad at times. Pedro pitched five OK innings, allowing three runs, all on solo homers to Kaz Matsui, Carlos Lee, and the opposing pitcher Brandon Backe. All three homers were on fastballs virtually right down the middle.

David Wright, Damion Easley, and Fernando Tatis all had rbi singles tonight.

The Mets led this game 1-0 and 3-2, but squandered opportunities late to break open the game. After the lower part of the order had loaded the bases with no out, the trio of Endy Chavez, Wright, and Carlos Delgado were unable to get a run in. Chavez struck out, Wright grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Delgado flied out to deep left, barely missing a Crawford’s Box homer.

Heilman pitched a scoreless 7th, but surrendered a pinch hit grand slam to Mark Loretta in the 8th, and in a blink the Mets were down four.

The Mets were unable to score upon Jose Valverde in the 9th.

The Mets look to take the second game tomorrow with Johan Santana on the mound. He will be opposed by Roy Oswalt.

The Mets were defeated by the Marlins by a score of 7-5 tonight in Miami. Josh Johnson got his first win in nearly two years, and Mike Pelfrey suffered his first loss in two months. Kevin Gregg saved it out.

The Mets got on top early, with Jose Reyes scoring on a double play ball to go up 1-0.

The Marlins didn’t answer until the 4th, but they answered loudly. They scored five runs off Pelfrey, most notably a 2 out 2 rbi double by Cody Ross. Pelfrey went four innings, giving up five runs.

The Mets answered in the 7th, when Damion Easley hit a pinch hit three run homer to draw the Mets within one.

Duaner Sanchez and Carlos Muniz were great in relief tonight, but Joe Smith was not. He hung a sinker that didn’t sink, and Dan Uggla slugged it into the stands to put the Marlins up 7-4.

The Mets staged a ninth inning rally, but it was to no avail.

The Mets have off tomorrow, then travel to Houston where Pedro Martinez will make his return on Friday.