OK, so maybe Lou Pinella has backed off his “competitive lineup” comment before this series started, as he’s resting Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, and Aramis Ramirez tonight. Tonight is a must win, as we still have a shot to get the division if we can defeat the Cubbies. If we lose, then for example we would need to sweep the Marlins and the Phillies lose 2/3 to the Nats (not likely).

To be completely honest, I have no faith in Pedro Martinez, whatsoever tonight. I feel that his age has finally caught up to him and he will never be an effective pitcher again. What made Pedro so good was his ability to spot his pitches, his impeccable control. This year, Martinez has struggled to get his breaking pitches over, and hitters are teeing off on those 2-0 and 3-1 fastballs. We need you tonight Pedro, step up.

We all know Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus etc will come out with their Mets top 10 prospects later this year. So, I’m going to take a stab at it now.

Mets Top Ten Prospects:

1. Fernando Martinez.

• I know many have said Wilmer Flores has passed Martinez as the organization’s best prospect, but I don’t buy into that. Martinez posted a .287 average with eight homers and 43 RBI in 352 ABs this year. Now, Martinez is 19. You’ve got to realize that the majority of guys in this league are 21 and 22 years old. In an injury plagued year, Martinez more than held his own, and if he can keep healthy next year, watch out for a big year as a 20 year old.

2. Wilmer Flores

• Flores was born August 6th, 1991. 1991! As a 17 year old, Flores posted a .310 average with eight homers and 41 RBI in 245 ABs. Flores cemented himself as one of the best international signings of the 2007 class, and should emerge as a top prospect in the coming years.

3. Jon Niese

• Niese made his MLB debut against the Brewers this week, but he is “technically” still a prospect, as he has not surpassed 50 innings in the majors. Niese  really came of age this year, posting superb numbers in both AA and AAA, a combined 11-8 with an ERA in the 3.1 range. Niese is a lefty with a plus curveball, a good changeup, and a sneaky fastball. He could be something special

4. Brad Holt

• Talk about coming out of nowhere. Holt was drafted by the Mets in the supplemental first round, and did not disappoint while pitching for the Cyclones. He was 5-3 with a 1.87 ERA, and struck out 96 in 72.1 innings. Now, those are some gaudy stats. Looks like Omar and Co. got that pick right

5. Eddie Kunz

• Kunz was up for a cup of coffee with the Mets in early August, and only appeared in three games. In those three games, Kunz looked like a nervous wreck, and showed terrible control. He was 1-4 with a 2.79 ERA in AA and had 25 saves, but when he was demoted to AAA he struggled in 5.2 innings, allowing five runs. I hope the Mets didn’t screw with his confidence when they brought him up. Nonetheless, he’s a groundball specialist that can get a grounder at anytime.

6. Reese Havens

• Havens, the Mets 2nd pick in the 1st round, strugged adjusting to the wood bats with the Cyclones this summer. He posted a .247 average with three homers and 11 RBI, not exactly good numbers. Havens is a good all around hitter, and should improve with a half season under his belt next year

7. Bobby Parnell

• Parnell is up with the big league team now, but has yet to pitch in a game. Between AA and AAA this year Parnell posted a 12-8 record with an ERA close to 4.5. Not great numbers, but they are solid. Parnell has good stuff and is one of the organizations top arms in the system.

8. Mike Carp

• After an injury plagued 2007, Carp really came on as a 22 year old in AA this year. He posted final averages of .299 with 17 homers and 72 RBI in 478 ABs. With it looking like Carlos Delgado will have his option picked up, and Daniel Murphy already establishing himself in the bigs, it looks like Carp is a little lost in the shuffle, which is unfortunate because he may be the best power hitter out of Murphy, Nick Evans, and himself.

9. Ike Davis

• Davis, the Mets 1st round pick out of Arizona State, really had a rough few months with the Cyclones in Brooklyn. He failed to hit a homer, and posted a .256 average in 211 ABs. Hopefully he can rebound and show why he should be Delgado’s successor in 2010.

10. Lucas Duda

• Duda posted decent numbers as a 22 year old in HiA this year with the St. Lucie Mets. He posted a .263 average with 11 homers and 66 RBI in 483 ABs. As you see, There are three first basemen on this list, and it should be interesting who takes charge of that top first basemen spot in the system.

Thanks for reading.

Over at Metsblog Matt Cerrone reported that the Tigers have interest in Scott Schoeneweis, and they may be willing to deal 1B/OF Marcus Thames to obtain his services. To me, this is not a good idea, at all.

Schoeneweis has been our best reliever this year (aside from the Sandman) statistically, sporting a 2.43 ERA. I don’t see how this deal really benefits us. We severely weaken our bullpen, especially if we don’t obtain another lefty if we trade Show. Also, with Andrew Beaton reporting that Brian Tallet will go on the DL with a broken toe, the lefty market is down to Will Ohman, Jack Taschner, Arthur Rhodes and Show. Show’s value will go up as we near Thursday’s deadline, so I see no reason to trade him now and get less than what we could get on Thursday. Second, Thames is an OK player, but he’s super streaky. Through April and May, Thames had hit just five home runs on the year. In June, he exploded for 10 homers,  six of which came in a five day span. Third, Thames has 20 homers on the year, yet he only has 43 rbi. To me, this screams that he doesn’t drive in runs if he doesn’t hit the longball, or he hits a ton of solo homers. Of Thames 20 homers, only six are of the solo variety, so that kills that theory. Thames is also hitting .262 on the year. Fernando Tatis is hitting around .310, if no one noticed.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if we are going to give up a premium lefty, I want 1b/3b/ss Carlos Guillen in any deal with the Tigers, not the streaky Thames. If we get Ryan Church back, I’m fine with an Endy Chavez/Tatis platoon in left.

The Mets defeated the Cardinals by a score of 9-1 this afternoon at Shea. Johan Santana got his 9th win of the year, and Kyle Lohse suffered his first loss since May 9. For a full recap, head to Yahoo! Sports.

Santana was brilliant. He threw his first complete game as a Met, allowing one run on six hits. He also struck out five Cardinal batters. Speaking of Santana, he also drove in his first run as a Met in the 8th, on an rbi single to drive in Fernando Tatis.

The Mets got to Lohse early, when Carlos Delgado hit a sac fly to drive in Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran hit an rbi single to drive in Endy Chavez in the third.

In the fifth, David Wright crushed a first pitch fastball from Lohse into the bleachers for his 20th homer of the year.

The Mets broke the game wide open in the 6th, when Tatis and Ramon Castro both hit two run homers, their 7th and 6th homers respectively on the year.

The Mets travel to Florida for a crucial three game set against the Marlins starting tomorrow. Ricky Nolasco will face John Maine.

The Mets, weather permitting, look to take the rubber game of their three game set with the Cardinals this afternoon at Shea. Johan Santana will face off against Kyle Lohse. Gametime is slated for 1:10 EST and can be seen on CW11 (again, sorry Dan).

Keys to the Game:

• Gotta Bounce Back: The Mets dropped a tough 10-8 decision last night against the Cards, after coming back twice from three run deficits, only to lose the game. I know this team has showed some resilience before, but today is a huge game. It will help us go off on the right foot on our way to Florida to face the Fish.
• Don’t Blow A Johan Win: Whatever it might be, a Billy Wagner blown save, or a Duaner Sanchez implosion, we have cost Santana a few wins in the 9th inning. Johan is our ace, and we need to win most of his starts if we want October baseball in Flushing.

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

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

ESPN.com is reporting that the Dodgers and Indians have reached an agreement to send 3B/OF Casey Blake to the Dodgers in exchange for two prospects, C Carlos Santana and RHP Jon Meloan.

Meloan was 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA in AAA  and Santana was hitting .323 with 14 homers in Class A for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers get a proven bat that will help their struggling offense. Blake was hitting .289 with 11 homers and 58 rbi for the Tribe.

Pretty square deal all around. The Dodgers gave up two pretty good prospects, probably more than the Mets could have offered.

Fresh off their series win against the Phillies, the Mets welcome the Cardinals into town for a three game set over the weekend. The first game will feature Mike Pelfrey going against rookie Mitch Boggs. Gametime is slated for 7:10 EST and can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN.

Keys to the Game:

• Don’t Let Up: The Mets now have a one game on the Phillies, and in order to stay there they will need to keep the pedal to the metal. We all know what happened last year if you take a team for granted, and the Phillies have already felt that this year, losing a 7.5 game lead. If we want to win this division, we are going to need to keep playing crisp, smart baseball.
• Keep it Going Pelf: Last Sunday, Pelfrey threw what can be considered his worst start in months. Pelfrey allowed five runs, on three home runs. His fastball wasn’t moving, and yet he still gutted it out and went seven strong innings, resting the bullpen. Pelfrey has doing alot of things right lately, keep it going.
• Need Relievers to Get Going: Relievers Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez haven’t pitched since Tuesday’s meltdown. Im guessing Jerry Manuel will try to work them into tonight’s game, as we will need both their arms going down the stretch if we want to be successful.
• Beat Up Boggs: Last time we faced the rookie Boggs, we hit him for 10 runs. If we can get that kind of production tonight, we should be in good shape.

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

For a lineup, head to John Delcos’s blog for the Journal News.

The Mets took the rubber game of their three game set against the Phillies by a score of 3-1 this afternoon. Aaron Heilman got his first win of the year, and J.C. Romero took the loss for the Phils. With the win, the Mets now have first place all to themselves.

Ollie Perez continued his dominance against the Phillies this year, pitching 7.2 innings of one run ball, while striking out a season high 12 Phillies. His lone mistake was 2-0 fastball that Jayson Werth drove over the centerfield wall.

The Mets got the scoring going in the third, when Jose Reyes walked, stole a base, and was driven in on a David Wright single off Philly starter Jamie Moyer.

Perez loaded the bases in the eighth, but Heilman got the aforementioned Werth to fly out to Beltran to end the threat.

In the bottom of the frame, Robinson Cancel singled against Romero, and was sacrificed to second by J.Reyes. Endy Chavez than hit a liner to Romero, which he caught, leaving Cancel at second with two out. Wright was walked, and it set the stage for the hero, Carlos Delgado. Delgado drove an outside slider the other way for a two run double, and put the Mets up 3-1.

Billy Wagner closed it out for his 26th save in 32 chances.

The Mets welcome the Cardinals into town starting tomorrow, with Mike Pelfrey facing an unknown Cardinal pitcher at this time. It could be either Brad Thompson or Mitchell Boggs, who the Mets clobbered for 10 runs while they were in St. Louis a few weeks back

I attended today’s game, and man it was electric when Delgado put us up. It was great to see J-ROLL benched for being late to Shea as well, really shows how dedicated he is.

The Mets look to rebound from a tough loss last night tonight versus the Phillies at Shea. John Maine will look to right the ship versus Brett Myers. Gametime is scheduled for 7:10 EST and can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN. Also, for you out of towners, the game can be seen on ESPN.

Game Notes:

• Need a Big Game Tonight, Johnny: I’d rather not be the ones with our backs against the wall tomorrow with the always unpredictable Oliver Perez on the mound. Let’s take this game tonight and beat up on Myers who served up 24 longballs before being demoted to the minors in early July.
• Delgado Cleaning Up?: Jerry Manuel flipped Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran in the batting order. With Delgado swinging the stick like he is, I can’t really fault him.

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

For a lineup, head to John Delcos’s blog for the Journal News.

LETS GO METS.