Johan Santana was the story again tonight, as he has been most times he pitches. He struck out ten batters for the fourth time this season, and recorded 20 swinging strikes, matching his season-high. He also picked up that bizarre infield hit in the fifth that bounced off of the mound AND the shattered barrel of his own bat, which had spun and flown between the mound and second base. Santana would eventually come around to score the go-ahead run on David Wright's two-out, two-run single, and scored again on Jose Reyes's bases-loaded triple in the sixth.

Santana also threw a career-high 125 pitches, but given the way Pedro Feliciano handled the four-run lead he was handed in the ninth inning, I don't think anyone will question Jerry Manuel's desire to leave Santana out there as long as possible. Santana has now thrown 3,481 pitches this season compared to 3,335 in 2007 and 3,450 in 2006, so he's certainly within his established range. With any luck, the Mets will play competently over the next four days and Santana won't have to come back to pitch the Mets into the playoffs against the Marlins on Sunday.

The Phillies lost at home to the Braves, so the Mets are just a game back in the loss column with five to play. The Brewers came from behind to beat the Pirates, so the Mets' lead in the Wild Card race remains a single game. On Wednesday, Oliver Perez takes on Carlos Zambrano, who will probably only stick around for five innings or so.

Big winners: David Wright, +29.8% WPA, Johan Santana, +15.1% WPA
Big losers: Carlos Beltran, -14.8% WPA, Pedro Feliciano, -2.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright two-run double, +22.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Fukudome RBI double, -10.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +16.7%
Total batter WPA: +33.3%
GWRBI: David Wright

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETSfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Brewers? Blown out. Phillies? Smacked down in Miami. Mets? Opened a can of whoop-tooshie in Atlanta. Things looked pretty bleak a few days ago, and things could certainly look bleak again a few days hence, but in once night the Mets vaulted into first place in the NL East, a half-game ahead of the Phillies (a game up in the loss column), and 2.5 games in front of the Brewers in the would-be Wild Card race.

Good results aside, this wasn't exactly a meticulously played game on the Mets' part. Three errors, four pitchers in the seventh inning, but hey, a win, and the Irish Hammer picked up the GWRBI without even starting. Nick Evans hit a monstrous homerun and added a walk. Remember these guys? They were a pretty solid platoon a few weeks ago before Fernando Tatis began starting every day. Tatis is gone for the regular season, at least, and it's great to see the kids go out there and make things happen.

Jose Reyes: September swoon? Maybe not. Kid went 3-for-4 with a leadoff homerun, a walk and a steal. All of the Mets' regulars picked up at least one hit; David Wright and Carlos Delgado picked up two each.

Oliver Perez was ehh: Six hits, three walks and four runs in six innings. The length was solid, and I guess he gets some bonus points for keeping the Mets in the game, but the Braves have a skeleton crew out there so let's not get too excited about that.

The Mets turn to Pedro Martinez to hopefully pull his ass out of the Queens gutter tomorrow night against Jorge Campillo.

Big winners: Daniel Murphy, +30.3% WPA, Jose Reyes, +22.4% WPA
Big losers: Nelson Figueroa,-32.7% WPA, Ryan Church, -12.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy two-run double in 8th, +30.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Prado singlein 7th, -18.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -16.0%
Total batter WPA: +63.9%
GWRBI: Daniel Murphy

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETSfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

I'm reminded of that scene in Spaceballs when Lone Starr and Barf are in the space diner after returning Princess Vespa to Druidia. After our heroes place their orders, the camera pans to the other side of the diner to find John Hurt, reprising his role from Alien, doubled over in pain as a creature forces his way out of his stomach. Hurt looks up at the horrible, growling alien protruding from his gut and utters those four words we all had to be thinking on Sunday afternoon:

Oh, no. Not again.

Luis Ayala, oh savior of saviors, was brought in to preserve a 4-2 lead that would've meant a series victory over the Braves. Ayala, officially dead to me, retired nobody and allowed a three-run homerun to Greg Norton that gave the Braves a 5-4 lead. The two insurance runs allowed by Pedro Feliciano were a foregone conclusion by that point. To the Mets' credit, they had three cracks with the tying run at the plate, but Carlos Beltran, Fernando Tatis and Luis Castillo went down in succession and that was that.

Ayala's inevitable meltdown wasted what was a nice bounceback effort by Oliver Perez, who retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced and struck out eight in seven innings of work. The Mets' offense, on the other hand, left a boatload of men on base, squandering numerous opportunities to tack on runs.

Meanwhile, the Brewers managed just ten runs en route to a four-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies at CBP this weekend. The Mets' lead has been trimmed to one game with fourteen to play, though the Phillies have played two more games and both were losses. The teams have practically identical schedules the rest of the way, with the Phillies playing an extra series against the Braves and the Mets playing a four-gamer at Shea against the Cubs and an extra game against the Nationals. One benefit of the Brewers giving it up this weekend: The Cubs are far more likely to have clinched the NL Central by the time they roll into town next week, so a game or two of B-lineups could be in order. The Mets need all the help they can get.

Big winners: David Wright, +33.4% WPA, Oliver Perez, +20.7% WPA
Big losers: Luis Ayala, -75.4% WPA, Carlos Beltran, -13.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright two-run homer in 3rd, +18.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Oh no, not again, -55.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -59.3%
Total batter WPA: +9.3%
GWRBI: Greg Norton

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Omar21; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Another day, another 900-some-odd feet of Carlos Delgado homerun. He's still not the MVP, but that doesn't mean he won't win the award and it certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see him do so. He's been the third or fourth best offensive player on the Mets this season, which doesn't really smell like MVP to me. Nevertheless, Jimmy Rollins won the award last year with a good story despite turning in an inferior season to both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, so it's certainly not out of the question that if Delgado stays hot for the next three weeks that he could take home the Mets' first MVP award. Mets probably should have won the last two, so it would only be fitting that the least deserving player of the three would take home the hardware.

The 2008 decline of Oliver Perez continued tonight. He did manage to walk fewer than three batters for only the second time in six starts, but he also allowed seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings. After a long stretch of terrific starts, he has drifted back into frustratingly waffling between decent and inept. That may seem unfair considering he only allowed a few runs in some of his more recent starts, but his walks and other peripheral stats paint a different picture, and I can't be the only one surprised by his recent downturn.

Once again, I really have to hand it to the Mets' bullpen. Nelson Figueroa came in and promptly imploded, allowing the last two of Perez's seven runs to score, but he and the rest of the relief corps allowed just one run over the game's final 5.1 innings. Brian Stokes continues to amaze, throwing 95 MPH heat and showing good control to boot. He and Luis Ayala may not be the 8th-9th inning duo we all envisioned in April, but they're getting the job done.

Sorry about the goofy question on the game form; everyone gets it wrong because there's no way to make both answers correct. My bad.

Big winners: Carlos Delgado, +33.7% WPA, Carlos Beltran, +28.7% WPA
Big losers: Oliver Perez, -40.7% WPA, Nelson Figueroa, -14.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran two-run blast, +31.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Guzman wall-scraper, -18.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -34.2%
Total batter WPA: +84.2%
GWRBI: Carlos Beltran

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETSfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

An easy win for Oliver Perez, who wasn't great but didn't have to be because the Mets' offense did all of the heavy lifting for him. Somewhat amazingly, Perez stuck around for 6.2 innings and didn't record a single groundball out. He struck out five and induced flyballs on the other fifteen batters he retired. That's craziness.

Perez did walk five batters, which had to be a little disappointing considering that he already had a six-run cushion when he took the mound in the first and the Brewers never got closer than 6-2. You've got a huge lead, just throw strikes, man!

The Mets got another 2.1 scoreless innings of relief out of a bullpen that is suddenly showing signs of aptitude. Even Duaner "Gasoline Fire" Sanchez kept the Brewers off the board in his second consecutive scoreless appearance. He had allowed runs in four of his prior six appearances, none of which lasted even an inning.

Pitching aside, the story of this game was the offense. Every starter reached base either via hit or walk, and everyone except Jose Reyes scored at least one run. Dan Murphy and Carlos Beltran three time apiece, and Reyes (47), Beltran (20) and Luis Castillo (15) each added a stolen base.

I gave the GWRBI to Ryan Church because, using the new, awesome-r rules, he drove in the actual winning run with his grand slam in the first. If we were using the traditional rules, the GWRBI would have gone to Carlos Delgado since he put the Mets ahead for good with his single in the first. So, if you're scoring the old-fashioned way you can give it to Delgado.

The Philthies lost again to the Nationals, so the Mets' lead in the NL East grew to three games. Both teams are off tomorrow before beginning a three-game series at Shea on Friday that culminates in Santana v Hamels on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

Big winners: Ryan Church, +16.2% WPA, Oliver Perez, +10.1% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Tatis, -.7% WPA, Luis Castillo, -.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Church salami, +18.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Hardy RBI single in 1st, -3.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +12.6%
Total batter WPA: +37.4%
GWRBI: Ryan Church

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by IanB in MD; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Nice win for those Metsies tonight. Sure, the Braves are pretty awful, but it still feels good to stick it to them anyway. The Phillies were losing all game long to the Nationals, but found a way to come back and win in the late innings so the Mets' lead remains a game and a half.

Oliver Perez was off his game tonight, walking five and allowing twelve baserunners in 6.1 innings. He managed to keep the Mets in the game, though, and Luis Ayala came in with runners on the corners and one out and got a couple of flyballs to get out of the jam. He got a standing ovation from the Shea faithful, who were probably just as excited to see someone *different* as to see someone actually succeed.

Offensively, the Mets were solid tonight, though all of their production came in the first and eighth innings, bookending an otherwise lousy night at the plate. Two runs in the first eventually put them down 3-2 with six outs to play, but they hung a five-spot on the Braves' bullpen in the eighth inning, highlighted by a Carlos Delgado double with the bases loaded that plated two and gave the Mets a 4-3 lead. Damion Easley followed two batters later with a two-run single and Ramon Castro plated another run with a double (why does Schneider start games anymore?).

An exciting 7-3 win to be sure. Mets batters walked seven times, including three to Jose Reyes (one intentionally). Aaron Heilman picked up the win with a scoreless eighth inning (two baserunners allowed), and, just as they drew it up in Spring Training, Scott Schoeneweis came on to close things out in a non-save situation.

Big winners: Carlos Delgado, +27.7% WPA, Luis Ayala, +13.3% WPA
Big losers: Oliver Perez, -8.0% WPA, Damion Easley, -5.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Delgado bases-loaded double, +35.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Chipper RBI single, +10.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +12.3%
Total batter WPA: +37.7%

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by BobbyV_Incognito; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

This'll be a quick hits version of Applesauce because we're leaving in a couple of hours for Pittsburgh and Geek Day 2. Posting may be iffy over the next couple of days, but I've made sure the game forms are up and the game threads will be ready to go as well.

At MetsGeek, Alex Nelson looks at the pitchers the Mets will face over the next four days at PNC Park.

John Maine says he feels fine, but there's still concern about his shoulder.

Once a total question mark, Oliver Perez as looked ace-ish, and is probably the Mets' second-best starter right now.

Billy Wagner made a rehab appearance with Binghamton last night, pitching a 1-2-3 seventh inning and throwing 16 pitches in the process. He is expected back in time for Monday's game against the Pirates.

Chris Russo is leaving WFAN. One down, one to go.

The White Sox hit four straight homeruns last night, the third time a team has done so in the last three years but just the sixth time in the history of the sport.

The story of the game, as it has been all series, was the Mets' knack for getting runners in after they reached base. The Mets had fourteen men on base and scored nine times (two of those were homeruns), which is an incredible ratio. Anytime you score nine runs on just eight hits, either you did a terrific job hitting with runners on base or you drew a boatload of walks or both. The Mets walked five times and hit impeccably in the clutch.

Oliver Perez had another strong start (game score of 55), though he ran out of steam and got touched up a bit in the seventh. The Mets' bullpen was strong again, though pitching well for a few games against the Nationals doesn't exactly turn a season around.

Big winners: Duaner Sanchez, +18.2% WPA, Oliver Perez, +14.8% WPA
Big losers: Jose Reyes, -5.5% WPA, Joe Smith, -4.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright leadoff double in 4th, +12.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Orr two-run triple in 7th, -7.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +28.4%
Total batter WPA: +21.6%

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by BobbyV_Incognito; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Joel Sherman breaks down the Mets' three options to remedy the bullpen situation, as suggested by Jerry Manuel in his post-game news conference yesterday. Those options are:

1. Have Eddie Kunz, who has all of three major league appearances, reprise his Double-A closing role. This is the most likely choice.

2. Keep Brian Stokes in the rotation and call upon either John Maine or Oliver Perez to serve as a multi-inning fireman. For now the Mets don't want to mess with Mike Pelfrey by requesting a rotation-to-pen change.

3. Summon top pitching prospect Jon Niese for the rotation and use Stokes plus either Maine or Perez to serve as the main late-inning relievers.

Sherman goes on to discuss why these are all potentially horrible ideas, particularly the ones that involve moving young starters to the bullpen. The Kunz move makes the most sense to me, at least in that he hasn't yet completely proven himself to be a failure like everyone else in the bullpen.

Billy Wagner expects to return on Monday, which is six whole games away. He is scheduled to make at least one rehab appearance with the Brooklyn Cyclones between now and then.

Jerry Manuel called Ramon Castro a pussy, in so many words.

At MetsGeek, Alex Nelson looks at the pitchers the Mets will face against the Nationals.

I don't want this to get political or anything, but this is funny as hell. And it's Olympic-themed!

Another day, another great start by Oliver Perez. He knocks his ERA down to 3.90 with this two-hit, eight-strikeout performance, and coupled with a Phillies extra-inning loss to the Pirates, the Mets vault over the Marlins and stand just a game behind Philadelphia for first place in the east.

Dan Murphy continues to impress, going 2-for-3 with a walk. David Wright knocked in two more runs to bring his season total to 89 and could threaten Mike Piazza's single-season Mets record of 124 in 1999.

Aaron Heilman! Two perfect innings! Three strikeouts! Zero homeruns! Pinch me!

Big winners: Oliver Perez, +35.8% WPA, David Wright, +11.9% WPA
Big losers: Jose Reyes, -5.1% WPA, Fernando Tatis, -3.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Wright goes deep, +16.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Helms double in 2nd, -8.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +43.9%
Total batter WPA: +6.1%

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Simons; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.