Photograph of Johan Santana pitching against the Brewers by Bill Waugh/AP Mets 4 Milwaukee 2: There is a good chance that this series could be a preview of the playoffs so it behooves the Mets to jump on the Brewers and pay them back for a series loss back in April. Johan Santana pitched very well, striking out 10 over six innings, but he left the game losing 2-0. Luckily for the Mets, Brewers’......

Mets 6, Phillies 3: This game takes some air out of the whole "that loss will stay with them for a while" theory. Games don't get that much worse than Tuesday's 8-7, 13-inning loss. But were the Mets really thinking about that when they took the field Wednesday? Maybe. Did it affect them? Not in a bad way. They trailed, 3-2, entering the eighth, but Carlos Delgado hit his second homer of the game......

Mets 9, Astros 1: Houston has been a pesky opponent for the Mets all season, but Mike Pelfrey knew how to handle the Astros. He threw his second straight complete game -- he lost the shutout in the ninth -- as the Mets salvaged a split of the four-game series. That's important momentum for a team that goes into a critical three-game series against the Phillies this week. Carlos Delgado homered not once but twice.......

Mets 7, Braves 3: The bad-bullpen shoe is on the other foot, at least for one day. The Mets jumped out to an early lead -- what else is new? -- on a David Wright sacrifice fly and a Fernando Tatis ground-rule double in the first. The Braves got three back off Oliver Perez in the third, however, and the Mets' bats were shut down. Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, the Mets got a two-run......

Mets 9 Washington 3: Good teams need to beat bad teams in August and that is exactly what the Mets did to Washington this week. Thursday they capped off the sweep with a strong start from Oliver Perez and some timely hitting. Brian Schneider hit his fifth home run of the season and Carlos Delgado added his 26th in the sixth inning. Fernando Tatis went 1-for-1 with three walks and Damion Easley added a pinch-hit......

Mets 8, Marlins 6: When this weekend's series started, the Mets trailed the Marlins and the Phillies. Now they trail only the Phillies. Brian Stokes became the latest fill-in starter, and he benefited from a ton of run support against Florida starter -- and Mets whipping boy -- Scott Olsen. Daniel Murphy hit his first Major League home run in the critical three-run sixth. That rally helped Scott Schoeneweis become the pitcher of record. Some......

Marlins 7, Mets 5: Mike Pelfrey has been a major part of the Mets' revival this season. But he was the main culprit in this loss to the Marlins, New York's second loss in three games down in Miami. Pelfrey allowed five runs on eight hits through four innings, and the bats' comeback didn't work out. Of 16 plate appearances from David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, only Beltran reached base, and he......

Mets 4 Florida 1: Oliver Perez kept the Marlins off-balance enough to get a win Tuesday. Perez got out of trouble when it mattered and lasted six innings while allowing eight base runners and only one run. The Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, but would have had more without some overly aggressive base running from Jose Reyes. Carlos Delgado had the big hit, a two-run homer in the eighth, in......

It’s time for the Mets to go shopping and Omar Minaya needs to find a bat to bolster the lineup. With the Mets in first place and finally living up to their potential, their GM needs to patch the biggest remaining hole in the team and a corner outfielder would do that. Some will suggest that the Mets sit back and wait for Ryan Church to heal, but that ignores two facts. The first is......

Mets 3, Phillies 1: Remember when Oliver Perez and Carlos Delgado both stunk? Ah, those were the days. They won Thursday's matinee against the Phillies almost all by themselves. Perez struck out 12 batters in 7 2/3 innings but he got a no-decision because he had the misfortune of leaving before the Mets took the lead. They did that when Delgado hit a two-run double down the left-field line in the bottom of the eighth.......

Andy Petitte led the Yankees to victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Mets' Mike Pelfrey shut down the Giants (the Amazin's are a game-and-a-half behind first place!)....

Mets 3 Yankees 1: It’s clear that Oliver Perez needs to make all his starts against the Yankees. Back in May, Perez dominated the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Sunday it was another dominating performance, this time at Shea. Perez allowed only three hits over seven innings while striking out 8. Another Met who will be sorry to see the Subway Series end is Carlos Delgado. Delgado hit his third home run of the series, a......

Photo of David Wright congratulating Carlos Delgado after a grand slam in Yankee Stadium by AP/Frank Franklin II Photo of Jose Molina congratulating Bobby Abreu at Shea Stadium by AP/Julie Jacobson Eight hours of baseball in two different stadiums ended with both the Mets and Yankees scoring 15 runs and earning a split of their doubleheader. The first game was the “Carlos Delgado Show” as Delgado hammered Yankees’ pitching for nine RBI’s thanks to......

Two and a half weeks ago, Willie Randolph appeared to be on the precipice of being fired. The Mets, especially general manager Omar Minaya stood by him, and Randolph lived another day. Now, another poor stretch of play has prompted perhaps the strongest rumors yet. If SI.com's Jon Heyman is correct, and his sources are usually reliable, Randolph -- and half his coaching staff -- could be gone by the end of the weekend. Unfortunately......

Photograph of Carlos Beltran ducking his head away from blowing dirt and debris during the 7th inning (the game was briefly suspended shortly after) by Julie Jacobson/AP Diamondbacks 9, Mets 5: Despite starting off the game in nearly perfect fashion, the Mets still found a way to end it in an undesirable way. Carlos Delgado (two-run single) and David Wright (two-run homer) helped stake John Maine to a 5-1 lead after two innings. But......

Mets 11, Yankees 2: The Mets entered the weekend with a lot of questions about Willie Randolph’s future, but after a two-game sweep of the Yankees, it’s Joe Girardi who should be looking over his shoulder. The Mets crushed the Yankees Sunday night; with Oliver Perez allowing only three hits and two runs over 7.2 innings of work and the Mets bullpen didn’t allow a baserunner over the final 1.1 innings. The Mets got home......

Photograph (left) of Mets' Billy Wagner from the AP; NY Daily News cover (right) of Jason Giambi and a thong (blech) The Mets and Yankees are in the middle of their first subway series game of the season right now (last night's game was rained out--it may be rescheduled later this summer), but the real news is what's happening off the field. With the day off, Mets manager Willie Randolph held a closed door......

Washington 1 Mets 0: Where was Jose Reyes going? Down 1-0 in the 8th, Reyes led off the inning with a single. The Mets played for the tie by sacrificing him over to second and it worked, but for some reason Reyes tried to get to third. With his speed and the middle of the order coming up, it was a stupid risk and Reyes was thrown out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only baserunning gaffe......

Yankees 5 Detroit 2: It’s only two starts, but Darrell Rasner has given the Yankees exactly what they needed, quality pitching. Rasner was impressive on Saturday, holding one of the more dangerous lineups in the league to only two runs and four hits over six innings. Most importantly, he didn’t beat himself, issuing only one walk. Derek Jeter got things going with a solo shot in the first and was one of five different Yankees......

Photograph of Mets relief pitcher Duaner Sanchez, center, surrounded by infielders, from left, Raul Casanova, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Damion Easley and Carlos Delgado as manager Willie Randolph, lower right, comes out to the mound to take out Sanchez after the Arizona Diamondbacks scored five runs in the eighth inning by Paul Connors/AP Yankees 6, Mariners 1: Johnny Damon had two doubles and a home run and Mike Mussina pitched six innings of one-run......

Photograph of Hal Gil (center) going after the Rangers' Sean Avery, with goalie Marc Andre Fleury and linesman Lonnie Cameron trying to stop him, by Gene J. Puskar/AP Penguins 2, Rangers 0: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin skated past Marc Staal before giving up the puck to Jordan Staal, who scored the deciding goal in this nailbiter in Western Pennsylvania. That second-period strike plus an empty-netter put the Penguins in complete control of this series before......

Red Sox 7, Yankees 5: Mike Mussina will be seeing Manny Ramirez in his sleep. The Stanford graduate gave up two home runs to the George Washington High School product as part of a distressing performance. The righty allowed five runs in three innings, and, unlike Wednesday, the Yankees could not put up 15 runs. Ramirez has worn out all Yankees pitching, not just Mussina, and who could be blamed for thinking the slugger is......

Phillies 5, Mets 2: In a game that was a microcosm of last season, the Mets held a lead against the Phillies before surrendering it in inglorious fashion. Entrusted with a 2-0 advantage in the seventh inning, Scott Schoeneweis -- who was booed during introductions -- allowed three runs and only recorded one out. Of course, he didn't get help from Carlos Delgado, who hit Chase Utley in the back on what may have......

A day after the biggest end-of-season collapse in baseball history, New York Mets Carlos Delgado, John Maine and a few others cleared out their lockers at Shea (a few lockers, including Tom Glavine's and Billy Wagner's, were cleaned before reporters arrived). General Manager Omar Minaya made comments supporting manager Willie Randolph's leadership ("I believe in Willie Randolph"), and the Post reports that that kind of support will be important: "Mets ownership has ordered Minaya......

For a team used to making miracles, conjuring up a disaster had an especially bitter taste. With a sloppily played 8-1 loss to Florida and the Phillies' 6-1 win against the Nationals, the Mets' season ended about a month too early. The loss capped an agonizing stretch of two and a half weeks in which the Mets played some of the worst teams in the National League and still played their worst baseball of......

Mets 7, Braves 1: What the? After getting swept by the Phillies, the Mets managed to get a win against a team they've had little success against all this season. Boy did they need it too after losing five straight games. John Maine pitched marvelously over 7 innings, only allowing 3 hits. The one run the Braves scored came on a wild pitch in a tense 6th inning when the Braves had the bases loaded.......

Mets 4, Dodgers 3: The performance of the Mets bullpen and of Carlos Delgado haven't exactly inspired fear recently, so when Orlando Hernandez pitched deep into the game and Delgado actually hit, things were going pretty well. Hernandez threw for 7 great innings, allowing only 2 runs by the Dodgers and retired 12-straight at one point. Delgado used the game to break out of a 0-19 slump at the plate. Dropped all the way down......

Yankees 8 Angels 2: Don’t let the final score fool you, this was a much closer game. The Yankees scored in the fourth and the Angels scored in the sixth to make it 1-1 heading into the seventh. That’s where the starting pitching diverged. Andy Pettitte continued his brilliance while John Lackey ran into trouble. New York scored twice in the seventh and four-times in the eighth to blow the game open. The win moved......

Red Bulls 5, Galaxy 4: Giants Stadium fills up for plenty of events, but Red Bulls games don't usually rank among those. Saturday's did, if only because David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy was in town. Those fans, who were there for Beckham and not the Galaxy, found another rare treat: goals in a Major League Soccer game. Soccer doesn't need frequent scores to be exciting, but the rare 5-4 game never hurt anyone. Not......

Mets 10 Pirates 8: What should have been a laugher became a little too close for comfort two different times Wednesday night. The Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first, thanks to doubles from David Wright and Carlos Delgado and a home run from Moises Alou, but Pittsburgh crept back into the game. The Pirates scored twice in the second and added single runs in the fourth and sixth to make it......