Baseball

Rumors flying around the New York Mets say they might trade Jeff Francoeur before the trade deadline next week.

Is that possible? Yes.

Is it likely? Knowing the Mets, probably not.

Francoeur lost the starting right fielder job to Angel Pagan when Carlos Beltran returned and now is the fourth outfielder.

Francoeur has been a starter since he was single digits in age. He obviously can’t be happy being on the bench now.

The Los Angeles Dodgers head into next week's trade deadline looking to add a piece that will vault them back into serious contention in the National League West.

Entering Thursday's action, the Dodgers find themselves six games back of the first place San Diego Padres having lost seven of their last 10 games.

That is a bad recipe for a team that entered the season with loftier expectations. However, the Dodgers are also in a tricky situation.

A heated divorce between owner Frank McCourt and his wife has left the team very much cash strapped without the ability to add a big money player.

All the clamor as of late has been for the Phillies to go out and add another starting pitcher, possibly even one with "ace" qualities. While I'm not exactly a proponent of the move , it looks like that's inevitably what's going to happen.

Well, I can’t say much. The Mets played terribly tonight, getting one hit over the last eight innings against the D-Backs bullpen. This is against a bullpen known for being the worst bullpen in the majors.

Aaron Heilman even went two perfect innings. Heilman! Oliver Perez almost lost it in the 13th, putting runners on first and second with no outs and second and third with one out.

The Mets ended up getting swept by the D-Backs (going past 2 a.m. to do so).

The Mets need help, in multiple aspects. Today, they made a move that improves one part of their roster, possibly.

Chad Cordero was signed by the Mets today, and will be sent to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, who had their contract as affiliate of the Mets extended today through 2012, for now.

Cordero is most known for closing out games for the Washington Nationals from 2005-07. He also closed for the Montreal Expos in '03 and '04 before the franchise moved to Washington.

Time to ask other Mets fans on Twitter another question. This time it was:

Hey Mets fans, what is 1 thing you want the Mets to get before the trade deadline expires?

Got quite a few responses, so lets get right into it:

@TylerFlushingBB a winning streak.

http://twitter.com/heyyoeddie

After losing their past two games against the D-Backs, the Mets will try to salvage at least one game before they head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers for a four-game series.

For the second straight series, the Mets look to try to get a win in the final game after losing the rest.

This road trip out west has not gone well so far for the Mets. Here is tonight’s lineup, with some comments from me.

1. Jose Reyes, SS - Reyes hit the ball well his last three at bats on Monday, and also got two hits yesterday.

Phil Hughes got rocked, Jonathan Albaladejo got called up and gave up an earned run, and the Yankees lost 10-2 in the first game of a two game series against the Angels last night.

Here are some notes:

Hughes has now allowed at least five ER in three of his last four starts. Every home run he’s allowed this year has been at Yankee Stadium.

When we moved to Arizona in 1994, Phoenix was clearly a basketball town. The Phoenix Suns were continuously sold out and you heard stories of people spending hours on the phone the day single game tickets went on sale hoping to score tickets to a single game during the season.

Gosh. I actually have not been in my cozy little home this weekend. I have been on vacation in the interesting state of New Jersey. I saw Thursday’s game. I didn’t see Friday’s or Saturday’s. I didn’t expect to see any of today’s game, but it turns out I got to. I come into the hotel room and the first thing I see is David Wright limping around.