New York Mets

NEW YORK: After coming back to beat the Diamondbacks last night, winning their first game against them in five tries, the Mets will hope it leads to a series victory this afternoon.

The Mets finished the month of July with one of baseball's worst records, 9-17, and will now try to begin August 1-0.

Yes, that's right, it's the month of August. This is now the official start of baseball's pennant race, as teams try to position themselves this month for a September run.

From the perennial all-stars of Alex Rodriguez, David Wright, and Evan Longoria to the surprise hammer of Jose Bautista, third base has always been stacked with big bats. Aramis Ramirez is finally back on track while Chipper Jones seems to be gearing up for getting out. Here are the rankings for the remainder of the season:

Tier One

Carlos Beltran's trade value depends on how he finishes the 2010 season.  If the mets don't have the money to spend, they should look to dump some salary.  Not saying these teams will take it.  It's just an idea.

The trading deadline has come and gone, many teams made moves to either help their club or plan for the future, but the Mets though, stood pat.

It was a mild surprise, considering GM Omar Minaya said earlier that he wasn't reluctant to make a move.

Before tonight's game against the Diamondbacks, Minaya spoke on the non-move saying due to not wanting to part with certain prospects and the Mets positioning in the standings, the right move was to do nothing.

NEW YORK-- For a second straight night, the Mets were burned by a meltdown from a reliever, but this time they won the fight.

Starting on the mound, and delivering for the Mets, was Hisanori Takahashi. With the Mets needing to beat the Diamondbacks, Takahashi stepped up to strike out 10 batters in six innings.

The game didn't get off to a great start with an infield hit by Chris Young on the first pitch, but Takahashi rebounded to strike out two in the first.

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Here were all the trades around baseball. Today, before 3:00 PM was the last day teams could trade players without them having to go through waivers:

After a dreadful road trip immediately following the All-Star break, the New York Mets returned to Citi Field and proceeded to take two out of three against the St. Louis Cardinals. This series win not only stabilized the team to a certain degree, but it also created a very important series—as far as July goes—against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In order for the Mets to sniff any sort of playoff berth this year, it seems to be they need to win every single series at home and pray for rain on the road. Does this remind anyone else of 2005?

NEW YORK-- In order for the Mets to compete into August and September, they'll have to start doing two things. Win games on the road and beat up on bad teams.

The Mets have had trouble doing both, and are now 0-4 this season against the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks.

Last night, the Mets scored six runs but five were on two swings from David Wright. Other than his bat, the Mets offense didn't do a whole lot much.

If you're a Mets fan, you are familiar with heartache. The very term "Mets fan" is synonymous with pain. This trade deadline has brought us too many moments of agony to rehash, but there are several that stick out in the collective memory of the fan of the Mets. These trades are the lemon juice in a cut type of transaction. They were the ones that really stung.

The Mets were looking to get revenge against the Arizona Diamondbacks after being swept by them in Arizona on the last road trip, but it didn't start out well.

Mike Pelfrey was also looking to rebound against Arizona after an awful performance on July 19 against them, a game in which he threw 51 first inning pitches.