NL East

The New York Mets won today behind the strong pitching performance of Johan Santana. Though Santana pitched well enough for a win, he didn't get it, as closer Francisco Rodriguez blew another save. Santana went eight strong, surrendering only one run on eight hits and one walk, while striking out five.

Personally, I had prayed that manager Jerry Manuel would let Santana come out for the ninth inning and finish the game out, but having thrown 115 pitches (81 for strikes, by the way), Santana got the handshake after retiring the last nine batters he faced.

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, the question is, will the Marlins ultimately become buyers or sellers? The team is currently 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East Division with the Braves, Mets, and Phillies ahead of them.

Skipper Charlie Manuel wouldn't say his team got lucky in their wild 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs, but that was plainly obvious to anyone watching.

Geovaney Soto certainly isn't a scrub and is not a guy who will make many mistakes, so when he drops a perfect throw that would have allowed him to tag out Brian Schneider by a good 10 feet or so, a lot of it is luck.

The Mets lost their third straight game to the Giants tonight, 8-4 in a game that wasn’t as much as a pitcher's duel compared to the last two games.

Starting off, Hisanori Takahashi was just awful; he gave up six runs over a mere two and two thirds, five of those runs in the second inning.

I admit, I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan, that's why you'll notice that the picture of Halladay is in a Blue Jays uniform rather than the Phillies uniform. I grew up watching him play and truly loved watching the best pitcher in baseball completely shut down opposing offenses. As such, my opinion is a bit biased so I tried to stick to the numbers only when deciding that Halladay deserves the NL Cy Young.

Sports are all about adjustments. In football, the quarterback must adjust the play based on what the opposing team is doing. It is the same in other sports as well. In-game adjustments at halftime and between periods are a necessity for success. Baseball is no different.

For the second straight game, the Mets got shut out by the Giants—this time 1-0 at AT&T Park.

Barry Zito pitched an absolute gem, one which may have even been better then Tim Lincecum’s start yesterday.

The Mets lineup seemed lost without Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan . It was a Mets lineup that featured Jeff Francoeur as the five hitter, Ruben Tejada as the leadoff man, and Jason Bay hitting second.

What was once thought to be a disaster situation for the New York Mets turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The Mets played the entire first half of the season without center fielder Carlos Beltran, and not only managed to keep their heads above water, but have been one of the best teams in the National League.

After a three-day break for the all-star game, the Mets managed to put together no runs, but the storyline of Carlos Beltran ’s first game of the 2010 campaign overshadowed this Mets loss to the Giants.

Beltran finished 1-for-4 with a single and grounded out to in the ninth without hustling down the line, which was not a good sign.

Tim Lincecum pitched a six-hit shutout, using a great mix of change-ups and fastballs. The Mets couldn’t hit a lick off of him tonight.

Carlos Beltran is off the disabled list, and he'll be back in the heart of the New York Mets lineup Thursday night in San Francisco.

After 14 rehab games for the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, the five-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glover will provide a big boost to Jerry Manuel's team, both in the lineup and in hopefully in the field.

Here are three different scenarios for his return...the best, worse, and most likely scenarios.