The Mets had an opportunity this weekend to put the Phillies in a very deep hole, and they came out of the series with one game shaved off their lead. Now two games up with 19 to play, the Mets have played their last regular season games against the Phillies and very much have a battle on their hands for NL East supremacy.

After sweeping the Brewers in Milwaukee, it was more than a little disappointing to come home and drop the first two games to the Phillies, managing to score just two runs in the process. Despite dropping those first two, though, the Mets would still wind up in good shape if they could only win the third game. Johan Santana pitched himself to a 1-0 deficit -- and almost more -- before the Mets came to bat. Aside from a homerun two innings later to Ryan Howard (why does anyone pitch him middle-out?), that first inning was the only real trouble Santana had with the Phillies.

On the other side of the diamond, Cole Hamels was battered around quite a bit through five innings of work. He allowed nine hits and five runs, most of which came courtesy of Carlos Delgado, who had three hits -- two homeruns -- and drove in four. He has no business being an MVP candidate, but he *has* been great over the past ten weeks, and the Mets almost certainly wouldn't be in such a favorable position were it not for Delgado's bat. It's exceedingly rare that a team's fourth-best hitter be named the MVP of the league (Rolls was only the Phillies' third-best hitter when he took home the MVP last year), but fans and media types love a good story, and Delgado is certainly that.

The Mets get another day off before playing two at Shea against the Nationals. The Nats took two-of-three against the Phillies last week, but let's hope they roll over for the Mets.

Big winners: Carlos Delgado, +28.8% WPA, Johan Santana, +16.6% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Tatis, -4.7% WPA, David Wright, -2.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran RBI single in 1st, +12.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Howard homerun, -9.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +23.9%
Total batter WPA: +%26.1
GWRBI: Carlos Delgado

Game Thread Roll Call

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

The picture says it all. There's another chance for utter ineptitude tomorrow at 3:55 on the FUX network.

Big winners: Dan Murphy, +6.9% WPA, Mike Pelfrey, +3.2% WPA
Big losers: Ryan Church, -12.7% WPA, Carlos Delgado, -11.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy double in 6th, +7.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dobbs homerun, -21.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +5.7%
Total batter WPA: -55.7%
GWRBI: Chase Utley

Game Thread Roll Call

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

We're 140 games into the baseball season and the Mets have gone 79-61, a better record than 24 other teams. Their +87 run differential (693 runs scored, 606 runs allowed) is likewise sixth in baseball. However reluctant we may be to admit it, the Mets are one of the elite teams in baseball. It's all relative, I suppose. They're certainly not one of the elite teams of all time, but when you're one of the five or six best teams in the majors you're probably doing a lot right. There are no true powerhouses: the Cubs and Rays lead their respective leagues in winning percentage, but neither is likely to win 100 games, nor are the Angels.

Twenty-two games remaining and a three-game lead to protect. The final double-deuce breaks down as follows:

3 vs Phillies (.543)
6 vs Nationals (.386)
6 vs Braves(.429)
4 vs Cubs(.607)
3 vs Marlins(.507)

The Cubs are a formidable opponent, but that series falls on the last week of the season and, as others have pointed out, the Cubs may have already clinched the NL Central by then. An early division title for Chicago would be good news for the Mets, who might face a skeleton crew as the Cubbies look to rest some of their better players in advance of a first-round playoff series. It's not as if the Cubs will field a lineup full of September nobodies every game, but they could conceivably send their B (or C!) team out there for a game or so. We know all too well how crucial every win is, so if the Cubs want to do the Mets a favor and scrub it up, I'll have no problems with that.

The Mets play their final twenty-two games in twenty-four days, picking up a couple of off-days bookending their two-game series with the Nationals next Tuesday and Wednesday. After that they play games on seventeen straight days to wind out the season. They've scored more runs than every National League team aside from the aforementioned Cubs, and they would do well to play some blowouts over the next few weeks to take advantage of the extra warm bodies afforded them by the late-season minor league call-ups.

First things first, though. The second-place Phillies roll into Queens for their swan song at Shea Stadium, a three-game series that culminates in a primetime, nationally-televised ESPN deathmatch between Johan Santana and Cole Hamels. Kyle Kendrick was originally slated to start the Sunday night game, but the Phillies have moved re-jiggered their rotation so their young ace can start what might be the most important game of their season. Thanks to an off-day yesterday, Hamels would still be pitching on normal rest, so it seems like a no-brainer from Philly's perspective. The Good Phight argues otherwise, as any extra innings for Hamels would push him well beyond the 190 innings he pitched last seasons. It's moot, though, because as long as the Phillies remain competitive this season they'll be doing so behind Hamels's left arm.

It all starts rolling tonight, when Mike "Twelfth-best SNLVAR in the NL" Pelfrey takes on Brett "Smack mah bitch up" Myers.

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.

I'm a little late with the recap, but this was a really great win for the Mets. I guess at this point in the season they're probably all really great wins, so this one was no exception. Jon Niese was nervous/erratic in his big league debut, walking four and allowing five runs on seven hits in three-plus innings. The Mets had built an early 5-1 lead, but Niese was rocked in that third inning and the four-run cushion evaporated.

The next six innings were dominated by the pitchers, as both teams' offenses were held almost completely in check. The Mets broke through in the tenth with a run off Salomon Torres, and despite a shaky bottom of the inning by Luis Ayala, the Mets held on for the 6-5 win. Cole Hamels was busy dominating the Nationals, so the Mets' win keeps them two games in front in the NL East.

2pm start time this afternoon, so it's a shower, a shave, and get yer ass back out there.

Big winners: Carlos Beltran, +20.8% WPA, Luis Ayala, +20.8% WPA
Big losers: Jon Niese, -36.1% WPA, Damion Easley, -13.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Reyes sac bunt/error in 10th, +22.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Tatis double-play in 6th vs Mota, -14.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +38.2%
Total batter WPA: +11.8%
GWRBI: Endy Chavez

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

In what is perhaps the cosmic universe's response to my column the other day about the scarcity of cycles, the almighty watchmaker today gave us not one but two cycles. When better than on Labor Day for Stephen Drew and Adrian Beltre to work it, so to speak.

Drew's cycle went single, triple, homerun, double, double. The first double was of the ground-rule variety, and it'd be interesting to know how many cycles were completed by a ground-ruler (this one wasn't, technically, since Drew would've hat a cycle with the second double anyway). Beltre went homerun, single, single, double, triple, saving the toughest for last.

Drew's cycle was the third in D-Backs history and the first since Greg Colbrunn did it in 2002. The other D-Back cycle was Luis Gonzalez in 2000. Beltre's was the fourth in Mariners history, and the first since John Olerud did it in 2001 (Olerud also cycle'd for the Mets). The other Mariner cycles were Alex Rodriguez in 1997 and Jay Buhner in 1993.