The Mets (26-25) take on the Padres (30-20) tonight in San Deigo. Hisanori Takahashi (4-1, 4.23) looks to continue his recent success against Kevin Correia (4-4, 4.03).

Takahashi has been excellent in his only starts of the season – allowing five hits in six scoreless innings against both the Yankees and Phillies. He should find his job a bit easier tonight against a relatively weak Padres lineup in spacious Petco Park.

Correia has been solid for San Diego so far this season, especially in Petco. While pitching at home, he has allowed more than 3 earned runs only once. That rough start came after a 12-day layoff, following the untimely death of his brother. Last season, Correia was 4-6 at home with a 3.68 ERA, while holding opposing batters to a .236 BA.

Here is the lineup, as per the Mets PR team:

Jose Reyes- SS
Alex Cora – 2B
Jason Bay – LF
Ike Davis – 1B
David Wright – 3B
Angel Pagan – CF
Rod Barajas – C
Jeff Francoeur – RF
Hisanori Takahashi – LHP

First pitch at 10:05pm Eastern.

Discuss…

And feel free to leave links to any Mets-related links you’d like to discuss. That includes Tweets, Twitpics, articles, videos… etc. That’s why it’s called an OPEN thread…

In an earlier post, I outlined some of the possibilities surrounding the future of Oliver Perez. Mike Puma of the NY Post reports that several Mets players want Ollie gone asap. One of the unnamed players had a great line about how the Mets might use Ollie if he stays in the bullpen:

“What, we need another 20-inning game and then use him after we’ve used all our pitchers and if a position player’s sinker isn’t biting?” the player said.

With the Mets suddenly in the thick of the NL East race with a 26-25 record, they continue to look for an answer to the Oliver Perez situation. Right now, Ollie is languishing in the bullpen after refusing to go to Buffalo to work out his problems in AAA. Neither the Mets nor Team Ollie (population: Scott Boras) wants to see Perez in the bullpen, but he will remain there until someone blinks.

So what can be done?

ESPN’s Adam Rubin is reporting that the Mets still think they can get Perez to accept a minor league assignment. But even if Ollie accepts the assignment, there is no guarantee it would work. Going to AAA might help Ollie by forcing him to focus, but the move could just as easily embarrass him and send his mental state spinning off in another direction, even farther from where he needs to be.

Mike Flam of The New York Times thinks the Mets should take a different path with their troubled southpaw. Rather than demote Ollie, Flam suggests the Mets might be better off releasing Perez. He points out that the Tigers recently got rid of their own troubled southpaw when they designated Dontrelle Willis for assignment.

Bill Price of The Daily News thinks the Mets should consider a Willis-for-Perez swap, basically trading one troubled lefty for another. A change of scenery is a longshot, but it could be the only solution left for either pitcher.

What do you think the Mets should do with Ollie?

ESPN New York – To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first episode of “Seinfeld,” Mark Simon has a list of the show’s many Mets references.

OnTheBlack – Kerel Cooper highlights the many streaks of the 2010 New York Mets. It’s been a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

Daily News – Matt Gagne has a great article about R.A. Dickey’s life as a journeyman knuckleballer. (Note: Check out Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four” if you want to read about the day-to-day madness of being a journeyman knuckleballer)

The Mets Police – Shannon Shark relieves the infamous Tom Seaver trade, via Faith and Fear in Flushing and this SI article.

ESPN – Adam Rubin reports that Padres closer Heath Bell is still sore at the Mets on account of how he was treated in his days with the team. He seems to have a point, but it might be time to let it go, dontcha think?

Daily News – Bill Madden thinks Omar Minaya has done a better job than Brian Cashman so far this season. It’s a long season, Bill. And Cashman has a pretty lengthy track record of putting solid teams on the field. Just sayin…

*Bonus Link* Hangin’ ’em up – After reading the Tom Seaver article at Mets Police, I looked up Steve Henderson’s career stats… which led me to Henderson’s stint with the Senior Professional Baseball Association (SPBA)… The SPBA was a short-lived over-35 professional baseball league. In the league’s first season, George Foster led the league with 11 home runs, followed by Dave Kingman (8), and Bobby Bonds (5).