With the Pirates getting the young outfielder they wanted — Jose Tabata — they might be less inclined to trade Jason Bay. Though, insiders believe they’re still shopping Bay in the hopes of landing more prospects — particularly another arm. MLB.com’s “Trade Talk” blog suggests that Bay could have been had by the Braves for Brent Lillibridge, a top A-ball pitching prospect, and another prospect. If that’s true, the Mets might have a shot of assembling a “no F-Mart” package — though I imagine Jon Niese, Nathan Vineyard, or one of their better pitching prospects would have to be part of the package, as well as David Murphy, an infielder hitting well for the B-Mets. If that’s true, to me it’s a no-brainer: get Bay in here for the stretch run and all of ’09.

The Red Sox don’t have many options if they are serious about trading Manny Ramirez, since there are few teams who can give them a comparable bat in return AND are willing to pay his exorbitant salary AND are willing to put up with his frequent “Manny being Manny” episodes. As suggested here this morning, perhaps the Mets could get a third team involved … maybe the aforementioned Pirates and Jason Bay? For example, the Mets might send prospects to Pittsburgh, the Pirates send Bay to Boston, and the Red Sox send Manny to the Mets. It would be a complex deal, but I’m certain that Omar Minaya is doing everything he can to bring Ramirez to Flushing. Getting him into the lineup is almost a guarantee — in my mind — that the Mets make the postseason.

Any rumors of the Mets dealing for Brian Tallet can be put to rest, as Tallet has broken his toe and will be out for three weeks. Fine with me. Rumors of Mets pursuing Tallet, Arthur Rhodes, Jack Taschner, or any of these other phony baloney LOOGYs make no sense to me — none of them are any better than Scott Schoeneweis or Pedro Feliciano, so why bother?

If the Mets don’t do the impossible and bring a big bat such as Bay, Manny, or Matt Holliday, they will focus on one of several underwhelming door prizes. Buzz surrounds Raul Ibanez, Randy Winn, Marcus Thames, and some other pretenders. Personally, you can keep Ibanez and Thames. Winn would be an OK last-ditch guy because he plays all facets of the game well, he’s a good clubhouse guy, and he should come in return for next to nothing. These options remind me of 2006, when the Mets were going hard after Moises Alou at the deadline, but had to settle for Shawn Green after the deadline. I can see the Mets sending a fringe A-ball player to San Francisco for Winn in mid-August. Winn would have to be paid $8.5M in ’09, but looking at the slop available in this winter’s free agent market, that might turn out to be a very fair salary for a stopgap in left field while the Mets wait for Fernando Martinez. Unlike others, I don’t believe F-Mart will be ready when Citi Field opens next year, so the Mets would be smart to pick up a veteran who is untethered after ’09. Yeah, I’d love to have someone with more power than Winn, but as a last resort, you could do worse.

I’m not understanding the fascination the Mets supposedly have for Thames. He’s a streak hitter who hits homeruns when he’s hot, but offers little else. He strikes out a TON — even when hot — rarely walks, hits for a low average, is only average in the field, is below average on the bases, and has trouble against righthanders. Add in the fact that he’s having more trouble against lefties than righties this season, and you wonder how he has any value at all. If the Mets are seriously considering Thames, I suggest they instead trade a fringe prospect to Texas for AAAA outfielder Nelson Cruz, who is essentially the same player but will come cheaper and has a chance to be slightly better all-around.

Let’s forget about Brian Fuentes, particularly if the asking price is Aaron Heilman. Even with Duaner Sanchez struggling, I don’t think trading away top prospects for a reliever is necessary, nor prudent. For a position player — someone who will play every day and send 25-30 balls over the wall, yes. A guy you use for one inning 70 times a year, no.

With the news that Manny Ramirez is unhappy in Boston (ho-hum, what else is new?), we’d expect to hear at least some speculation regarding the Mets’ interest in the sour star.

But nothing — not a whisper.

Strange, isn’t it?

After all, Manny has been unhappy in Boston every year for the past, oh, six years. But this time, boy, oh THIS TIME, he’s serious. No, really. Really, he’s serious. Really.

For at least five of those six years, the Mets seemed at the center of any trade rumors. Lastings Milledge was traded for Manny about a dozen times in the rumor mills, before finally being dealt to Washington. This time, though, we’re hearing nothing — zilch — from the Mets and from the moles.

According to one of the most informed moles in the business, Jon Heyman:

“While Mets GM Omar Minaya is a longtime admirer, it appears the Mets have little or no interest.”

Hmm … that tells me that Minaya is working feverishly to find a way to get Manny to Queens. Because although Heyman is one of the better journalists at digging up dirt, for some reason, the Mets manage to keep all their trades a secret. We’ve beat this drum before, but I’ll refresh the subject briefly: who knew about any of the Mets trades and signings before they became a reality? The Johan deal was the first in Minaya’s tenure that was leaked, but even that one was kept a secret until the deal was pretty much done. No one saw the Milledge-Church-Schneider deal coming. The Guillermo Mota – Johnny Estrada deal came out of nowhere. The pattern continues as you back over nearly every transaction. Ironically, one of the only acquisitions that was leaked, ended up being revoked — the “signing” of Yorvit Torrealba.

So my theory is this: because there is NO talk of the Mets going after Manny, the Mets MUST be going after Manny. I have no sources backing this theory; it came from the thin air. Further, it makes no sense, since the Mets have no expendable goods that would be valuable to the Red Sox in return for Manny. Ramirez, after all, is one of the top three hitters in all of MLB — how could the Bosox possibly fill his spot in the lineup with someone from the Mets’ organization?

Ah, but perhaps they won’t have to. Perhaps there is a third team involved — say, the Colorado Rockies, who have Matt Holliday. Maybe the Mets can put together a package of players to send to Colorado, which will send Holliday to Boston and in turn Manny home to New York. Or maybe the third team is the Rangers, who have Milton Bradley and Hank Blalock, among others, to offer.

Don’t bet on it … but crazier things have happened at the deadline.

Mets 9 Cardinals 1

Jerry Manuel said he needed Johan Santana to pitch deep into the game. Johan did one better — he finished it.

Santana allowed just one run on six hits in nine innings — a complete game, I think they call it. He walked one and struck out five, throwing an extremely efficient 118 pitches (about 13 pitches per inning). And finally, Santana was supported by the offense.

The Mets exploded for 17 hits and 9 runs, with homeruns from David Wright, Fernando Tatis, and Ramon Castro. Jose Reyes and Tatis each swatted two doubles, as the Mets collected 7 extra-base hits on the day.

It was a much-needed effort from Johan after that 14-inning marathon the night before, and a refreshing outburst from the bats, which had previously been stingy about giving Santana run support.

Notes

Wright and Tatis each had three hits, as six Mets had a multiple-hit game. Even Santana went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Heck, let’s point out one further — Carlos “The Phantom” Beltran had two hits in five turns at bat. Hopefully he’s out of his funk.

Beltran, in fact, finally drove in a run, though whether you’d call it “clutch” is debatable. He drove in th second run of the game to put the Mets ahead 2-0. He also made a spectacular catch in the seventh, jumping over the centerfield wall at the 410 sign to steal a homerun from Ryan Ludwick. A few pitches later, Albert Pujols hit a homer over the left-center wall.

In the sixth, Johan hit a booming, high fly ball down the right field line that he assumed was going to go foul into the stands. So instead of busting it out of the box, Santana watched it for a moment, then kind of accepted that it would go foul. However, the ball bounced off the wall in fair territory, and Johan suddenly realized he had to at least jog to first. Had he run right away, he would have had a double easily, even running half-speed. This scene was EXACTLY the same as the one that occurred last year, near this time, with Jose Reyes. You remember — Jose hit a grounder, thought it was going foul, and didn’t run. The ball bounced fair, with Reyes standing in the box, and he was benched for “loafing”. I wonder … would Willie Randolph have benched Santana for doing the exact same thing that Reyes did? If he didn’t, would that be right? Let’s take it a step further — if a non-pitcher does what Santana did, will Jerry Manuel reprimand that player? And will it be OK to be inconsistent? I guess my point is, does Santana get a free pass because a) he’s a pitcher; and/or b) he is someone above everyone else on the roster?

I’m not nitpicking or being critical here — I’m curious to know YOUR thoughts on managerial consistency.

Tough day for Kyle Lohse, who entered the game with a 12-2 record and 3.35 ERA. He allowed 7 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings, watching his ERA balloon to 3.68.

As expected, Brandon Knight was DFA’d so he could join Team USA in preparation for the Olympics. In his place comes little lefty Willie Collazo, who was 4-6 with a 4.08 ERA in 31 appearances for the New Orleans Zephyrs. Collazo has split his time between starting and relief (11 games started).

Next Game

The Mets travel south to Florida to begin a three-game set with the Marlins. John Maine takes the mound against Ricky Nolasco at 7:10 pm on Monday night.

Cardinals 10 Mets 8

Aaron Heilman did not lose this game. Albert Pujols did not win this game. This game was decided by Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.

LaRussa’s starting pitcher went only four innings, yet when the 14th inning came around, the Redbirds had not only a fresh pitcher in the game, but another reliever at the ready in the bullpen. The Mets, on the other hand, were hoping against hope that they could squeeze another pitch or two out of their last reliever Aaron Heilman.

Unfortunately, Heilman had already thrown almost three full innings and was visibly fatigued on pitch #50 when he left a fastball up to Albert “The Best Hitter in MLB” Pujols, who hadn’t seen such an easy pitch to hit since BP before the game. Pujols deposited the pitch into the bleachers to give the Cardinals the lead. The scenario was predictable by anyone who saw Heilman struggle through retiring light-hitting Cesar Izturis to start the inning.

That was the ending. Let’s give an overview, going back to the beginning.

Brandon was no Knight in shining armor, getting rocked for four runs in the initial inning of his first big-league start. However, he settled down to shut out the Cardinals through the next four frames, and exited the game with a 5-4 lead — thanks to homeruns by Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado and an RBI double by Fernando Tatis.

However, Carlos Muniz gave the lead right back to the Redbirds, allowing three runs in one-third of an inning. Still, the Mets kept coming back, as Delgado’s second homerun of the game cut the Cardinal lead to 8-7. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth, when Tatis came through with a clutch solo homer to dead centerfield against Ryan Franklin. The game remained deadlocked until the fateful 14th.

Notes

The two teams combined for over 500 pitches (517 to be exact).

Oliver Perez was warming up in the bullpen at the end of the game. He should have been inserted immediately after Heilman retired Izturis. Heilman threw 57 pitches — 41 for strikes — which as my wife astutely pointed out, was more than half a game from a starter’s point of view. I imagine he’s unavailable until at least Tuesday or Wednesday, since he rarely throws more than 20 in any outing.

Nice that Jerry Manuel did the right thing and gave props to Aaron for “sucking it up” and taking one for the team in this game.

Dan Warthen made a trip to see Heilman in the 14th, and all I could think was, there’s nothing he can say to Aaron, but hopefully he has a greenie in his pocket he can slip him.

Duaner Sanchez finally retired a hitter, but was still shaky in pitching the eighth.

I imagine that Brandon Knight will immediately be sent back to the minors (and he’ll report to Team USA), and the Mets will bring up a reliever for some much-needed depth. Who, I’m not sure, and not sure that someone can report to NY that quickly. Maybe they’ll promote someone from Binghamton? Eddie Kunz? Only thing is, the B-Mets are in Ohio — not exactly close, though probably closer than the Zephyrs, who are currently in Utah. All the more reason a AAA squad in nearby Syracuse makes sense.

The Mets left 16 runners on base. The Cards did one better (or worse), stranding 17.

Speaking of stranded runners, is Carlos Beltran ever going to come through with a clutch hit? I want some stathead to prove me wrong, but it feels like Beltran gets few hits in what I see as “clutch” situations. Oh, wait, statheads don’t believe in “clutch” performances. I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how he has 70 RBI this year, because I only remember about a dozen. And just what pitch was Beltran looking for when he let that fastball glide over the inside part of the plate for strike one in the eighth with Endy on second and two out? Was he not paying attention when McClelland threw the EXACT SAME PITCH to the EXACT SAME LOCATION against Delgado one batter before?

Speaking of, I think Delgado might have been zoning middle-out when McClelland snuck that fastball by him (Delgado was a tad late, fouling it back). And that was the right approach in that situation — you had to guess that the Cardinals would not give him another pitch to pull over the right field fence, yet they did.

And speaking of Delgado, don’t look now but he now has 66 RBI, putting him in the top 15 in the NL. I am SO happy to be eating regular helpings of humble pie every night after dinner.

Someone please remind me of the bullpen “roles” that Master Manuel “established” when he took over as skipper? I’m a little confused. For example, I didn’t think Joe Smith was supposed to be pitching multiple innings and facing lefthanded hitters. Similarly, I didn’t think Scott Schoeneweis’ role was to pitch in the ninth inning of one-run games against a bevy of righthanded hitters. I don’t care that Scho pitched a scoreless inning — the point is, wasn’t he supposed to be either a LOOGY or a 6th inning guy? And is or isn’t Duaner Sanchez your setup man? And when did Carlos Muniz become the guy to bring in to hold one-run leads?

Don’t get me wrong — the way I see it, relievers have to pitch whenever they are needed. What I’m trying to point out here is that the concept of “bullpen roles” is nothing more than wishful thinking, and it is silly to shower praise on a manager who publicly announces the establishment of such idealism. In a perfect world, relievers have roles (i.e., during 10-game win streaks when everything is going right). The reality, however, is that managers rarely have that luxury, because there are too many variables and day-to-day occurrences out of your control that mess with the best laid plans.

Next Game

The final game of the series will be played at 1:10 pm. Johan Santana faces Kyle Lohse. Santana will have to pitch at least eight innings, and perhaps the manager will allow him to complete the game if he’s doing well.

With Pedro Martinez out of the country after the passing of his father, the Mets have replaced him on the roster and in the rotation with Brandon Knight.

Naturally, everyone is wondering who IS this “Knight” and is he arriving on a white horse? In shining armor?

Truth is, he’s not that kind of Knight, but he does bring a great story.

Knight is a 33-year-old righthander (bats left) who has been in the minors since age 19, earning only two very brief cups of coffee with the Yanks in ’01 and ’02. He was drafted out of Ventura College (a junior college / 2-year school), where he is their all-time leader in complete games (17), victories (18), and is 12th in batting average (.350). Ventura produced several other MLBers through the years, including Roger Erickson, Brook Jacoby, Noah Lowry, Robert Fick, and former Met Darren Reed. In fact, when Knight takes the mound on Saturday night, he will be only the second player to ever wear the uniforms of the Ventura Pirates, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets — whatever that’s worth.

Knight was a so-so prospect with the Rangers when he was traded with another minor leaguer in 1999 to the Yankees for Chad Curtis. Knight continued to be OK, not great, taking his turn every fifth day for the Columbus Clippers in 2000 and 2001, establishing himself as an innings-eater (he completed 8 games in ’00). It was enough to earn a spot as mopup man in the Yankee bullpen for extremely brief periods in ’01 and ’02, and he did not make the most of the scan opportunities. In 11 MLB games, he posted a 10.71 ERA.

Knight pitched in Japan from 2003-2005, before returning to the Pirates organization and pitching in 51 games as a reliever for Altoona (AA) in 2006. However, he was released after the season and seriously considered retirement. His “last chance” was to hook on with a team in Mexico, but it fell through and he had all but decided to quit and try his hand at coaching when former teammate Brett Jodie, the pitching coach for the Somerset Patriots, asked him to give it one more try in the independent league. Knight’s wife encouraged him to head to NJ, assuring him that she and their two kids would do OK for a while on their savings.

In 2007, Knight had a strong season — as did batterymate Robinson Cancel — but did not receive any professional offers. He returned to the Patriots in 2008, and after leading the league in strikeouts with 50 after his first six games, was signed by the Mets in May and assigned to New Orleans. He’s gone 5-1 with 49 strikeouts in 39 innings for the Zephyrs, and last week was named to the US Olympic Team. All ready to report to Team USA, the Mets changed their minds about letting him go and instead are sending him to the mound at Shea for his first big-league start against the Cardinals.

Already a great story, it can get a little bit better with a win tonight.

Mets 7 Cardinals 1

Mike Pelfrey did it again, with seven the lucky number.

Big Pelf won his seventh straight decision, pitching seven spectacular innings in which he allowed one run on seven hits, striking out 5 and walking none.

As usual, Pelfrey was given plenty of offensive support. The Mets scored one in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth off starter and loser Mitchell Boggs. The firepower came from several sources, with Argenis Reyes, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Delgado driving in two runs apiece. Argenis Reyes capped off the scoring by slamming a solo homer for the seventh Mets run in the seventh inning off reliever Brad Thompson.

Notes

Carlos Delgado’s hot stick is showing no signs of cooling. He hit his 20th homer of the season, a prodigious blast that nearly bounced off the scoreboard.

Endy Chavez was 4-for-5 hitting in the two hole, but scored only one run.

Jose Reyes hit his 12th triple of the season, and Wright ripped his 27th double.

Strange that Wright seems to get a hit just about every night, yet is hitting only .289. It feels like he should be around .300.

The Mets nearly re-created the ninth inning debacle of last Tuesday in their opener against the Phillies. Duaner Sanchez came on in relief with a six-run lead, and proceeded to load the bases without retiring a batter. Jerry Manuel was quick to remove him from the game, which to me was the wrong move. How now, after being pulled from two blowouts, will Sanchez have enough confidence to pitch in a tight situation? Unless there is something physically wrong with him — and there might be — he should have been given a chance to work his way out of the mess. The worst that could have happened was a grand slam, but the Mets still would have been up by two with Billy Wagner available. Had Dirty worked his way out, he would have built some confidence. Instead, Manuel managed the game like it was a one-run contest, using Pedro Feliciano to match up against the lefthanded-hitting Skip Schumaker and then bringing in Aaron Heilman to get righties Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols. Call me crazy, but doesn’t it seem a little nutty to have to use four relievers — and have your closer warming up at the end — in a game that your starter went seven innings and handed off a six-run lead?

I’m just waiting to hear someone else mention the “bullpen roles” that Manuel “established”. Where did those roles go in this game? Why is the setup man being used to close games you’re winning by large margins? Aren’t those situations for Carlos Muniz or Scott Schoeneweis?

If you would have done the same — burned through four of your top relievers with a six-run lead — then we’ve learned nothing from the bullpen collapse of last September. Don’t be surprised if it’s “deja vu all over again” when the worn-out relievers can’t buy an out down the stretch.

Enough of my negativity … the Phillies lost a laugher to the Braves, so the Mets now lead the NL East by two games!

Next Game

The Mets host the Cardinals again at 7:10 pm on Saturday evening. Almost Olympian Brandon Knight will make his first-ever MLB start — and first MLB appearance since wearing a Yankee uniform in 2002 — against Joel Pineiro.

As speculated, Xavier Nady returned to New York. However, not to the team we hoped.

The Yankees have just obtained Nady and Damaso Marte from the Pirates in return for Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata, George Kontos, and Phil Coke Dan McCutchen and Jeff Karstens.

What does that mean to the Mets?

Number one, it ends the rumors of X-man returning to Shea. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the deal raises the price for every other decent bat available on the trade market.

Though Tabata is having an off year, he’s still a few weeks shy of 19 years old and playing in AA. At one time he was considered the Yankees’ top hitting prospect, and was somewhere among their top 3 prospects at the time of the trade.

It could be argued that Tabata is on a similar level to Fernando Martinez — and if you buy into that comparison, then it might have cost the Mets a package of F-Mart, Jon Niese (who compares to McCutchen), and possibly Aaron Heilman.

So if that’s the package for Xavier Nady, what would the ransom be for Jason Bay? Matt Holliday? Heck, suddenly Raul Ibanez becomes expensive.

Of course, some will say that F-Mart is on a higher level than Tabata, and so the Yankees really didn’t give up that much. I’m not so sure. While Fernando Martinez projects as a power hitter, and Tabata’s ticket was as a hitter for average, it’s difficult to convince anyone that Martinez is in a different stratosphere from Tabata right now. After all, Martinez has hit only 5 homers in 256 at-bats — not exactly Ruthian. Yes, I know he’s only 19 years old, I’m simply pointing out that no one knows for sure, based on what he’s done so far, that he’ll be the next Juan Gonzalez (as Omar Minaya likes to say).

This Nady deal could be the first domino … watch for more deals to come in the next 72 hours.