The Mets travel to the West for a one-week swing on the Left Coast before returning home on July 24. They open today against the San Diego Padres before moving on to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in what could be their most difficult week of the month.

Though they’re currently one game behind the Dodgers in the standings, the Padres are regarded by many to be the best team in the National League. That’s right, Mets fans — pull your head out of the sand. The Padres, on paper, have superior pitching, comparable defense, and an offense that is awful but good enough to win behind the first two components. And as we know, great pitching usually beats good hitting (unless you are the 1974 Mets).

Game One: Jorge Sosa vs. David Wells

We have no idea how Sosa will respond after tweaking his hamstring two weeks ago. If he’s completely healthy, the vast expanse of Petco Park should help his cause.

David Wells is having a down year, and he showed his frustrations to the world in an animated tirade against an umpire a week ago. He walks more people than he used to, but that won’t affect the Mets’ walkless offense. He may, however, have some trouble getting the ball all the way to the catcher if he throws too many of those 82-MPH fastballs at the letters. His curveball is still pretty sharp, though, and his changeup remains one of the better ones in the NL. Unless Rickey Henderson has had an instant impact, it’s likely the Mets batters will swing early on his pitches — and either knock him out by the fourth, or make him look like its 1995 again.

Game Two: Orlando Hernandez vs. Jake Peavy

El Duque will be greatly helped by the size of Petco and the punchless Padre lineup. However, he might have to pitch a shutout to win this game.

That’s because Jake Peavy will be on the hill in the top half of innings, and he’s in the middle of what may turn out to be the best season of his career. If the Mets can’t score more than one run off Matt Belisle, you think they’re gonna reach Peavy? Let’s just hope he doesn’t spin a no-hitter and whatever we can muster after that, will be a pleasant surprise. (My prediction: El Duque collects the Mets only two hits.)

Game Three: John Maine vs. Greg Maddux

Maine got roughed up in his last start but will rebound against the Padres. He’ll have to — he’s the stopper and there’s a good chance he’ll be following a loss.

Maddux has always been a thorn in the Mets’ side, and continues to annoy all of us with his sh*t-eating grin. Like his former teammate Tom Glavine, much of his success depends on how much of the plate the umpire gives him. But, again, that won’t mean much against the free-swinging Mets. There is one bit of optimism: the Mets pounded him last year to the tune of a 7.36 ERA. However, that 2006 lineup pounded a lot of pitchers — this 2007 version is disgraceful imposter.

Mets Bats

Other than the recent spark provided by Lastings Milledge, the Mets lineup isn’t exactly exciting anyone yet in the first half. Yes, they just took three out of four from the Reds, but Cincinnati is a dying team in last place and the Mets won by the skin of their teeth in two of the games — both against pedestrian pitchers. In fact, in their three wins, they scored a total of only 10 runs — facing two starters with more than ten losses, and all with ERAs around five.

Milledge is hitting well enough — and the rest of the lineup poorly enough — that he may move up a few spots in the order. However he’s doing well in the #8 spot, so who knows — maybe it’s a good thing to have some firepower at the bottom.

Shawn Green is starting to get some good swings on the ball, and Carlos Delgado seems to be out of his season-long slump. Jose Reyes is doing his thing at the top of the order, but there is a gaping void in the number three spot. It’s time for Carlos Beltran to start hitting already.

Padres Bats

Ah, the chink in San Diego’s armor. The Padres are last in MLB in hitting (tied with the Chicago White Sox), with a batting average (.243) resembling those aforementioned ’74 Mets. Veteran outfielder Brian Giles is a shell of his former self (huh, his stats have plummeted ever since steroid testing began), his brother Marcus is batting .240, the NL has caught up to Adrian Gonzalez (.262), and Jose Cruz Jr. was their starting leftfielder until very recently. How strong can an offense be when Mike Cameron is second on the team in batting average?

Still, San Diego does have its offensive threats. Young shortstop Khalil Greene is only batting .240, but when he’s hot he hits homeruns in bunches (BTW, he hit one on Saturday). Newly acquired Milton Bradley is hitting .313 this year, and as usual has a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. Rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff was hitting .108 as of the first week of May but since has hit .308 (48-for-156) with 12 doubles, eight homers and 32 RBIs — he’s also sent two over the fence in this young second half. Though Brian Giles’ production and power is down, he’s still a professional hitter who will get key hits, and Gonzalez could be coming out of his slump.

Bottom Line

The more you look at the Padres, the more they really do resemble a mid-1970s Mets team, though with a much deeper bullpen. If the Mets couldn’t find their strokes against the bush leaguers the Reds threw at them, it’s hard to believe they’ll start hitting against the best pitching in all of MLB (the Padres lead the rest of the Majors in ERA by over half a run). What makes things more difficult is that Petco Park is one of the hardest places to hit a homerun, and the Mets have relied on the long ball all year for their scoring. Someone will need to wake up Carlos Beltran, and the team will need to suddenly remember how to manufacture runs if they’re going to take a game or two in this series.

Mets 5 Reds 2

This was a series the Mets really had to take 3 out of 4 — partially because as a first-place team they need to dominate last-place teams, and also to give them some momentum and confidence going into their West Coast trip against some very tough competition in the Padres and Dodgers.

Oliver Perez did not have his best stuff, and struggled a bit with his command, but stayed focused, worked with what he had, and turned out his eighth win of the season. Ollie pitched six innings and gave up two runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out six.

The Mets bullpen was nearly perfect, with Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Billy Wagner spinning three shutout innings and allowing just one hit. Remarkably, Feliciano gave up the only hit despite pitching the shortest inning — six pitches total.

On the offensive side, Lastings Milledge once again was a hero, driving in two runs in the second with a double — only moments after Ramon Castro hit a run-scoring double of his own. That three-run third was all the Mets needed to win the game, though they did add two insurance runs on a Jose Reyes homer in the sixth.

Notes

Reyes and Castro were the only Mets with more than one hit, both going 2-for-3.

Ruben Gotay finally stopped hitting, going 0-for-4 and dropping his average to under .340. I will take complete responsibility — I added him to my fantasy team on Saturday night, which is pretty much the kiss of death.

Web Gems

Perez didn’t pitch well, but got by on guts and was the recipient of a few outstanding defensive plays.

Milledge made a great catch in the first inning on a fly ball off the bat of Jeff Conine that may have saved a run. Norris Hopper, a quick runner, was on first and had the ball fallen in, Hopper might have scored or at least made it to third. Hopper was erased only moments later on a pickoff play.

Wright, Gotay, and Carlos Delgado pulled off a fantastic double play in the fourth. After Jeff Conine walked, Brandon Phillips hit a sizzler down the third base line that Wright backhanded, got to Gotay, who made an acrobatic turn while getting dumped by Phillips. Delgado smoothly handled Gotay’s throw on the short hop to complete the DP. The next batter, Adam Dunn, nearly knocked down the scoreboard with solo homer that would have otherwise been a three-run shot.

Huh?

Gary Cohen made a bizarre statement in the first inning, wondering aloud if Ruben Gotay would be able to take enough pitches to allow Reyes to steal second base. Apparently he hadn’t noticed that Gotay has been taking more pitches and getting into deeper counts than anyone on the Mets this year. As it was, Gotay struck out looking — mainly because he took strike one and strike two waiting for Reyes to steal (he didn’t go until Beltran was up).

Too Sexy for His Shoes

David Wright is a fashion disaster combining those Todd Zeile high socks with the spikes that look like bowling shoe rentals.

Next Game

The Mets travel to San Diego to start a one week West Coast swing. Jorge Sosa comes off the DL to face David Wells of the Padres in a 10:05 PM EST start.

Mets 2 Reds 1

There was no way Tom Glavine was losing this game.

Tom was terrific, pitching eight innings and allowing only one run — a solo homer by Brandon Phillips.

After allowing the Phillips homerun in the second, Glavine retired the next 16 batters in a row, before finally allowing a single to Ken Griffey Jr. in the top of the seventh. It would be the first and only time all night that Tom Glavine would throw from the stretch, and it would be the Reds’ last hit of the ballgame. Glavine smelled his 298th career victory and got it.

Meanwhile, he needed to pitch as well as he did, because once again the Mets batters were stymied by a mediocre pitcher. The Mets had Matt Belisle on the ropes in the first inning, as Ruben Gotay singled and Carlos Beltran walked to put runners on first and second with one out and the sluggers coming up. But David Wright struck out and Carlos Delgado flied out to center to let Belisle off the hook. Almost immediately after getting out of that jam, Brandon Phillips belted a homerun over centerfield to give Belisle a 1-0 lead and a jolt of motivation. That was all the momentum and confidence he needed to pitch over his head for the next five innings, as he shut out the Mets despite allowing the leadoff batter to reach base three times.

The fourth time that happened, however, turned out to be a charm. David Wright led off the sixth by hammering a single into left, then stole second after Delgado flied out. Paul LoDuca advanced him to third on a grounder to second, bringing Shawn Green up to the plate with two outs. Green took two pitches then fisted a fastball into short right field to score Wright and tie the game. It was Green’s first RBI in 16 games, and one he needed nearly as much as the Mets.

Two innings later, Green again came to bat with two outs, but this time with the bases cleared. He seared a line drive to leftfield that Adam Dunn could not catch despite a gloriously awkward, sliding-on-his-butt dive. The ground around Flushing shook with such force when Dunn came down that inspectors were sent to check the CitiField foundation later in the evening. Green wound up on second base with his 19th double of the season, and it was up to Lastings Milledge to drive him home. Reds interim manager had lefthanded specialist Mike Stanton pitch to Milledge despite his swinging a hot stick lately and despite Milledge being a righty and despite the fact the pitcher’s spot was up next. Naturally, Lastings bounced the first pitch he saw up the middle to score Green with the go-ahead (and winning) run.

Sandman entered to dispose of the Reds in short order and save Glavine’s game.

Notes

So far, Lastings Milledge is being everything the Mets need him to be in this young second half. If he can keep this up, we won’t need to worry about whether Moises Alou returns — though if Alou does return, Shawn Green may be the one to start worrying.

Green, by the way, was 2-for-4 for the second straight night. While his hot streaks no longer earn legendary status, we’ll be fine with his bloop singles and occasional doubles coming in clutch spots, as they did tonight.

Speaking of 2-for-4, Ruben Gotay did that too, and is now hitting .353. That Willie Randolph is one smart cookie, unearthing this gem of a ballplayer from the end of the bench and pressing him into starting duty. I don’t know how Willie is able to find these guys and know they’re going to do well — must be some kind of a sixth sense or something.

David Wright and Paul LoDuca were also part of the “dos en quatro club”. Tres of those were basura, however.

Gotay and Jose Reyes made splendid defensive plays on back-to-back pitches to end the sixth inning — Gotay a perfectly-timed dive on a popup behind him, Reyes a textbook backhand stab, turn and throw to nail the speedy Ryan Freel by a step. Glavine nearly sweat that inning, throwing nine pitches.

Next Game

Oliver Perez comes off the DL to face Kyle Lohse in a 1:10 PM start for the series finale. It would sure be nice to take three out of four.

Reds 8 Mets 4

Perhaps the reason for John Maine’s loss was that he had no losing streak to stop.

The Big Red Machine jumped on John for four runs in the first inning — courtesy of a grand slam by cleanup hitter Brandon Phillips — and added another four before it was all over to topple the Mets in front of a Friday night crowd of over 51,300 fans in Shea Stadium. In short, it was not a good day for John Maine.

It was, however, a splendid evening for Phillips, who finished 3-for-5 with 6 RBI. Cincinnati starter and human eclipse Aaron Harang had a decent night himself, going six innings, allowing three runs, and striking out eight en route to his tenth victory of the season.

The lone bright spot for the Mets was the first homerun of the season for Lastings Milledge, who appears to have brought his hot bat with him from the minors.

Notes

Mike Pelfrey came on to relieve Maine in the fifth. Is it possible someone among the Mets’ brass read my article on Flushing University regarding moving Pelfrey to the bullpen? (Most likely …. NOT!) Pelf allowed two hits, a walk, and a run in one and a third in his debut as a reliever. Not so hot, but on the bright side, there’s plenty of room for improvement!

Ruben Gotay went 2-for-5, including a double and another RBI. If he keeps this up Willie might be forced to start him on a regular basis. However, Gotay did make two errors on one play so maybe now he can’t be trusted in the field.

Carlos Delgado continues to swing a hot bat, also hitting a double and collecting two hits in three tries and driving in a run. His buddy Shawn Green finally broke out of his own slump, with two hits and a stolen base, his seventh of the season.

After Pelfrey was removed, the Mets bullpen pitched three scoreless innings to finish the game — one each by Guillermo Mota, Scott Schoeneweis, and Aaron Heilman. The Show is really proving his worth as a man you can count on in games that are out of hand.

Next Game

The Mets and Reds do it again at 7:10 PM on Saturday night at Shea. Tom Glavine goes for number 298 against Matt Belisle. IMHO, it’s a “must win” for the Mets and for Glavine — not because they have to fend off the surging second-place Braves as much as the Reds are a team they MUST take at least two, and preferably three, from. The Mets will be facing some tough teams in the West next week, and therefore need to take advantage of last-place squads such as Cincinnati.

Mets 3 Reds 2

It was a good way to start off the second half of the season — in many respects.

First of all, Orlando Hernandez pitched a masterful ballgame, going six complete innings and allowing only two runs on three hits and three walks, while striking out seven. Truth is, the Reds would not have scored at all if El Duque had not suddenly and inexplicably lost the strike zone for about a ten-minute period.

After Jose Reyes and Ruben Gotay hit back-to-back homeruns to lead off the bottom half of the first and put the Mets ahead 2-zip, El Duque walked Adam Dunn, struck out Edwin Encarnacion, allowed a single to Alex Gonzalez, then struck out catcher David Ross and appeared to be out of the inning as opposing pitcher Bronson Arroyo (batting .081) stepped to the plate. However, he walked Arroyo to load the bases, and then fell behind 2-0 to Scott Hatteberg as his fastball continued to veer far from the strike zone. Eventually, Hatteberg drove a liner to right that Shawn Green dove for, but could not come up with, driving in Dunn and Gonzalez and sending Arroyo to third. Hernandez regrouped to get Ryan Freel to popup to David Wright to end the inning, and then retired 12 of the next 13 Cincinnati batters — with only Ken Griffey reaching base on a walk in the third.

The game remained tied at two until the bottom of the fifth. Lastings Milledge — promoted earlier in the day — led off the inning with a sharp basehit to right. El Duque could not get the sacrifice down and struck out, and Jose Reyes lined out to left. With two outs and Milledge still on first base, Ruben Gotay stepped to the plate. Gotay worked the count to 2-2, fouled off a few pitches, and then hit a low liner to shallow center while Milledge was in motion. Centerfielder Ryan Freel made a valiant stab, but could not catch the ball on a fly and it rolled under his body. Milledge never broke stride rounding second, and was waved around third as Freel fumbled for the ball. The hustling Lastings and the ball reached the plate at the same time, but Milledge made a leaping slide/dive over and around catcher David Ross, and slapped the plate just before the tag to score the go-ahead — and eventually, winning — run.

Joe Smith pitched a perfect seventh, Pedro Feliciano threw a seven-pitch, perfect eighth, and Billy Wagner closed out the ninth to earn his 18th save.

Notes

In case you missed it:

• Lastings Milledge was recalled
• Julio Franco was DFA’d
• Hitting coach Rick Down was fired
• Rickey Henderson was hired — though not necessarily as batting coach
• Jose Valentin hurt his finger during an “altercation” over the break

But nothing else of note occurred yesterday.

Ruben Gotay — playing only because of Valentin’s finger injury — went 2-for-4 with a homerun and two RBI, and is now hitting over .340. That said, odds are 5-to-1 he starts in Friday night’s game.

There were two balls that Shawn Green didn’t catch, but Carlos Gomez might have. In the first, Griffey lined the ball into right-center, and Green got a good jump, dove, but could only trap the ball and smother it, holding Griffey to a single. In truth, it was probably a ball Carlos Beltran should have had — but since the Cameron incident, he’s pretty shy around hard-charging rightfielders. In the second inning, with two out and the bases loaded, Hatteberg’s line drive to right was just out of the reach of an again-diving Green. He didn’t get a great jump on the ball — its low altitude seemed to throw him off at first, and by the time he realized he might be able to snare it, it was a second too late. Granted, El Duque shouldn’t have been that far in the inning — he walked the pitcher preceding Hatteberg — but the ball might have been catchable by a young and fleet Gomez (or Endy Chavez). If Green doesn’t start hitting soon, he could find himself on the bench if and when Moises Alou ever reappears.

In the second inning, El Duque hit a single up the middle, then stole second without drawing a throw, and found his way to third on a wild pitch. He was stranded there when Jose Reyes was picked off first by Bronson Arroyo.

Next Game

John Maine goes for his eleventh win of the season against Matt Belisle in another 7:10 PM start. Rickey Henderson says that Rickey will be in New York and in uniform and right by Will-o’s side.