Both The New York Post and The Daily News are reporting that Carlos Beltran will likely take the field tonight as the Mets play the Marlins at 7:10 p.m. His willingness to start playing again even though the Mets are clearly out of any contention is welcome.

That leaves open the question of who sits in favor of Beltran. Will it be Angel Pagan, who has dutifully patrolled center field in Beltran’s absence, albeit with poor results at times? Or will it be Cory Sullivan who has really come into his own recently?

Either way, it’ll still be nice to see that extra bat in the lineup, even if it is a little slower and weaker than it used to be.

Brian Schneider has been mentoring new Mets catcher Josh Thole, who had a quick calll-up and only a few days to get used to all of the pitchers.

John Maine could make a start Saturday against the Phillies because it’s a double header. He pitched in a Minor League game Saturday and went four innings and allowed no runs.

The Mets are off on Labor Day, but they’ll take on the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night. Tim Redding takes the mound as they continue to try to play the role of spoiler, which they did successfully against the Chicago Cubs, whom they beat twice in their three-game series. It was the first series the Mets have won since the end of July.

Derrek Lee went deep twice and drove in three runs in his return to the lineup, leading Rich Harden and Chicago to a 5-3 victory over the Mets yesterday. Mets starter Nelson Figueroa, who allowed four runs, wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been in his last few outings.

Read the rest of the wrap-up.

Just three days after surgery on his left elbow to remove bone chips, Johan Santana jokingly said he’s ready to pitch in Tuesday’s game. That won’t happen, but Santana nonetheless is optimistic about being ready for Spring Training.

Meanwhile, Bobby Parnell pitched a gem last night, going seven innings, striking out seven and allowing no runs. The Mets’ bats came alive, too, with an offensive barrage in the eighth inning against the Cubs, who are clinging on to Wild Card hopes.

Read more.

It was the second straight Mets win, which hasn’t happened in awhile. They hope to keep it going today as Nelson Figueroa faces Rich Harden at 1:10 p.m.

Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur  RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Omir Santos C
Anderson Hernandez SS
Bobby Parnell (3-7, 5.80 ERA) P

Parnell tries to rebound against the Cubs who tagged him for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in his last start. The experiment of Parnell as starter hasn’t gone well so far. His ERA is over 10 and he is 1-4 in five starts.

Today’s starter Pat Misch and new call-up Josh Thole barely had a chance to get to know each other before being thrown into the fire together in today’s game. They had a bullpen session a couple of days ago to try to get on the same page.

Other than a passed ball early in today’s game, they both seemed to settle in pretty nicely. Misch got his first Major League win as he pitched seven strong innings, only allowing back-to-back solo shots.

Thole, in his first Major League at-bat, hit a single and then stole second base. His mother could be heard whooping over the radio broadcast. He would get another hit, going 2-for-5 at the plate. Not bad for his first game in the bigs.

Thole’s hits were two of the 16 the Mets had today. Angel Pagan and David Wright were on fire with three hits each. Wright drove in three runs. Daniel Murphy drove in two more off a two-run homer in the ninth inning that ruined a save opportunity for Francisco Rodriguez.

Once again, the Mets showed how difficult it is to sweep a series. Even though they haven’t been winning many games lately, they have avoided sweeps to the Cubs, the Rockies, the Marlins, the Braves and Phillies. That means they’ve won just one game in every one of those series.

The last time they won more than a game in a series was against the Giants in the middle of August when they took two games out of four. Before that they won only one game per series dating back to the end of July when they couldn’t quite sweep the Rockies in a four-gamer. So, series against the Rockies have bookended a pretty bad stretch of baseball for the Mets. They earned just their 60th win of the season with today’s game.

Bobby Parnell faces Carlos Zambrano when the Mets play the Cubs at Citi Field on Friday night.

Angel Pagan CF
Anderson Hernandez 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Josh Thole C
Wilson Valdez SS
Pat Misch (0-1, 3.41 ERA) P

Misch makes his second start with the Mets after a successful debut against the Cubs last weekend when he allowed only one earned run in seven innings. He will see a different face from the one we’re used to seeing behind the plate.

Josh Thole, who was brought up from Double-A Binghamton, will make his Major League debut as a catcher. He’s just 22 years old but was blasting the ball in the minors, batting .328 in the Bing. It’s very early but it would be great to have a young catcher who can hit for once. Brian Schneider probably won’t be back next year.

If Thole performs well in September and in Spring Training, he could find himself as a starter next season. However, knowing the Mets, he’ll probably rupture his knee in the off-season or not live up to his potential like Nick Evans. Still, it’ll be interesting to watch.

John Maine is getting closer to active duty as he’s been throwing live batting practice and bullpen sessions. Jerry Manuel hopes to get him into a couple of games before the end of the season.

You can pretty much scratch Gary Sheffield for the rest of the season. He’s nursing an aching back and the Mets probably won’t use him unless they’ve run out of bench players in a game. Neither the management nor Sheffield seem interested in taking the risk.

Carlos Beltran went 1-for-3 in his first rehab game with the Brooklyn Cyclones yesterday.

The outfield dimensions at Citi Field will stay the same if Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya have anything to say about it, and they did.

Tim Redding had another solid outing, allowing only two runs in 6 2/3 innings and striking out six. Brian Stokes took the loss as he allowed three runs to break the tie in the eighth inning.

Read the wrap-up.

Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Fernando Tatis 3B
Brian Schneider C
Wilson Valdez SS
Tim Redding (2-4, 5.94 ERA) P

As Jerry Manuel said, David Wright is sitting out this game, just a day after he returned to the lineup and went 1-for-3 at the plate. Manuel said he wants to take it easy with Wright at first to see how he reacts to that first full game played. If he seems OK today and tomorrow, look to see Wright in the lineup more often through the rest of the year.

Redding tries to maintain his last few quality starts. He’s still prone to the home run, especially in Denver, so he’ll try to cut down on those. He’s been pitching better than Pelfrey for sure. Of course, who hasn’t?

The New York Mets today announced the expansion of the Citi Field Fanwalk outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda to include a new offering of bricks that will be installed along the first and third base sides of the Rotunda for the 2010 season.

Citi Field Fanwalk: Amazin’ Moments will provide fans the opportunity to recognize their families, friends, and favorite Mets moments within a new area of the Fanwalk that will graphically honor some of the greatest moments in Mets history.

Bricks will go on sale this Friday, Sept. 4 at Mets.com/Fanwalk or by phone at 877-NYM-WALK (696-9255).

The new offering follows the sell out of more than 18,000 Citi Field Fanwalk bricks outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda prior to the inaugural season at the new Mets home.

Fans will be able to purchase bricks in three sizes:

• 8” x 8” brick engraved with the Mets script logo and four lines of text for $395


• 8” x 8” brick with six lines of text for $340


• 4” x 8” brick with three lines of text for $195

A portion of each brick purchase is tax deductible and net proceeds will be donated to the Mets Foundation, which will distribute the funds to area charities. A registered 501© 3 charity, the Mets Foundation takes no portion of the funds raised to offset internal costs. The Mets pay 100 percent of the Foundation’s overhead to ensure that the entirety of a donation is directed toward helping others.

Forget Oliver Perez. Mike Pelfrey is the new Jekyll & Hyde of this team. The only pitcher left from the Opening Day roster sure isn’t pitching like one.

In last night’s 8-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies, Pelfrey was horrendous after getting a 2-0 lead in the first inning. He allowed two three-run homers and seven runs in all, lasted just four innings and walked five, the same number as in his last game. Read the game wrap-up.

In last night’s game, David Wright returned to the lineup, wearing that monstrosity of a helmet. It didn’t bring him any special luck as he had a hit, a walk and two strikeouts. It was nice to see him back with the team, but that helmet definitely was both a distraction and amusing to watch.

Wright kept fidgeting with the helmet, which is so large it makes him look like a little kid with an adult-sized hat. He kept pushing it down on top of his head. He tried to steal second and when he dove head first for a slide, the darn thing popped right off his head and rolled past second base. Now, it didn’t look like the best slide in the world, but what good is it if it doesn’t stay on your head? Read more about Wright’s return at Mets.com.

The New York Mets today announced that lefthanded pitchers Johan Santana and Oliver Perez each underwent successful surgery this morning at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Santana had successful arthroscopic removal of multiple bone fragments from his left elbow. Perez underwent successful removal of scar tissue from the patella tendon of his right knee.

Santana and Perez are both expected to make full recoveries and be ready for 2010 Spring Training.

Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek performed both procedures.

Last week’s question was: Which Met, who hasn’t yet been on the disabled list this season, will make a trip there next?

Although there were many more options, I’m only posting the results of the ones who got votes:
Johan Santana: 48 percent
Jeff Francoeur: 24 percent
Omir Santos: 9 percent
Francisco Rodriguez: 6 percent
Luis Castillo: 12 percent

This one was answered pretty quickly after the question was initially posted as it was revealed a day later that Santana would undergo season-ending surgery to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow. This would be followed later that day, Aug. 25, with news that J.J. Putz also would be shut down for the season. A day later, it was announced Oliver Perez would get surgery on his troublesome knee to have scar tissue removed.

What makes this all the more amusing—and yes, it is laughable—is that so many players have been called up from Triple-A Buffalo to fill the Major League roster that the Mets are waiting almost a week before expanding their 40-man roster. Why? Because the Buffalo Bisons would barely have enough players to finish out the Triple-A season.

Wilson Valdez, Nelson Figueroa, Anderson Hernandez, Cory Sullivan, Ken Takahashi, Pat Misch, Elmer Dessens and Nick Evans all might be with the Bisons now had there not been so many injuries. You can pretty much match up the usual every-day player on the disabled list with the ones who should be in the minors.

Wilson Valdez = Jose Reyes
Ken Takahashi = J.J. Putz
Cory Sullivan= Carlos Beltran
Anderson Hernandez = Alex Cora (or bench player)
Nelson Figueroa = John Maine
Pat Misch = Oliver Perez
Elmer Dessens = Johan Santana
Nick Evans = Carlos Delgado

On top of that, you might as well put Gary Sheffield on the disabled list for all the good he’s doing the team right now. Wright should finally be back on Tuesday, perhaps with the new helmet with extra padding on his noggin. Beltran could be back by the end of this week or next.

On a side note, have you seen the new helmet? What did you think? It really is a whole lot bigger than the current ones. It looks more like a biking helmet than a baseball helmet. If it works and doesn’t slow the runner down, then I’m all for it. The new ones are supposed to be able to absorb a 100 mph fast ball.

This week’s question is: Will the return of David Wright and possibly Carlos Beltran renew your interest in at least watching the Mets games at all?

Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran this morning was examined by Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Beltran has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment playing without his knee brace.  He is scheduled to play this Wednesday night in Brooklyn with the Cyclones when they host Hudson Valley at KeySpan Park.