The sluggish Mets ripped Arizona, the major league’s best team tonight. Closer Billy Wagner called out his team the other day by saying the Mets don’t match up with the Diamondbacks.

“I had nothing to do with this,” he said.

It all came together last night, even though John Maine has been sharper. For once, the offense carried the load and unlike Oliver Perez Wednesday against Pittsburgh, Maine found a way to go six.

IN A NUTSHELL, Mets 7, Arizona 2.

When Jose Reyes does well, so do the Mets. He had four hits and missed the cycle by a homer.

IN THE CLUBHOUSE

Moises Alou on returning to the line-up: “I felt good. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be.”

Willie Randolph on Jose Reyes hitting the game’s first pitch for a triple: “We talked about that before the game, swinging at the first pitch if it was a good fastball.”

Ryan Church on the Mets being 6-0 when he hits second: “We’ll take it.” Well, maybe not. Randolph basically called it a coincidence.

IN-GAME ANALYSIS

1ST INNING: The offense gives John Maine three. Maine not sharp in the first, but unlike Oliver Perez, he doesn’t have a meltdown when David Wright’s error extends the inning. Mets 3, Arizona 0.
2nd INNING: Offense puts pressure on with another run, but Maine looks anything but sharp. Mets 4, Arizona 2.
3rd INNING: Nice inning by Maine. He needed a quick one.
6th INNING: Wright’s homer might have broken it open. Maine sucks it up for another inning. Mets 7, Arizona 2.
9th INNING: Duaner Sanchez finishes off the night.

Mets Chat Room is open all night. Tell us what you think, and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.

-Manager Willie Randolph didn’t say what Billy Wagner said about Oliver Perez was wrong, but said he wished he would have not taken it to the press. Randolph didn’t exactly tell Wagner to tone it down in the future, but maybe think first. Said Wagner: “It’s been taken care of.” Also, when asked the bigger issue, Wagner speaking out or Perez’s pitching, Randolph said it was the latter.

-No news yet on the roster move they’ll make to clear a spot for Moises Alou. Brian Schneider is still a couple of days away, so I might consider putting him on the DL instead of optioning Gustavo Molina.

-Randolph said moving Ryan Church up second in the order is tied in to Alou’s return because it lends more balance to the line-up.

METS

SS Jose Reyes
RF Ryan Church
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
LF Moises Alou
1B Carlos Delgado
C Raul Casanova
2B Luis Castillo
RH John Maine

Was skimming the Internet before heading down to the clubhouse and couldn’t help but wonder who is next on Roger’s paramour list.

I’m hoping Debbie Clemens has a better lawyer than Roger.

One of the posters on the previous thread wondered what the batting order should be when Brian Schneider and Moises Alou return.

Interesting.

I would think Willie Randolph would want to sandwich the righty Alou between Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.

I would do that, but I would also move Ryan Church up to second. They won with him there and I didn’t care for them moving him down again.

I would drop Luis Castillo to eighth.

But, that’s just me. How would you make out the line-up?

There were some bright spots for the month. Billy Wagner and Ryan Church for example. David Wright had his moments, but tailed in the end. Johan Santana deserved more than his record shows.

There were red flags, too.

Jose Reyes still flounders. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado had down months, with the latter showing few signs of turning things around. The bullpen is overworked and has underperformed. If you aren’t concerned about Aaron Heilman, you should be. Neither John Maine or Oliver Perez have pitched to expectations.

A lot of injuries, too.

Pedro Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Brian Schneider and Moises Alou. Luis Castillo hobbled for most of the month.

For all that went wrong, the Mets are still a whisper from first place. That shouldn’t be their thinking. During the collapse the Mets’ refrain was “we’re still in first place.”

They sang it until their season was over.

They can’t be thinking how close they are now. They need to be thinking about how overall lousy they have been and realize that won’t cut it.

The Mets didn’t just mail it in today, they used FedEx.

Especially their pitcher. Question: Can The Jacket fix Oliver Perez? Can anybody fix Oliver Perez?

I wrote today that the Pirates are a team the Mets should beat up on, not be humiliated by. They showed nothing today. What’s alarming is it comes on the heels of a game they could have lost last night. Tuesday should have been a wake-up call for the Mets to not take teams for granted. So much for alarms and messages.

If the Mets were a high school team, Willie Randolph would be out having them run laps tomorrow. Maybe he should, anyway.

METS

SS Jose Reyes
2B Luis Castillo
3B David Wright
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
1B Carlos Delgado
LF Angel Pagan
C Gustavo Molina
LH Oliver Perez

The players say when they have a day game after a night game that runs long that they “have to sleep fast.” They need to be awake today, and more importantly, he needs to be the “Good Oliver Perez” this afternoon.

They’ll be sluggish enough as it is. They don’t need Perez to be running deep into the count otherwise they’ll be sleepwalking in the field.

Line-ups soon.

No matter how good or bad a team is, it will win and lose 60 games a season. That’s 120 out of 162 games. More often than not a team needs 85 victories to contend. That’s 25 wins added to the 60. That’s 145 games, leaving 17 games remaining that could go either way.

It’s what a team does in those 17 games that determines if it makes the playoffs. Tonight they won a game they could have, and perhaps should have, lost.

What stands out for you tonight?

It’s terrible where I am, but I’ve heard nothing about the game being bagged.

We might have something more definitive on Moises Alou and Brian Schneider today.

If I were to say the All-Star break on seeing Alou, would you take the over or under?

The game is bagged. I am thinking about a movie. Anybody seen “21″ and have a review?

The Room is always open should you want to talk baseball and the Mets.

The Mets’ minor league system is a good topic. I saw some of you guys talking about it earlier.

It has been barren for a long time. It pretty much has been Tom Seaver and little else in way of position players.

David Wright and Jose Reyes are keepers, but there isn’t much there.And, there isn’t much now, either.

We should have something more on Moises Alou and Brian Schneider later this afternoon. Nothing yet, say the Mets. The timing of the Alou mess couldn’t have come at a better time. If the team knows it won’t have him for another month or so, it is far better to know that now than later.

Johan Santana to pitch through the raindrops tonight.

BTW: In response to a caller to the office: Shawn Green never officially retired. He’s technically still a free agent.

Stay tuned for medical news.

And, the hits keep on coming …

GM Omar Minaya said Moises Alou had a CT scan that “showed something.” That something, Minaya said, could be a fracture. He’ll be in NY tomorrow for a MRI. A show of hands from anybody not surprised by this.

And Brian Schneider will be in the hospital another day.

And, finally, the hits kept coming in the game, too. The Mets scored in five innings to beat the Braves.

IN A NUTSHELL, Mets 6, Atlanta 3

Two games in a row the offense has clicked.
IN THE CLUBHOUSE
Willie Randolph on Carlos Delgado: “I said he’ll have a good year. Hopefully, this is a start for him.”

Ryan Church on his catch against the wall: “I felt I had a chance for it. It was up there high enough.”

Carlos Delgado on not taking a curtain call: “I have a great deal of respect for the game. I didn’t think it was the right situation for it.”

IN-GAME ANALYSIS

1ST INNING: Jose Reyes doubles and took third on a grounder. That put him in position to score on a wild pitch. We’ve been waiting for that Reyes. Mets 1, Atlanta 0.
2ND INNING: Raul Casanova homers, but they miss a chance to break the game open when David Wright leaves the bases loaded. Mets 3, Atlanta 0.
3RD INNING: Carlos Delgado is loved again … at least for one more day. Mets 4, Atlanta 0.
6TH INNING: They stick with Nelson Figueroa too long, but Wright gets a run back. Mets 5, Atlanta 3.
9TH INNING: Billy Wagner gets his sixth save. Mets 6, Atlanta 3.
NOTEBOOK

-Alou will have exam tomorrow to see if he has fracture in left ankle.

-Schneider is to be released from hospital tomorrow.

-Closer Billy Wagner gave up his first his of the season.

A lot of the tailgaters were tossing footballs this morning. The weather was good for it.

Prompts the question: How did your NFL team do in the draft?