Feliciano Blows Up In 10th

    The Mets blew leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Sunday, and Pedro Feliciano gave up two solo bombs in the 10th inning to give New York their second straight loss against the Astros.  Oliver Perez had just one rocky inning, allowing a sacrifice fly to Mark Loretta and a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth, but Aaron Heilman couldn't hold the one-run lead in the seventh.  He allowed hits to both batters he faced, but was credited with recording an out when Fernando Tatis gunned Geoff Blum out at the plate in the seventh.  The homers Feliciano allowed in the 10th came from two players who had combined for a total of three taters all season until their extra-inning blasts.  You know you don't have your best stuff on a particular day when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

    Carlos Beltran's two home runs shone as a bright spot on an otherwise dismal Sunday on which the Phillies and Marlins each pulled a game closer to the Mets in the division.  Philadelphia and New York are tied in the loss column, but the Mets hold the slim half-game advantage with one more victory than the Phillies' 71.  The Marlins, who cannot yet be declared out of it, are five games behind New York, in third place.  The Mets finish up their four-game series with Houston tonight at Shea, and will look to salvage a split behind Mike Pelfrey, who is tied with Johan Santana with a team-high 12 wins.  Who would have thought that would be the case on June 11 when Big Pelf was 2-6?  Brian Moehler gets the nod for the Astros, who are looking to take six of seven from the Mets this season.

    Isn't it interesting how different a team's lineup can look in August than in March?  Who knew that the Mets would be using platoons at four positions at this point in the season, and starting at least two players every day who weren't in the major leagues last year or at the beginning of this year?  Before the season the Mets considered Brian Schneider their everyday catcher, but he has since moved into a lefty-righty platoon with Ramon Castro.  Luis Castillo was projected as the starting second baseman, but now Damion Easley and Argenis Reyes are platooning at the position.  Although Moises Alou wasn't healthy enough to start the season with the Mets, designs were for him to play left field every day.  But now rookies Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans are in a lefty-righty platoon.  And while Ryan Church was unable to play right field, Fernando Tatis impressed Jerry Manuel so much that he has been moved into a platoon now that Church has returned; Tatis got the start on Sunday against the lefty Randy Wolf.

    All teams have lots of injuries.  That's just part of the game.  It's how teams play through those injuries, and how the back-up players fill in that determines the success of a team over the marathon of a 162-game season.  The following players have been hurt and have had to miss time at some point this season:  Moises Alou, Ryan Church, Luis Castillo, Pedro Martinez, Marlon Anderson, John Maine, Billy Wagner, Duaner Sanchez, Brian Schneider, Ramon Castro, Damion Easley, Claudio Vargas, Endy Chavez, Angel Pagan, Trot Nixon, Tony Armas, and Matt Wise.  But the Mets are in first place now, in large part due to contributions from the likes of Fernando Tatis, Argenis Reyes, Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans, Robinson Cancel, and the core of players who have remained healthy.  Excuses don't win games, but a solid bench does.

Around The League

    The see-saw battle of the AL Central has swung back in Chicago's favor.  Jim Thome's 534th career home run tied Jimmy Foxx on the all-time list, and helped the White Sox beat the Rays in 10 innings on Sunday.  Minnesota lost to the Angels to fall a half game behind Chicago, and a full game back in the loss column.  In the Angels' win, closer Francisco Rodriguez nailed down his 50th save of the season.  Los Angeles of Anaheim now leads the AL West by a ridiculous 17 games over the 63-68 Rangers.

    In losing three straight in Philly, the Dodgers have fallen back to .500, and are now three games behind the 68-62 Diamondbacks in the weak NL West.  In baseball's strongest division, the Cubs lead the Brewers by 4.5 games, and St. Louis has fallen back to eight games out of first place.  But Milwaukee still leads the NL Wild Card race by 3.5 games over the Cardinals, and 4.5 over the Phillies.

    The Yankees swept a three-game set in Baltimore over the weekend but still find themselves 9.5 games behind Tampa in the AL East, and five games back of Boston for the AL Wild Card.  Chicago and Minnesota are both in front of New York as well, both within a game of the Red Sox.  Carl Pavano made his first start of the season, and just his third since 2005, for the Yanks on Saturday, and went five innings for the win.  Considering all the injuries to the Yankees' rotation, Pavano may be counted on to win some big games down the stretch if the Yankees are to make the post-season for the 14th consecutive year.