(and you were thinking Cito Gaston was no longer under contract)

Mets 7, Blue Jays 4

Once upon a time — say, 6 weeks ago — it was common practice to moan in the middle of the night about how unbeatable these Mets might be if Jose Reyes could find away to raise his on base percentage by 50 points or so. And while the shortstop has been a tad more selective this year, who knew he’d accomplish said jump in his OBP….by hitting .561 over the last two weeks?

Reyes went 4-5 against Toronto for the 2nd day in a row, starting the afternoon with a leadoff HR, adding another run scored and stealing his NL-leading 34th base. Reyes’ outburst, along with a 3-run HR from Carlos Beltran (above, his 20th) provided enough of a cushion for the underwhelming Steve Trachsel to capture his 7th win. Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless 9th inning, but not before walking Reed Johnson and Vernon Wells, giving Lyle Overbay a chance to tie the game. The Mets could have a 15 game lead by the All-Star break and Wagner will still manage to make collapse inevitable, if only of the daily variety.

Incredibly, others also managed to tear their eyes from Portugal v. Netherlands, if only for a while.

There was Chavez nailing a runner, his eighth such assist from the outfield despite limited duty. There was Bradford picking up for Trachsel and Heilman accepting the ball after Bradford and Wagner not dropping the ball after Heilman. There was no deployment of Marrero, but it was comforting to know a versatile third catcher was available to jump in for Castro after Castro jumped in for Lo Duca. Come to think of it, there was Castro, beginning to chip in offensively like he did in spot duty last season.

Of course Jose recorded one hit after another and we got hits from one Jose after another. And one of the fellas in the heart of the order, Beltran, showed his usual heart and, should it be an issue on three or four occasions in a few months, we proved we’d be even more dangerous with the benefit of a DH in our lineup. Not every National League champion’s been able to say that (not that we’re the champion of anything yet). – Greg, Faith & Fear In Flushing


In addition to noting that Yusaku Iriki has served his 50 day suspension, and that former Mets draft pick Pedro Beato just signed with Baltimore, the NY Daily News’ Adam Rubin reports that MySpace sensation Scott Schafer has reached an agreement with the Mets. Had he signed the contract with his cock, I’d be more impressed.

For the second time since claiming he wasn’t invited to the Mets’ August 19 day set to honor the 1986 World Champs, Davey Johnson has said he’ll be busy that day, anyway. (link courtesy Jeff Kallman). Hey, as long as George Foster and Dave Magadan are there, that’s all I care about.