The Phillies have announced that LHP Cole Hamels will miss his next start due to a mild left elbow strain.
According to MLB.com, “worst-case scenario has the young hurler missing up to three weeks.”
Earlier this week, however, MLB.com noted that 2B Chase Utley will soon begin swinging a bat in his rehab from hand surgery.

The Mets (71–53) defeated the Padres (66–58), in walk-off fashion, by the score of 7 to 6 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a recap and boxscore, check out Yahoo! Sports.
…hat’s off to Mike DiFelice or dropping down a strong sac-bunt to advance Lastings Milledge to second in the bottom of the ninth, with the Mets down one…milledge [...]

The Game:
The
first-place Mets (70-53) return home to take on the Padres (66-57) tonight, starting at 7:10 pm EDT.
The Lineup:SS
Jose Reyes leads off, followed in order by 2B Luis Castillo, 3B David
Wright, CF Carlos Beltran, 1B Carlos Delgado, LF Moises Alou, RF Lastings Milledge, C Mike DiFelice and starting pitcher John Maine.
The Pitchers:
RHP John Maine (13-7, [...]

IF Anderson Hernandez was sent down to Triple-A New Orleans in order to make room for 1B Jeff Conine, who was acquired from the Reds yesterday.
Conine is available for tonight’s game and will wear #28.

According to the Mets’ rainout hotline, tonight’s game
vs. the Padres is still scheduled to be played.
For
any updates, make sure to listen to 660 WFAN or call
the hotline at(718) 507-7246.

MetsBlog commenters VCarver and Nightlife point out the following statistics regarding Carlos Beltran versus the Braves, Phillies, as well as Mark Teixiera and Chipper Jones.
Carlos Beltran against the Braves and Phillies in 2007
AVG/OBP/SLGBraves: .333/.429/.528

Phillies: .261/.300/.630 (5 HR, 10 RBI)
Carlos Beltran vs. Mark Teixiera
Mark Texeira - 20 HR, 68 RBICarlos Beltran - 24 HR, 75 RBI
Carlos [...]

This season, Paul Lo Duca, Jose Valentin, Moises Alou, Carlos Beltran, Shawn Green, Ramon Castro, Damion Easley, Endy Chavez, Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Jason Vargas, Ben Johnson, Ambiorix Burgos, Juan Padilla, Orlando Hernandez, Oliver Perez, Jorge Sosa, Pedro Martinez, and Duaner Sanchez have all been on the disabled list at one time or [...]

The ‘Los Mets’ jersey will look like the following image…
…actually, they’re kind of cool…i don’t know what i was expecting, but this is basically the same beautiful white jersey, with a tiny Los…
…also, regarding my previous post, i have clearly forgotten everything ever taught to me in Spanish class, because i should know better than [...]

This season, at the beginning of each series, MetsBlog
will attempt to get the perspective of the opposition and their fans. From this,
we hope to be better educated on the opposition going into a series. It also
gives us a fine opportunity to highlight some of our favorite team
blogs.As the Mets welcome the Padres we revisit Geoff [...]

Following Sunday’s road game in DC, Willie Randolph told reporters…
“We’re looking forward to going home.  We’ve played a little bit better there.  We still need to push, and we’re looking forward to playing well in September, and beyond…
“We’ve got some tough guys coming up, Los Angeles and San Diego, we’ve got Philly and Atlanta coming [...]

Over at his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin reports, in honor of “Fiesta Latina” taking place at Shea Stadium on Friday, the Mets will don jerseys with “Los Mets” across their chest during their game against the Dodgers.
For more on the event, head on over to Rubin’s blog.
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…this bugs [...]

At Hot Foot, Sidd Finch is back with yet another edition of Sidd Speak, in which he tosses around random, but always relevant, statements about the Mets, such as…

If the Mets acquire any more former Marlins they’ll have to incorporate teal into their uniforms.
Currently the Mets rosters consists of eight former Marlins. They are: Guillermo Mota, Luis [...]

At SI.com, Jon Heyman looks forward to what will most likely be a very weak free-agent pitching market, with name such as Carlos Silva, Bartolo Colon, Jason Jennings and Matt Clement, among others.
…thanks to jim b for the link…
Lastly, Heyman writes, among other news and notes…
“Several teams have inquired about switch-hitting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia since [...]

Chris from North Carolina sent in an e-mail asking…
“Has there been any talk about bringing Pedro Martinez back in a limited roll in the bullpen?”

…not that i am aware of…i understand that it’s an intriguing idea, you know, Aaron Heilman to pedro to Billy Wagner…however, from what i can gather, pedro is very disciplined, and very particular in [...]

According to Toby Hyde, at the Mets Minor-League Report, Mets Triple-A OF Ricky Ledee has retired, “so the Mets placed him on the restricted list.”