Bodog Beat

New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana will face the Phillies this week. (AP Images)

The month of June ended on a low note for the New York Mets. It was a 7-1 loss in St. Louis that led interim manager Jerry Manuel to admit his team "didn't do too much of anything right" in the game. They "didn't do too much defensively" and they "didn't do much offensively."

In fact, the Mets hadn't done much all season, closing out the month with a 40-42 record. Sure, they were only 3.5 games back of the NL East-leading Phillies, but they'd still woefully underachieved for a side whose payroll is approaching $138 million. In all of Major League Baseball, only the crosstown Yankees ($209 million) spend more on player salaries, and that failure to translate money into wins cost manager Willie Randolph his job on June 16.

As June turned to July, however, the Mets finally started to live up to expectations. They went into the All-Star break as winners of nine in a row and made it 10 straight before dropping a pair to the Reds on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday in Cincinnati, it was back to their winning ways with a 7-5, extra-inning triumph.

A quick glance of the standings on Monday morning sees the Mets and Phillies deadlocked in first at 53-46. That's compelling, because on Tuesday, New York welcomes those same Phillies to Shea Stadium for a key three-game set.

One of the many symbols of New York's underachieving ways in the first half of the season will be on the hill for the first game against Philadelphia's newly acquired Joe Blanton (5-12, 4.96). That symbol would be two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana (8-7, 3.10 ERA), he of the six year, $137.5 million contract that makes him the highest-paid pitcher of all time.

Less than a month ago, on June 28, Santana lost his third straight decision (against the Yankees no less) to fall to an extremely ordinary 7-7. Not that the lefty was pitching poorly; he was 0-4 in his last five outings with a respectable 2.53 ERA. Still, you have to think that fans just wanted wins, not comments that threw his teammates under the bus, inadvertently or not. "I'm doing my job," he said. "I'm giving my best effort out there. Every time I go out there I'm giving my team a chance to win. Other than that, there's nothing I can do."

Read all of "Place Your Bets: Showdown at Shea" in Bodog Nation today!