Santana is now 8-0 with a 2.26 ERA in his last 16 starts and he's doing all he can to stop the Mets from collapsing for a second straight season.

New York moved within 1 1/2 games of NL East-leading Philadelphia (89-69, 5.33 units), which lost 3-2 to Atlanta (70-88, -27.17 units). The Phillies' magic number for clinching the division remains at four. The Mets are still one game ahead of the Brewers for the Wild Card after Prince Fielder homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Milwaukee rallied twice to beat Pittsburgh 7-5.

The Florida Marlins’ (81-76, 17.90 units) playoff hopes officially came to an end at the hands of the Washington Nationals who seem to always be a spoiler come September.

Looks like it is going to go down to the final weekend of the season in the NL East. Get all your MLB Baseball Betting Lines in the Bodog Sportsbook today!

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."

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Johan Santana looked vulnerable in his first start of spring training. (AP Images)

Cue the panic.

Each season the Mets add at least one big name to the roster and each season since 1986 has ended without a World Series title. This year is supposed to be different because of the man who took the mound on Friday.

Johan Santana pitched his first game as a Met but looked brutal, making New York’s title hopes look very fragile. Acquired by the Twins in a mega-deal in the offseason, Santana surrendered a three-run home run to Juan Gonzalez as the St. Louis Cardinals won, 5-4, in an exhibition game in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Santana, a two-time American League Cy Young winner, was hit hard. After taking to the mound to a standing ovation by his teammates and fans, he gave up a triple to Brendan Ryan and a double to Albert Pujols among his 30 pitches.

Underdog St. Louis paid +120 on the spring training moneyline.

"I was rushing my delivery a little and they were aggressive swinging right away," Santana said. "We threw a lot of first pitches for strikes. I threw a couple of fastballs that stayed up in the strike zone.

"There are a lot of adjustments I've got to make. It's going to take some time, but that's what we're here for."

Santana went two innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs. Later in the game, the Mets got more bad news as Pujols went deep on Duaner Sanchez, a key to the pitching staff. Sanchez was injured in a taxi accident in July 2006 and this was his first game appearance since then.

The Mets’ World Series odds are 9/2, leaving them as a second choice behind the favored Boston Red Sox (4/1). The Cardinals are 45/1 long shots.

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Hurler Johan Santana awed his teammates in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Images)

Johan Santana pitched against his new teammates for the first time Friday and the reviews were predictably hyperbolic.

"His arm action is ridiculous," said star third baseman David Wright. "Every pitch looks exactly the same."

Second baseman Damion Easley, another newcomer to the Mets, called Santana "a difference-maker". "When you put that skill with high competitiveness, you get a two-time Cy Young Award winner. And this was just his first time out. There was some crispness and some late sharp movement,” Easley said. “If his fastball was what it's going to be, it'd been ugly."

Santana arrived in an offseason trade with Minnesota and immediately affected the Mets’ World Series odds. New York went from 7/1 to win their first title since 1986 to 4/1, making them co-favorites with the defending champion Boston Red Sox.

The pitches he threw in batting practice were just the beginning of what’s sure to be a busy season in the spotlight for Santana. He will throw another warm-up session before taking the hill for the first time in a game situation for New York next week.

He’s also the likely starter for the Mets when they open the regular season on March 31 against the Florida Marlins.

2008 World Series odds!