Washington, D.C. (WFAN)  -- After the Mets latest "worst loss of the season" - last Monday (8/11) when they blew a 5-1 lead to the Pirates in the final three innings and handed a game to a team that had already packed their bags to go home - they were in danger of falling 3 games behind the Phillies as they hit the road for a seven-game trip. But the Manny-energized Dodgers beat the Phils that night - and proceeded to down them three more times - while the Mets were sweeping away woeful Washington in the nation's capital. And in a New York minute - or four days later - the Mets find themselves poised for some payback in Pittsburgh sitting in first place by a game in the topsy-turvy National League East.

Manager Jerry Manuel caused quite a stir on Tuesday when he hinted that he had given thought to possibly removing a starter from the rotation and placing him at the end of games to stabilize things and get the ball to closer Billy Wagner when he returns. A master stroke of motivation - or a desperate attempt to stop the bullpen bleeding at any cost? Anyway you observe it - enough was enough - and it worked on Tuesday night to produce the 4th non-Wagner save (Pedro Feliciano) of the season. That was followed by the 5th the next night when Brian Stokes finished for John Maine with 4 innings of 3-hit shutout ball.

Good idea or bad? Well, it's never a bad idea to shorten the game and shore up your late inning last line of defense. Oliver Perez should not be a consideration - he's prone to wildness, but more importantly, he's simply been too good as a starter to mess around with him. After beating the Nationals on Thursday, Perez is now 5-1 versus the N.L. East with a 2.13 ERA. He's also 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA against the pesky Marlins. And over his last 9 starts, Perez sits at 4-2 with a 1.97 ERA while striking out 63 batters in 60 innings of work.

Mike Pelfrey might be a candidate simply from the perspective of being better able to manage his innings load in his first full season from the bullpen. But Pelfrey is more a ground ball pitcher than a swing-and-miss guy - so leave him where he is. Besides, if you want to skip a start for Pelfrey to keep his innings down, insert Stokes for a turn - he's shown he can handle it and keep his team in the game.

That leaves John Maine - and Maine fit seamlessly back into the rotation with a scoreless 5 innings of one-hit ball with 6 strikeouts in 15 outs (90 pitches). Maine's good fastball is sneaky-fast - with an effortless pitching motion, it explodes late and catches batters by surprise. Maine's spot could be filled by Stokes, or if it is indeed for the long-term, young Jon Niese seems to be ready and more than willing at Triple AAA. Maybe the bullpen has woken up, and when Wagner returns on Monday in Pittsburgh, things will fall back into line as expected. If not, there certainly seems to be a Plan B rolling around in the mind of manager Manuel.

If anyone thought this as late as June, please raise your hand. It's now a month and a half since July 1, and Carlos Delgado is still hot. With his 26th HR on Thursday, he already has two more than he did in all of 2007. His 78 RBI are just 9 fewer than the 87 he topped out with last year. In 38 games since July 1, Delgado has hit .326 with 12 HR, 32 RBI, 10 doubles and 27 runs scored. More impressively, exactly half of his last 58 hits (29) have been for extra bases. Simply amazing.

David Wright seems to do everything quietly - and steadily. He currently has a 9-game hitting streak during which he's batting .410 with 3 HR, 6 doubles and 10 RBI. Wright is 3rd in the N.L. with 94 RBI - 4th with 74 walks - tied for 4th with 33 doubles - and 5th (right behind Jose Reyes) with 83 runs scored. He's also scorching lefthanders to the tune of a .388 average. And Reyes is front and center as well. He leads the N.L. by a wide margin with 156 hits - and leads all of baseball in both multi-hit games (49) and triples (13). Not too shabby.

The Mets next road trip is a killer on paper - 2 in Philly, 3 in Florida, 3 in Milwaukee. So this current stretch of 14 games is crucial. They're already off to a 3-0 start with 4 here in Pittsburgh, then 3 with the Braves and 4 with the Astros back at Shea. 10-4 at least is certainly do-able, especially now when it's 7-4 after the sweep in Washington. Better to have a cushion to deal with that upcoming road trip even if you don't end up needing it - better safe than sorry.

By the way - circle April 14, 2009 - that's the opening of CitiField when the Mets host the San Diego Padres. The Mets open next season on the road (again!!) in Cincinnati on April 6 - then go back to Florida after spending all spring training there to play the Marlins for three before returning to New York. Yes, it's obvious the schedule-makers did not major in geography - nor common sense.

C U at Shea for the final 22

Eddie C.