On the Mets beat

Good question. I'm all out of explanations, and so are the Mets, who have done pretty much everything short of sending him down to Triple-A New Orleans. He's already been stripped of his set-up job, and for a guy every team wanted back in spring training, Heilman's market value has never been lower after his latest meltdown in Wednesday's loss.

Now, with Jorge Sosa gone, it looks like Heilman's next role is middle-to-long relief, and maybe the Mets have to consider stretching him out as a potential spot starter. Why not? If he's not going to be the bridge to Billy Wagner, maybe Heilman can be helpful in other ways, and a change in his job description might be the nudge that he needs. It's still too early for the Mets to go that route, but it's something to think about. People forget that Heilman had a decent five-pitch repertoire before becoming a set-up guy that stuck to a fastball-changeup attack.

For those looking for a silver lining, there's Claudio Vargas, who showed Wednesday that he deserves another turn in the rotation and could be a keeper. His performance also puts pressure on Mike Pelfrey, who could be forced out by Vargas when Pedro Martinez is ready to return.

Turns out Scott Schoeneweis was pretty sick following Tuesday night's game, and after spending six hours in the hospital the following day, he was lucky to avoid an appendectomy. My colleague Anthony Rieber also checked in with this story on the Mets' reclusive ace, Johan Santana, who apparently had no interest in discussing tomorrow's showdown with the Yankees. Looks like you'll have to wait until after that game to hear from Santana because the Mets pretty much keep him off-limits to the media between starts.