1. In Sunday’s Post, I wrote about whether the Mets should be buyers or sellers come the late July trade market. I pointed out in the piece that no executive spoken to believes the Mets would ever become sellers considering all that they have invested in this season (notably a record payroll, SNY and a new stadium going up in the parking lot). In the piece, I explained several reasons why the Mets should still consider themselves contenders despite their rough go to date. I will add one that was not in the column: The Phillies have only used the same 12 pitchers all year. That means they are yet to have a significant pitching injury or blow up in performance that would force a roster alteration. If this continues all year, the Phillies are going to win the NL East. But that is just not how baseball works in the staggering percentage of times. So that means the Phillies have pitching issues coming on the horizon. Let us not forget that Brad Lidge has some stuff in common with Billy Wagner: Originally an Astro who moved to Philadelphia, Lidge also has to prove complete mental toughness in big spots. Philadelphia also has the fragile Tom Gordon setting up Lidge. We can keep going on, but the biggest point is this: The Phillies will prove vulnerable at some juncture, can the Mets take advantage of the vulnerability.

2. On Friday, I asked a scout I respect who he thought would win the NL wild card. HIs response shocked me: “I think it is going to be the Marlins. (Andrew) Miller and Ricky (Nolasco) are throwing much better. They just freaking hit. Plus, everybody in the NL stinks.” There was some prophecy in these words. Forty-eight hours after they were spoken, Nolasco struck out 12 in 8 1-3 innings in a victory over Tampa. As for the offense, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs and Cody Ross are all slugging over .500. As to the third point, this is why the Mets should stay positive: The league is not very good, there is an opening still to be at least the wild card.

3. Chien-Ming Wang is not a dominant pitcher, mainly because he is not a strike out pitcher. He has many strengths, though, and those include that he is a bulldog and economical. That combination makes him one of the premium innings eaters in the majors. It is that ability — the skill to work deep and effectively into games — that the Yanks will miss the most should his injury be long-term. Wang is a bullpen saver in a year when the Yanks have had to rely on their pen far too much. This will intensify the need for Andy Pettitte to be what he has always been in his career, the lefty version of Wang: Not dominant, but a guy who uses groundballs and economy to work deep into games.