What would the Mets do with Johan Santana? With the season already seemingly on the brink, the ace left-hander was his usual one-man tonic Friday night in a 4-3 win over the lowly Nationals that snapped the Mets’ four-game skid and kept Jerry Manuel off the ledge. Colleague Kevin Kernan wonders how good the Mets could be if they were all as competitive as Santana.

It looks like K-Rod is going to be an adventure. Productive, but an adventure.

In the notes, Manuel has reversed course — at least for a couple of days — on bringing in an eighth reliever.

And in our weekly Saturday feature, Mets catcher Brian Schneider has struck up an unexpected friendship with retired NFL standout Tony Siragusa.