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A day after being thrown at second base in yesterday's game, Mike Baxter went 3-for-4 with an RBI on Sunday

The New York Mets salvaged the third game of a three-game interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon defeating the home team by a score of 6-5. The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and didn’t look back from there.

The Mets jumped on the board first as designated hitter Andres Torres drew a walk as home plate umpire Wally Bell gave the calls to the favor of the batter instead of young starter Henderson Alvarez. Mike Baxter who got the start for the second straight day capitalized with a double to right centerfield to put two runners in scoring position with David Wright coming up. The unofficial-official captain followed with a double of his own up the middle to plate two runs. Two batters later Kirk Nieuwenhuis “doubled” after Colby Rasmus made a diving catch that popped out of the glove as he came to a stop to bring home Wright.

With a 3-0 lead, Dillion Gee took the mound for the Mets and started in similar fashion to Jon Niese on Friday night as Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar reached based then got Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion on strikeouts. This time Gee got catcher JP Arencibia to retire the Blue Jays in the bottom of the first.

Ronny Cedeno got things started with a base hit in the top of the second and was moved over to third on a pair of groundouts. Mike Baxter then laced a ball over the glove of a diving Ben Francisco and made it all the way to third base with a run-scoring triple into rightfield.

After two of the first three batters reached via walk in the bottom of the third, rookie sensation who’s spent less than a week in the big leagues Yan Gomes singled through the left side to scratch across Toronto’s first run. Johnson and Escobar grounded out to end the inning and send the game to the third with the Mets up 4-1.

Jose Bautista cut the lead in half with a solo home run just inside the leftfield foul pole just above the 328 mark in the corner. Gee got the next three batters out with ease to hold the Blue Jays at bay to send the game to the fourth inning.

Baxter picked up his third hit of the afternoon with a single to the opposite field followed by Wright singling while behind in the count to put runners on first and second. Duda reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Wright and put runners at the corners, and was followed by Daniel Murphy who singled up the middle to bring home Baxter to give the Mets a three run lead back. Nieuwenhuis walked to load the bases, and Ike Davis hit a chop that came up on Johnson at second base and allowed Duda to score to put the Mets up 6-2.

Find out how the Mets hold onto their their lead after the jump.

After Escobar reached on a fielding error by Cedeno, the Mets played some nifty plays behind Gee to get him out of the inning. First Bautista hit one right up the middle but Murphy was positioned well and turned the unconventional 4-4-3 double play, then Cedeno redeemed himself with a throw that skipped off the FieldTurf in Toronto that was scooped by Davis to retire the side.

Both teams went down with ease in the sixth inning as the Mets faced Luis Perez who set down New York 1-2-3, followed by Gee’s sixth inning of work which saw him work around a leadoff single from Arencibia. On the third out of the inning Murphy intended to take the short route to retire the baserunner, but instead changed his mind mid-way through and threw the ball across his body to first to end the inning.

Gee hit Yan Gomes to start off the bottom of the seventh, but got the next two batters to bring up Bautista with a runner on second. Bautista singled through the shift to bring home Gomes which also chased Gee from the game to bring on Bobby Parnell. Encarnacion grounded out to end the inning to send the game to the eighth.

Davis doubled to Rajai Davis in right field and moved up to third base on a passed ball, on a wild pitch later in the at bat Davis scampered for the plate but was tagged out as Arencibia threw the ball back to the plate to Carlos Villanueva covering. Cedeno and catcher Rob Johnson followed up with back-to-back singles. Two batters later Baxter walked to load the bases but Wright struck out swining to end the threat.

Arencibia who made the nice play in the top of the inning, started things off with a double in the bottom of the eighth and came around with a second consecutive double off the bat of Eric Thames to trim the lead to two. A pair of batters later Colby Rasmus broke his 0-for-20 slump with a base hit up the middle to score Thames to make the score 6-5, Gomes came up and struck out on a 101 MPH or 162.5 KMH pitch for the second out. Tim Byrdak came on to face Kelly Johnson and got him to fly out to Duda to hold the Blue Jays’ bats in check.

The Mets had a two-on, one-out scenario in the top of the ninth but neither pinch-hitter Scott Hairston nor Ronny Cedeno could do anything as both batters struck out. Frank Francisco came on for the bottom of the inning and walked Escobar, followed by Bautista poking one through the big hole on the right side to put the first two runners on. Encarnacion struck out swinging, as did Arencibia after him for the second out of the inning. Thames came up and Francisco got him swinging to end the ballgame and salvage the third game of the series for the Mets.

Game Ball: Mike Baxter, was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle hit the ball hard every time it was put in play. He was walked in front of David Wright in the top of the eigth but Wright struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Baxter still only has one home run on his Major League record book which came last season with the Mets.

The Mets will hop on a plane with their Pierogi suits on which aren’t as fashionable as the hockey jersies and will make their way to Pittsburgh for a three game set with the Pirates at beautiful PNC Park. Johan Santana will return to the hill as he faces off with another left-hander in Erik Bedard.

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This afternoon the Mets try to even this three game interleague set against the Blue Jays at Sky Dome Rogers Centre.  Game time is 1:07 pm.  Last night Jon Niese got lit up for 8 runs in 3 innings.  Niese was throwing batting practice from the get-go, and allowed 4 homers in his 3 innings of work.  Today Miguel Batista will be throwing batting practice for the Mets and will be opposed by flame thrower Brandon Morrow.

The game can be seen on WPIX and heard on WFAN 660 AM.

Starting Lineups via Metsblog.com  ****WARNING**** David Wright is NOT in the lineup today

New York Mets

Torres, CF - Baxter, DH - Murphy, 2B - Duda, RF - Davis, 1B - Turner, 3B - Nieuwenhuis, LF - Cedeno, SS - Nickeas, C - Batista, SP

Who’s hot for the Mets?   Since David Wright isn’t in the lineup today, it’s Daniel Murphy.  Over Murph’s last 7 games, he’s raking at a .458 clip.  He’s raised his average to .331.

Toronto Blue Jays

Johnson, 2B - Escobar, SS - Bautista, RF - Encarnacion, 1B - Arencibia, DH - Rasmus, CF - Gomes, 3B - Mathis, C - Morrow, SP

Who’s hot for the Blue Jays?  Anyone who played last night…just joking.  Catcher JP Arencibia is on fire.  JP has 4 homers, 10 RBI’s and is hitting .400 over the past week.

On The Mound

For the Mets, Miguel Batista (1-1 4.26 ERA) is looking for back to back good starts since taking over in Mike Pelfrey’s spot in the rotation.  In his last start vs. the Brewers, Batista went 7 strong, only allowing 4 hits and no runs.  The Mets have won Batista’s last two starts and are in need of another good start today after Jon Niese’s terrible performance yesterday.

Brandon Morrow (4-2 3.08 ERA) is on the hill for the Blue Jays.  Morrow is finally coming around at putting up the numbers he was supposed to when he came up with the Mariners a few years ago.  He’s figured out how to his the glove and his numbers have shown it.    Once just a flame thrower, Morrow has cut down on the walks by sacrificing just a little velocity.  Kind of what Bobby Parnell has been doing for the Mets.  Up until his last outing against the Rays, Morrow had won his past 4 starts, only giving up 2 runs over those 4 starts.

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Terry Collins was right…twice.  First, he stood up for Miguel Batista, saying he was going to get many more chances to prove himself as a starting pitcher.  Well, tonight he did more than prove himself, throwing 7 scoreless innings of 4-hit ball.  He stymied the Brewers tonight, with Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell taking care of the 8th inning.  On a side note, Bobby Parnell has allowed only 1 run in his last 12 appearances (11 innings)…quite an improvement from last year.

Terry’s second triumph came tonight after Frank Francisco managed to close out the game.  Yes, things looked shaky there for a bit and he gave up a run, but Terry was very forthcoming about how adamant Francisco was about wanting to get back on the mound and pitch.  Francisco picked up his 9th save in the process.  It was a heck of a risky move, but I have to give Terry credit for having faith in his closer.  Hopefully it will give Francisco a confidence boost and he’ll continue to improve.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo certainly had his problems tonight, including his catcher Jonathan Lucroy.  The two couldn’t seem to get their act together, and both endured a “talking to” from their pitching coach between innings.  Gallardo somehow managed to keep the Mets to only 2 runs however, during his 6 innings pitched.

Turning Point

Ronny Cedeno laid down the perfect suicide squeeze bunt, allowing Daniel Murphy to score in the 6th.

Moment(s) of Note

Cedeno’s textbook-perfect suicide squeeze that enabled Murphy to score from 3rd, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead in the 6th.

Aramis Ramirez bobbling the ball and dropping it during a run-down with David Wright, allowing the Mets to score a much-needed insurance run, making it 3-0.  The pitcher he scored against?  None other than old friend K-Rod.

David Wright with another great night on defense, making two great plays to keep the Brewers off the board until the 9th inning.

Game Ball

Daniel Murphy, the Irish Hammer, who continues to produce in clutch spots, and simply gets better on defense every single night.

Next Game

Dillon Gee (2-2, 4.78 ERA) will take the mound tomorrow against Zack Greinke (3-1, 3.35 ERA) as the Mets (20-15) and the Brewers (15-20) play game 2 of their 2-game series at CitiField tomorrow night at 7:05 pm EST.  The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660 AM. @MetsWFAN @dailystache @Meriwyn

Let’s go METS!!

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Frank Francisco struggled for the second straight out and twice in the series against the Marlins

It was a pretty ho-hum afternoon in Miami, Florida as the Mets and Marlins played into the ninth inning tied at two. The Mets bullpen imploded today with the exception of Jon Rauch who pitched the eighth inning, meanwhile DJ Carrasco, Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell didn’t pitch in the game.

Prior to the game the pitching matchup on paper was well in favor of the Marlins who were riding on Carlos Zambrano who entered with 16 straight shutout innings, he continued that stretch into the first as he set down the Mets 1-2-3.

Counterpart Jon Niese worked around a leadoff walk to former Met Jose Reyes to match Zambrano with a zero in the first.

The Mets got their first hit of the game as catcher Rob Johnson singled with one out in the third and was bunted over to second, but the offense was unable to bring him around. New York broke through in the fourth inning after Kirk Nieuwenhuis and David Wright started things off with back-to-back singles.

The two runners moved up on a passed ball by John Buck, which allowed Nieuwenhuis to score on a groundout by Lucas Duda. The next batter was Daniel Murphy who went to the opposite field with a single to bring home Wright and put the Mets up 2-0.

Niese continued to roll on the mound scattering five hits through six innings of work before being pinch hit for by Ike Davis in the top of the sixth. Ramon Ramirez came on next and allowed a triple to Emilio Bonifacio followed by recent Met killer John Buck launching a game-tying two run home run over the left centerfield fence. Ramirez allowed a single to Reyes and did a brilliant job holding him on base for as long as he could and eventually Hanley Ramirez to strike out.

Edward Mujica relieved Zambrano and got the Mets out in the eights, while Rauch did the same in the bottom of the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth Marlins’ closer Heath Bell came on looking to keep the game tied and got Duda out for the first of the inning. Murphy doubled and Ronny Cedeno walked, Jordany Valdespin grounded out to move them up before Mike Baxter was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Justin Turner was up next to face Bell and was looking for another epic at-bat to the one he had a few weeks ago at Citi Field. This time it only took Turner seven pitches to lace a double to the opposite field and put the Mets up 4-2.

Then came Frank Francisco looking for the save and allowed a leadoff triple to Bonifacio followed by a walk to put runners at the corners with no one down. Pinch hitter Greg Dobbs came up and did what he did two nights earlier and blooped a single into right center to bring home Bonifacio and trim the deficit to one. Terry Collins brought on Manny Acosta to replace Francisco who had lost his composure on the mound and berated the umpire during his exit.

Acosta allowed a sacrifice fly to Reyes to tie the game at four before getting Omar Infante to pop up for the second out. Austin Kearns was hit by a pitch to load the bases and bring up the artist formerly known as Mike Stanton. First pitch fastball was sent well into the deepest part of the park near the hideous home run structure for the walk-off game-winning grand slam.

Game Ball: Jon Niese pitched six shutout innings while leaving with a 2-0 lead, Jon Rauch and Justin Turner get a piece of the pie too for their contributions.

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Ike Davis is beginning to show signs of life again, and for opposing teams...that's not good.

The New York Mets held a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth, but a grand slam from the Rockies tied the game sending it to extras two innings later. The Mets got a one run lead once again, but another homerun tied it for the second time. New York got the lead back in the top of the 11th and held on to take two of three from Colorado in their weekend series in the Mile High City.

The Mets started off with a bang sending nine batters to the plate in the top of the first inning against ageless wonder Jamie Moyer. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ruben Tejada started off with back to back singles, and two batters later David Wright double to left field to bring them around. Lucas Duda reached with a walk and Scott Hairston broke a career 0-for-9 against Moyer with an RBI single to open up a 3-0 lead.

Opposing Moyer was another left hander in Mets’ ace Johan Santana who worked around a two out single to the opposite field taken by Carlos Gonzalez. Santana got out of the inning and retired the next three in the bottom of the second as well.

In the top of the third Hairston reached on a one out single, before Ike Davis collected his second hit of the game and pulled his first double of the season down the right field line. Josh Thole struck out for the second straight time before Moyer got his counterpart to strikeout, needing 75 pitches to get out of the first three innings.

The bottom of the fourth saw Gonzalez lead off with a single for the Rox followed by a stolen base, Santana got the next three batters inlcuding striking out 41-year old Jason Giambi to end the inning. Hairston led off the top of the fifth with a rocket to third base that was stopped nicely by Chris Nelson that was scooped out of the dirt by Giambi on the other side of the diamond. Two batters later Thole got some redemption after striking out the first two times before lining a homerun over the right centerfield wall to increase the lead to 4-0.

Nelson doubled with one out off of Santana, followed by pinch-hitter Jonathan Herrera sending one deep into the left centerfield gap that Nieuwenhuis layed out for and robbed an extra base hit. Santana got the next batter on a comebacker to retired the side.

Tejada hit a one out single to start off the top of the sixth off of new pitcher Josh Roenicke, he became the first Met to collect 10 hits in a three game series since Edgardo Alfonzo did it back in the 2000 season also in Denver. Murphy however followed it up by grounding into a double play. Santana then worked around an error by Daniel Murphy who was playing deep in the hole at second and was unable to field the ball cleanly.

To lead off the seventh Wright walked but Roenicke got the next two batters while left-hander Rex Brothers came on to get Davis looking. Miguel Batista came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and got two of the three batters he faced via strikeout. Meanwhile Brothers came back on in the eighth inning and struck out Thole, followed by pinch-hitter Zach Lutz to strike out as well, Nieuwenhuis got his second hit forcing the Rockies to bring on the right-hander Edgmer Escalona to face Tejada who reached on an error before getting Murphy looking.

–See How the Rockies Tied the Game the first time, and more after the break–

Right-hander Jon Rauch came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning and got former Met Marco Scutaro to fly out prior to Dexter Fowler getting a base knock up the middle and walking Gonzalez. Rauch got Troy Tulowitzki on a comebacker that moved up the runners, then walked Michael Cuddyer to load the bases. With Todd Helton announced as a pinch hitter the Mets went to lefty Tim Byrdak who allowed the pinch hit grand slam to Helton to tie the game at four. Bobby Parnell came on next and struck out Ramon Hernandez to send it to the ninth.

Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt came on in the tie game with no chance at a save and walked Wright to start off the inning, Duda grounded up moving Wright up to second who was running on the pitch. With Hairston up, Betancourt balked and moved Wright to third before Hairston struck out looking. Davis was up next and worked the count before lining out to Scutaro on a bullet, stranding Wright at third. Parnell meanwhile got the Rockies 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

The Rockies took out Betnacourt for Matt Belisle in the top of the 10th who got Thole to groundout, then pinch hitter Mike Baxter dunked in a single to reach base and later came all the way around when Nieuwenhuis doubled down the leftfield line. Mets’ closer Frank Francisco came on to seal the deal in the bottom of the 1oth and allowed a one out homerun to Gonzalez to tie the game that just cleared the tall fence in rightfield to even up the game. Tulowitzki reached on an infield single to Wright, and Cuddyer struck out swining to bring up Helton. The franchise first baseman walked, before getting Hernandez to pop up to Davis to send it to the 11th.

Wright and Duda singled off of Belisle with Duda’s hit moving Wright first to third. Hairston replaced Duda on the base paths with a groundout, followed by Davis poking a pitch through the left side to bring home Wright. Thole followed it up by grounding into a double play. Davis was pulled during the next inning as Murphy moved to first base while Jordany Valdespin came on at second base who doubleswitched to get Ramon Ramirez in to pitch. Ramirez got the first two easily and then faced Scutaro who launched one to deep leftfield that made the hearts in every Mets’ fan sink, thankfully for the Mets Coors Field was large enough to hold the ball as Hairston made the catch against the wall to end the game.

Game Ball: Ike Davis…slowly but surely he’s coming back. Today he went 3-for-6 at the plate with the go-ahead RBI in the top of the 11th. Johan Santana comes in for a close second after allowing no runs on a pair of hits in six innings while striking out five.

Up Next: The Mets fly down to Houston tonight and will meet up with their fellow 50-year old organization for the last time as National League foes. Earlier today the Reds defeated the Astros in Cincinnati and will throw Bud Norris against R.A. Dickey who will start the series for the Mets. Andres Torres will be activated from the 15-day DL while it is expected that Lutz will be sent back to Buffalo, after the catch Nieuwenhuis made in centerfield today there will be an outcry about Torres playing center but Nieuwenhuis can handle left just as well. First pitch tomorrow night is set to be thrown at 8:05 p.m.

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The Mets lose a nail-biting heartbreaker to the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a 4-game series at CitiField.  I feel like Rosie O’Donnell in “A League of Their Own” when she said: “right up until that last inning we HAD IT”.  You could literally feel the wind come out of the Mets and their fans’ sails when Melky Cabrera, who walked on 4 pitches from Frank Francisco to lead off the 10th inning, later scored on a base hit.  The night wasn’t all doom and gloom however, as the Mets really showed they could hang in there and fight.

THE GOOD.  I realize it’s early in the season, but if I had to give out an award for most improved, hands down it would go to Ruben Tejada.  He may not be getting TONS of hits, but he has been racking up some seriously impressive at-bats so far and his defensive play is becoming steadily stronger.  The same could be said for Daniel Murphy, who is looking more and more comfortable at 2B with every game.

Jason Bay and Kirk Nieuwenhius both had solo home runs tonight.  David Wright has now reached base in 10 straight games in which he has started.  Josh Thole came up huge in the 9th inning with an RBI that tied the game.  Kirk’s home run was the first from a lefty-hitter, off a lefty-pitcher, over the left-field fence at CitiField.

This was a GOOD GAME.  Yes, we can all nitpick over who did (or didn’t) do this or that, but overall it was a well-played game for the Mets.  Kirk was great both offensively and defensively tonight.  David continued his hot hitting and on-base streak.  Two home runs were hit tonight.  Even Jon Niese (apart from the 3rd inning) pitched well enough to keep the Mets close all night.

THE BAD.  Oh Jason, Jason, Jason…all you needed was a sac fly.  Now granted, you got shafted on a ball that was called a strike that forced you to swing at the next pitch no matter what, but still…

Frank Francisco walking Melky Cabrera pretty much sealed the deal in this one.

Ironically, Angel Pagan’s first home run of the year came tonight against his old team.

THE UGLY.  All those beards in the Giants bullpen!  I realize Brian Wilson is out for the season, but is Sergio Romo growing a sympathy beard or something?  Jeez.

Turning Point

Had the Mets won, I would have given this to Josh Thole’s game-tying RBI in the 9th.  However, I have to go with Frank Francisco’s 10th inning lead-off walking of Melky Cabrera, which would eventually be the winning run for the Giants.

Moment(s) of Note

OH MURPH!  Assisted by Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy made a spectacular bare-handed double play in the 7th inning.

Game Ball

“Captain” Kirk Nieuwenhius for his home run and his incredible diving catch in CF tonight.

Next Game

Mike Pelfrey (0-0, 0.09 ERA) will take the mound tomorrow against Ryan Vogelsong (0-1, 2.84 ERA) as the Mets (7-6) and the Giants (7-6) play game 2 of their 4-game series at CitiField tomorrow night at 1:10 pm EST.  The game can be seen on WPIX11 and heard on WFAN660 AM. @MetsWFAN @dailystache @Meriwyn

Let’s go METS!!

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Lucas Duda, David Wright and Ike Davis will (hopefully) provide the power for the Mets lineup in 2012

In an offseason to forget, the New York Mets slashed payroll, begged people to come to Citi Field, lost Gary Carter to cancer, lost their best player to a division rival in free agency and settled a massive lawsuit.  Other than that, the Mets 2012 offseason was pretty boring.

So the only thing left for the “experts” and bloggers out there to decide was, how many games will the New York Mets win in 2012?  The most optimistic Mets fans that I had come across topped out at between 82-84 wins.  And almost all of them followed up that number with  ”if everything goes right”.  Most “realistic” Mets fans gave a number in the 72-77 range.  That was basically where I was.  I figured with Johan Santana looking healthy in Spring Training and a re-tooled bullpen, there was no reason to think that they couldn’t be basically where they were last year.

Then came Michael Kay.  The most notorious Mets hater out there.  For those who don’t know who he is, Kay is the lead play-by-play guy for the Yankees “YES” Network and 1050 ESPN Radio NY’s afternoon drive show.  If you thought that Mike Francesa liked to tweak the Mets fans, you should (or not) listen Kay.  Francesa likes to tease the Mets faithful here and there, but he generally isn’t too condescending about it.  Kay on the other hand is a blowhard Yankee lover (just like Francesa) who isn’t even the best guy on his own show.  That goes to his co-host, Don Lagreca.

So when Kay first tried his hand at Twitter, he quickly learned that the Mets twitter following is probably unmatched in the twitter universe.  As soon as he started making dumb comments about Mets, it was like chum being dropped in the water near a school of sharks.  In reply to a comment by @danXtanna, Kay penned this beauty:

“I mean, what do you want me to say? They will win anywhere from 55 to 60 games. I understand the situation but that’s reality”

55-60 games?  What is the logic behind that?  Kay even went on to defend the comment on the air for the next week.  Totally pathetic.

So with all those predictions, it’s been so far, so good for the Amazin’s.  Johan Santana started the season opener for the Mets and has only allowed one earned run in his first two starts (he on the hill tonight), with 13 k’s.  David Wright has started out on fire, going 13 for his first 24 with 2 HR and 5 RBI.  He even missed 3 games with a broken pinky, but it hasn’t stopped his hot bat.

But the real story has been the Mets starting pitching.  In their 10 starts this year, the starters have allowed only 15 earned runs.  That’s how you get off to a 7-3 record.  Santana (0.90 ERA), R.A. Dickey (2.08), Jonathon Niese (2.13), Dillon Gee (2.92) and Mike Pelfrey (3.09) have not only been keeping runners off base, but they have been striking them out.  The starting rotation has stuck out 56 batters in their 60 innings of work.

If the Mets can continue to get production from Ruben Tejada, who now occupies shortstop, and if Daniel Murphy can figure out how to catch the ball, there’s no reason why the Mets can’t be a .500 ball club.  (And Santana can’t get out of the 2nd inning tonight vs the Braves.  There you go Mets fans, I’ve jinxed the season already).

Keep thinking positive Mets fans, this team won’t be nearly as bad as some people think.

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Blast from the Past: Former Met Ty Wigginton got "Wiggy with it" with a four RBI game against the Mets

The Mets scored twice in the top of the first inning off of Phillies’ started Cole Hamels as Ike Davis smacked a two-run homerun to right field to bring around David Wright who had singled in front of him.

Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets who were looking for their first sweep of the Phillies since 2006, but Pelfrey worked in and out of trouble all afternoon. In the bottom of the first, pesky Juan Pierre reached via single and worked his way around the bases to trim the Mets’ lead in half to 2-1.

From that point on it became a pitching duel between Hamels and Pelfrey. Hamels worked easily through the Mets lineup by retiring the side 1-2-3 in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings with help from a double play and a pickoff of Wright in that stretch.

Pelfrey on the other hand stranded two runners on in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth, and one each in the fifth in the sixth. Most unconventional but it worked as Pelfrey kept the Mets up by a score of 2-1 all the way to the seventh inning.

The Mets’ offense continued to struggle to string together any consecutive number of hits as Hamels began to show signs of tiring. In the bottom of the seventh, Pelfrey was pulled in favor of Ramon Ramirez who got Shane Victorino to fly out. Jimmy Rollins and Hunter Pence struck back-to-back singles and moved up to second and third on a wild pitch.

Former Met Ty Wigginton stepped up to the plate and sent a deep fly ball to right field that allowed Rollins to trot home with the tying run at 2-2. Laynce Nix went opposite field and nearly missed a two run homerun that Scott Hairston made a leap for but was unable to catch it as Nix hit a double off the left field wall to bring home Pence and give Philadelphia their first lead of the game.

In the top of the eighth the Mets went down quietly against right-hander Chad Qualls who worked around a two-out Daniel Murphy single to set the Mets down for the seventh straight inning without a run.

Then in the bottom of the eighth the flood gates opened as the Phillies batted around and scored five times in the inning to increase their lead to 8-2. Manny Acosta started the inning and worked his way into a one out bases loaded situation before walking Pence to force home a run, forcing Terry Collins to pull Acosta from the game in favor of Miguel Batista.

The ‘long-man’ Batista struggled just as much allowing the biggest hit of the game to Wigginton as he bombed a deep double over the head of Hairston to make the score 7-2. The Phillies scored once more in the frame, sending the game to the top of the ninth as new Phillies’ closer Jonathan Papelbon came on to close out the game.

The first two Met batters went down without much of a fight against the right-hander but Lucas Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis reached via singles to give the Mets a little bit of hope. Papelbon then walked Josh Thole to load the bases but struck out Justin Turner on three pitches to end the game and deny the Mets of the sweep.

Game Ball: With the exception of Davis’ home run the Mets’ offense did absolutely nothing worth noting against Hamels, and clearly none of the three relievers deserve any accolades. So it’s pretty obvious that Pelfrey gets the game ball in this one after allowing only one run on eight hits over his six innings of work.

Up Next: The Mets continue their first road trip of the season in Atlanta and will throw Dillon Gee against Tommy Hanson. Despite losing today the Mets are still winning series, and winning the first one on the road is a good first step.

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The UNDEFEATED New York Mets (who saw that coming?) look to make it five straight wins to start the season tonight when they host the Washington Nationals for the middle game of a three-game set at Citi Field. The Mets have not started a season 5-0 since 1985, the year Gary Carter made his Mets debut. That also happens to be the best start in franchise history.

Tonight’s game can be seen on SNY, with Pre-Game beginning at 6:30 pm EDT and the game starting at 7:10 pm EDT.  You can also listen to the game, as always, on WFAN 660AM.  And if you’re on Twitter, join the conversation with The Stache, @dailystache. I’ll also be live-tweeting when possible from the ballpark on my personal account, @DevOnSports.

Dillon Gee and his wicked goatee take the hill tonight for the first time this season, fresh off a solid spring. Though spring training results mean nothing (as evidenced by the bullpen’s performance in the first four games), Gee was calm, cool and in command all spring. That last part is important. Gee goes out to the mound with an idea of what he wants to do. If he can locate his pitches, he can be tough to string together hits off of.

The Mets offense has looked strong through four games, with output coming from nearly every spot in the lineup. The top of the order has been particularly productive with mainly Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and David Wright getting things started off right on a daily basis.

One player that is struggling — other than Jason Bay — is Ike Davis and he gets the night off. Davis is 0-for-15 to start the season and according to ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin, was in NYC this morning for a scheduled checkup on his valley fever diagnosis. Justin Turner makes the first start of his career at first base in Ike’s stead.

New York Mets Lineup
1. Ruben Tejada, SS
2. Ronny Cedeno, 3B
3. Daniel Murphy, 2B
4. Jason Bay, LF
5. Lucas Duda, RF
6. Justin Turner, 1B
7. Scott Hairston, CF
8. Mike Nickeas, C
9. Dillon Gee, SP

UPDATE: David Wright was scratched with a bruised pinky finger, X-Rays are pending.

Stache Facts:
The top of the Mets’ lineup is off to an incredible start. Tejada, Murphy and Wright (with opening day appearances by Andres Torres and Scott Hairston) have combined to start the season batting .432 with an obscene .538 OBP. The top three hitters have also driven in nine of the Mets’ 16 runs to start the season.

Washington Nationals Lineup
1. Ian Desmond, SS
2. Steve Lombardozzi, 2B
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Adam LaRoche, 1B
5. Jayson Werth, RF
6. Xavier Nady, LF
7. Roger Bernadina, CF
8. Wilson Ramos, C
9. Ross Detwiler, SP

Stache Facts:
Though he is the most feared hitter in the Nationals’ lineup by a wide margin, Ryan Zimmerman owns a lifetime .262/.335/.372 triple slash in 439 career plate appearances against the Mets. Monday’s Nationals loss was Davey Johnson’s first in five games managed at Citi Field. Washington swept a four-game set from the Mets last September 12-15, the only other time Davey has managed at Citi.

Pitching Matchup

NYM- Dillon Gee (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 15-8, 4.04 ERA in 2011)
After a few spot starts in September 2010, Gee burst onto the scene for the Mets in 2011, winning his first seven decisions and allowing fewer than four earned runs in eight of his first 10 starts. But the rookie regressed to the mean in the second half, pitching to a 5.25 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, .277 BAA and .375 OBPA.

He reminds me of Rick Reed when he is spotting his pitches well, but Gee often becomes erratic the second and third time through the order. He will never be a top of the rotation pitcher, but if he can maintain his control, eliminate walks and eat innings, the Mets can win plenty of games with Gee in the No. 5 spot.

WAS- Ross Detwiler (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4-5 3.00 ERA In 2011)
The sixth overall pick by the Nats in the 2007 MLB Draft, Detwiler has bounced between the minors and majors for Washington each of the last three seasons. The Nats believe he may have put it all together at the end of last season and this spring he beat out John Lannan for the fifth starter spot.

Detwiler has made three career starts and two relief appearances against the Mets, and sports a 1-1 record with a 4.50 ERA against them. Last September 2 in Washington, the Mets roughed Detwiler up for six runs in three innings, including homers by David Wright and Nick Evans (who?). But Detwiler came back the next week (Sept. 12) and limited New York to two runs in five-and-two-thirds innings, walking away with a no decision in a game the Nationals eventually won 3-2.

Stache Keys to the Game

• Location, Location, Location – Gee’s control is going to be something to watch all season and it starts tonight. The Mets need Gee to curb his wildness, eliminate the walks and go deep into Tuesday’s game to save a bullpen that has been used up over the first four games of the season. Gee spotted his pitches very well this spring and if he can continue that success into the regular season, tonight could be another good night for the Mets.
• Good Throws to 1st – Turner has limited range in the rest of the field, so it stands to reason he will also have limited range at first base. That’s something to watch. But it will be even more interesting to see how the fledgling first baseman handles David Wright’s often wild throws. Wright has been pretty good in the field so far this year, but Ike has had to dig out a few of his tosses. Turner may not be able to bail him out in the same way.
• Keep Working Counts – one of the more understated reasons for the Mets’ success through the first four games this season is that they’ve been working deep counts and seeing a lot of pitches. Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy have been especially good at making pitchers work at the top of the lineup (Jason Bay, not so much). Anytime your hitters are making pitchers work it puts the team in a better position to succeed. It’s science.

This Day in Mets History:

The spot at Shea that marked Agee's titanic blast (via Wally Gobetz on Flickr).

• The first game in Mets history was scheduled for April 10, 1962, but was rained out and pushed back a day.
• On April 10, 1969 Tommie Agee hit the only upper deck home run ever at Shea. The landing spot of the blast was commemorated at Shea with an iconic marker in section 48.
• More recently, on April 10, 2005, Pedro Martinez outdueled John Smoltz in Atlanta, pitching a complete-game two-hit masterpiece in his second start as a Met to lift New York to its first win, in game six of the season.

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HEY!  Look at THIS!!

Oh, Murph!!  The Irish Wonder made clutch plays on both sides of the coin tonight to give the Mets their 4th straight win and kept the Mets at a perfect 4-0 to start the 2012 season.  As a result, he received the Mets’ first pie of the season, courtesy of Justin Turner, filling in for #WILLIEHARRISFACE (moment of silence for no Willie this year).  Kirk Nieuwenhuis also contributed, getting his first MLB home run which tied the game at 3-3 to keep the Mets in the game.  Ruben Tejada is also looking much better at the plate as he has been getting more hits and looks much more comfortable and sure of himself.  David Wright continues to be a hot hitter, although I’m a bit concerned that he may have “contract year” syndrome.  If that’s the case, hopefully the Wilpons won’t be idiots and they sign him to a new contract.

Something is seriously wrong with Ike Davis though, and it’s worrying me.  For a guy who has one of the prettiest swings in all of baseball, he looks uncomfortable and awkward at the plate lately.  I don’t know if he’s not feeling well, or if he has to stand differently because of his leg injury, but to quote Keith Hernandez: “his fanny is flying out” when he swings.  Hopefully Dave Hudgens can work with Ike to get him back to his old self.

Mike Pelfrey wasn’t half bad!  Yes, he had a rough 3rd inning and even I started to get a little nervous, but I think overall he had a strong debut and he managed to tie his career-high 8 K’s.  The difference in this outing was when he started to get in a bit of trouble, he got himself out of it, and didn’t collapse under the pressure.  Way to go Pelf!  Now to see if he can keep that up all year.  The jury’s still out for me on that one.

Turning Point

Daniel Murphy’s shovel toss to Ruben Tejada to get Jon Rauch (who ended up with the W) out of a bit of trouble, which also ended the 8th inning and any possible Nationals rally.

Game Ball

I want to give two here, one to Kirk Nieuwenhuis for his first MLB homerun that brought the Mets right back in the game when it seemed doubtful at best.  The second is of course for Daniel Murphy, for his key defensive play in the top of the 8th that kept the game tied, and of course for his walk-off base hit.  He also gets bonus points for wiping his face on Kevin Burkhardt’s jacket.

Next Game

Dillon Gee and his magnificent beard (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his 2012 debut tomorrow night against Ross Detwiler (o-o, 0.00 ERA) as the Mets (4-0!!!) and the Nationals (2-2) play game 2 of their first 3-game series of the season tomorrow night at CitiField at 7:10 pm.  The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660 AM. @MetsWFAN @dailystache @Meriwyn

Let’s go METS!!