Kuzul

NEW YORK –  It’s getting awfully hot out there and the Mets will open up a six-game home stand starting tonight against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander’s blazing fastball.

For the Mets, this home stand against the top two teams in the A.L. Central, the Tigers and Twins, will be a proving ground for who they are.

They are returning to Citi Field after a more-than-successful road trip where they went 7-2, but the two losses did come in the final two games, which kind of put a damper on the good that transpired. Six and of the seven wins came against the two worst teams in the American League, the Orioles and Indians, although they did their job sweeping those clubs.

Now the Mets will have to face two lineups that have some boppers in them, and it begins tonight with Tigers’ first baseman, Miguel Cabrera.

The Mets were used to Cabrera coming to town back in his Florida Marlins days, but now it’s been a while since they’ve faced him. In fact, the last game Cabrera has played in against the Mets was on September 30, 2007, his final game as a Florida Marlin.

Mets’ fans have awful memories thinking about that game, the first of the two consecutive collapses. Cabrera was involved in a benches-clearing brawl between the two teams the day before that fateful day, when Jose Reyes and Miguel Olivo went at it.

Now Cabrera comes to town three years later, batting .328, with a Major League-leading 19 home runs and 60 RBI. His .328 batting average is ninth in the big leagues and is the only thing keeping him from competing for the triple crown.

While Cabrera is the big bat in the Tigers lineup, Justin Verlander is the big arm in the Tigers starting rotation. Verlander has already had some kind of career and just like Miguel Cabrera, he’s only 27-years-old.

There has only been one season in which Verlander has had a tough time and that was during the 2008 season. Following a 2007 season in which he threw a no-hitter, Verlander went 11-17 in 2008 and seemed to be regressing. He turned things around big time though in 2009, as he put together a career year, winning 19 games with a career-low 3.45 ERA.

Verlander has never been on the Disabled List and that’s hard to imagine considering he throws in the upper 90s.

While the Mets will have the hard task of hitting Justin Verlander’s hot stuff, the Tigers may be running into a frontline starting pitcher in Jon Niese.

The 23-year-old rookie Niese has won all three starts since returning from the DL and has done it while pitching at least seven innings in each. His last start in Cleveland might have been the least dominant of the three, but if that’s a bad outing for Niese, that’s pretty good. In his last start on Wednesday at the Indians, Niese went seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, while allowing a home run.

Verlander has had the luck recently of facing bad opponents. In seven of his last eight starts, Verlander has faced the Indians, Athletics, Mariners, Royals, Pirates, and Nationals. It’s probably fair to say that he’ll be facing an upgrade tonight, especially playing at Citi Field, where the Mets are 24-10 this season.

These two pitchers–Niese and Verlander–couldn’t be more different than one another. Verlander throws a blazing fastball, while Niese is more of a finesse pitcher, throwing a low-90s fastball, cutter, and huge 12-to-6 curveball.

If Niese is going to win this game, he’d better hope for some offense. The Mets were held scoreless through the final 15 innings of the Yankees series, last scoring a run in the third inning of Saturday’s game on Jose Reyes’ two-run home run.

The Tigers may not be on the right end of numbers in this series, as they are only 13-19 on the road, compared to 25-11 at home.

This is the first time the Mets are facing the Tigers since 2007 and it’s the first time the Tigers have been to the Mets’ home since 2004, when the Mets swept them at Shea that June.

This entire home stand should be fun. It all begins tonight as the Mets try and get back on track.

Jon Niese this season (11 starts)
4-2, 3.64 ERA, 64.1 IP, 71 hits, 21 BB, 48 SO

Justin Verlander this season (14 starts)
8-4, 3.54 ERA, 94 IP, 72 hits, 31 BB, 85 SO

All-time season series (New York vs. Detroit)
Tigers lead series 5-4

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NEW YORK—It just wasn’t meant to be for the Mets this afternoon, as they were shut down by a dominant CC Sabathia, losing 4-0.

For Johan Santana, it was one bad pitch that did him in. The only runs for either team came from one swing off the bat of Mark Teixeira, who hit a grand slam in the third, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead that they would not relinquish.

The Mets never really had any major chances in this game against the Yankees ace. They scattered four hits in eight innings against Sabathia, although they did have the leadoff man reach in four straight innings from the fourth through the seventh.

In the fourth, after an Angel Pagan leadoff single, David Wright hit into a double play. The Mets wasted a leadoff walk in the fifth, a leadoff double in the sixth, and two guys on with no outs in the seventh.

While the Mets were once again not supporting Johan Santana, he settled down in his final three innings. He gave up hits in each inning but kept the Yankees off the board, going six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, he walked one, hit a batter, and struck out three. At the same time, this was the third straight start that Johan Santana has given up four runs, as he continues his up-and-down season.

The game was delayed for about 25 minutes due to a passing shower, and when it resumed, Mariano Rivera came in for CC Sabathia and retired the side in order.

After starting the road trip 7-0, the Mets with their top two pitchers going, lost the last two games to the Yankees, falling to 39-30 on the season. The Mets are now 0-7 in rubber-games all-time at Yankee Stadium.

They will try and get back on track starting Tuesday, when they return to Citi Field, where they are 24-10 on the season. They’ll open up a six-game home stand, three with the Tigers and three with the Twins.

Tuesday night’s match up has Jon Niese going for the Mets against Justin Verlander for the Tigers.

NL East standings (top 3 teams)
Atlanta 42-28
NY Mets 39-30 (2 1/2)
Philadelphia 35-32 (5 1/2)

Next series probable pitchers:
June 22
New York: Jon Niese (2010: 4-2, 3.64 ERA) vs. Detroit: Justin Verlander (2010: 8-4, 3.54 ERA)
June 23
New York: R.A. Dickey (2010: 5-0, 2.82 ERA) vs. Detroit: Jeremy Bonderman (2010: 3-4, 4.06 ERA)
June 24
New York: Hisanori Takahashi (2010: 6-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Detroit: Armando Galarraga (2010: 2-1, 3.32 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:
New York Mets:
June 22-24 vs. Detroit Tigers
June 25-27 vs. Minnesota Twins

Detroit Tigers:
June 22-24 @ New York Mets
June 25-27 @ Atlanta Braves

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NEW YORK– Unless these two teams meet each other in the World Series, this will be the final time they face one another until 2011. The Yankees and the Mets are playing their sixth and final game against each other today, with the season series hanging in the balance. The Mets can win the season series from the Yankees for the first time since 2008, or the Yankees can earn a split.

How better to settle the score than have each team’s ace on the mound. Just as when Johan Santana bested CC Sabathia back on May 23, the two will square off today. Both left-handers have had a hard go of it lately.

In fact, four of Sabathia’s last five wins have come against the 19-49 Baltimore Orioles. During that stretch, the Mets beat him on the Sunday of the opening round at Citi Field.

On the other hand, Santana also hasn’t pitched well lately, blowing leads in his last two starts. On June 10, the Mets last loss before yesterday, Santana was handed a 2-0 lead against the offensively challenged San Diego Padres, and he gave four back in a 4-2 Mets loss.

In his last start against the Indians on Tuesday, Santana gave four runs up after the Mets had given him one, a game the Mets would go on to win 7-6. Those two starts of giving up eight total runs coming after two consecutive scoreless efforts.

So both aces have hit a bump in the road but will try to raise their game. Sabathia is coming off an outing in which he was the beneficiary of the Yankees’ offense tattooing Roy Halladay for three home runs.

After being in an offensive slumber over the previous three games, the Yankees hit two home runs off Mike Pelfrey yesterday, but other than that, they weren’t impressive. They had an opportunity to blow the game open in the eighth against Ryota Igarashi, with second and third and none out, but failed to score.

On the Mets side of things, their offense couldn’t respond to Pelfrey allowing two home runs, as they trailed 5-3 after four and although never allowed any more runs, never fought back. All three runs were produced by two Jose Reyes home runs, his first multi-home run game since May 2008, as everyone else struggled.

Speaking of struggles, suddenly, after being red-hot, David Wright is in one. After striking out once on Friday night, he struck out three times yesterday, reverting back to his April and May ways, and carrying a long swing at the plate.

It may only be one game, but watching Wright’s approach to Joba Chamberlain’s four sliders yesterday, he looked lost. The last slider that struck him out was on the left batter’s box and in the dirt, and Wright chased. If the Mets want their offense to roll like it had on the entire road trip to Baltimore and Cleveland, Wright must find out what’s going wrong immediately.

Another hitter having a hard time of it is Jason Bay. People may not want to call him a bust just yet, but it’s now June 20, and Bay has four home runs, two coming in one game. With a chance yesterday to get the Mets closer, he ended an inning with a double play. It seems as if whenever there’s a rally going, Bay kills it. So although the Mets were scorching-hot for a while, it’s games like yesterday’s that expose some slumping hitters.

Derek Jeter may return to today’s lineup after sitting out yesterday with a bruised right heel, and Alex Rodriguez may have to play third base so that Jorge Posada doesn’t have to catch back-to-back games.

Last season when Santana started a game at Yankee Stadium, things didn’t quite go too well. He got roughed up for a then-career high nine earned runs, en route to a 15-0 Mets loss. He’ll obviously hope for better things this time around, and it should be a fun pitchers’ duel. Yet again, the way these two are pitching lately, and the way the ball flew out of the Stadium yesterday, it may be a slugfest.

One thing is for sure, someone will win this series today. The Mets actually enter today’s play with the National League Wild Card lead, one game over the Dodgers. The Mets are aiming higher than that, but it’s a good lead.

Johan Santana vs. New York Yankees (May 23)
Win, 7.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 hits, 3 BB, 5 SO

CC Sabathia vs. New York Mets (May 23)
Loss, 5 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 10 hits, 2 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR

2010 season series (New York Mets vs. New York Yankees)
May 21: New York Yankees 2, New York Mets 1
May 22: New York Mets 5, New York Yankees 3
May 23: New York Mets 6, New York Yankees 4
June 18: New York Mets 4, New York Yankees 0
June 19: New York Yankees 5, New York Mets 3
Mets lead series 3-2

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NEW YORK– Mike Pelfrey, for the second consecutive start, didn’t have his greatest stuff. His fastball was flat and his sinker had no bite, as the Mets lost the battle of long balls.

The game got off to a roaring start for the Mets as Jose Reyes lead off with a home run off Phil Hughes.

Pelfrey though, would give the run right back in the first, as he gave up two singles and a run-scoring double play to begin the inning, tying the game at 1-1.

The Mets got a leadoff single from Jason Bay in the second, but Chris Carter hit a double play. 

The Yankees threat in the second, but never scored as the game went to the third still tied. In that third, after a Henry Blanco walk, Jose Reyes hit a two-run home run to right, his second of the game, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.

But just like the first, Pelfrey would give the runs right back in the third. Brett Gardner lead off with a single, and the slumping Mark Teixeira hit a game-tying two-run home run.

In the fourth, the Yankees would add another two runs, thanks to a Curtis Granderson two-run home run, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

With Pelfrey trying to settle in, the Mets had a chance to do something in the sixth. Angel Pagan lead off with a single, and after a David Wright popup, Ike Davis walked. Jason Bay though, grounded into a inning-ending double play, continuing to struggle this season, as the rally ended.

Pitching in the sixth, trying to keep the game close, Pelfrey issued two walks but got out of trouble with a grounder to Jose Reyes, who made a nice throw to first. Mike Pelfrey, although he didn’t pitch well, went seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, he walked three and struck out two, while giving up two home runs.

Phil Hughes on the other hand, was only burned by Jose Reyes’ two home runs, as he also went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walked three and struck out four.

The Mets tried rallying off of the Yankees’ bullpen, but to no avail. Joba Chamberlain came in in the eighth and allowed a double to Angel Pagan but didn’t let him score. Mariano Rivera saved a 1-2-3 ninth inning, as the Mets went down 5-3.

The loss is the Mets’ first since May 10 against the Padres in game one of a doubleheader, snapping their eight-game winning streak. Pelfrey falls to 9-2 on the season, while Hughes improves to 10-1.

The Mets will try and get back on track tomorrow afternoon, when they send Johan Santana to the mound against CC Sabathia, closing out the Mets’ nine-game road trip.

NL East standings (top 3 teams)
Atlanta 41-28
NY Mets 39-29 (1 1/2)
Philadelphia 35-31 (4 1/2)

Series probable pitchers:
June 20
New York Mets: Johan Santana (2010: 5-3, 3.13 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: CC Sabathia (2010: 7-3, 4.00 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:
New York Mets:
June 20 @ New York Yankees
June 22-24 vs. Detroit Tigers

New York Yankees:
June 20 vs. New York Mets
June 21-23 @ Arizona Diamondbacks

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NEW YORK– For the first time since August 29-September 30, 2001, the Mets have put together a 24-game run of at least 19-5. No, it didn’t even happen in 2006, when the Mets ran through the National League. That just shows you how hard it is to pull off this kind of feat.

The Mets will try to improve to 20 out of 25 today.

Finally, the Mets can stop hearing about beating weak opponents and just being on a semi-hot streak. Although, there are some who insist that last night’s Mets win had to do with the Yankees’ cold bats, not the brilliant pitching out of Hisanori Takahashi.

If the Mets can’t get credit for shutting out the defending World Champions in their home ballpark, then what does this team have to do? Well, more winning and climbing up the standings would do the trick.

After winning last night, the Mets will hope for better luck today, facing a pitcher they beat last month, Phil Hughes.

What the Mets have been doing during this nearly month-long run is win in all ways possible. They either score a ton of runs or, like last night, get great starting pitching and just tack on runs late to extend leads.

Maybe last season, or even during the two years prior, the Mets would have not scored three late runs and they would have lost the game in the ninth instead. This time, although they did not tear apart the starter (Javier Vazquez), they beat up on the opposing bullpen and saved it at the end. The team this season has been built with fight and swagger.

Today, they will send Mike Pelfrey, who’s 9-1, to the mound, facing a team that has suddenly lost their offense over the last three games. At the the same time, Phil Hughes is 9-1, too, but he did lose to Pelfrey at Citi Field on May 22, when this Mets rise began.

The Mets were not supposed to win last night, as people were predicting a lopsided Yankees victory.

If Pelfrey can keep the Mets in the game, similar to what Takahashi did last night, then the Mets may have a shot against Hughes, who didn’t fare well in his last start against the lowly Houston Astros. Last Sunday, although the Yankees won the game, 9-5, Hughes was charged with all five earned runs. He threw 110 pitches in only 5 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits, one of which was a home run. He has given up four or more runs in three of his last six starts.

Pelfrey has had one stand-out bad start this season—a May 1 game against the Phillies, when he allowed six runs on eight hits in four innings. He hasn’t allowed more than four runs in any other start. In his last one, he gutted out the win by throwing a quality start against the Orioles.

Mets starting pitchers are 17-3 since May 17, and it seems like every start results in an outing of six innings pitched or more.

If they can split the final two games, they would complete an 8-1 road trip, similar to the 9-1 road trip they had in June 2006 that propelled them from that point forward.

For the Yankees, they will try and avoid losing their fourth straight game at home, a rarity, hoping the Mets can come up flat against their impressive young right-hander.

It’s getting fiery out in the Bronx, while the excitement for the Mets just keeps on burning.

Mike Pelfrey vs. New York Yankees (May 22)
Win, 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 SO

Phil Hughes vs. New York Mets (May 22)
Loss, 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 7 SO

2010 season series (New York Mets vs. New York Yankees)

May 21: New York Yankees 2, New York Mets 1
May 22: New York Mets 5, New York Yankees 3
May 23: New York Mets 6, New York Yankees 4
June 18: New York Mets 4, New York Yankees 0
Mets lead series 3-1

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NEW YORK– Now we can say that the Mets are an elite team, and a force to be reckoned with. After winning six consecutive road games against teams that they should beat in the Orioles and Indians, the Mets not only went into Yankee Stadium and beat the Yankees for their eighth straight win and seventh on the road trip, they shut them out.

Almost everyone was predicting the Mets to lose this opening game, and that starter Hisanori Takahashi would get rocked hard. Neither of those happened, as Takahashi for the second time this season, shut the Yankees out over six innings.

The Yankees’ Javier Vazquez wasn’t bad at all either, but was the hard-luck loser on this night. He gave up a run in the first inning, when the Mets rallied with two outs. David Wright doubled to left and Ike Davis singled to right, scoring Wright, who just beat Francisco Cervelli’s tag at the plate.

That turned out to be the game-winning run for the Mets. Vazquez didn’t allow a hit in his last five innings, the third through the seventh, keeping the Yankees within one run.

Takahashi though, flirted with danger all night. None more than when he loaded the bases in the sixth, but got Jorge Posada, who hit two grand slams last weekend, to chop a ball to Wright at third. Wright rushed in and barehanded it, firing it to first, nipping Posada to end the inning.

Takahashi went a brilliant six innings, scattering four hits, walking two and striking out three. He has now pitched 12 innings against the Yankees, allowing zero runs on nine hits.

Vazquez wasn’t bad himself, allowing one run on three hits, walked three and struck out four in seven innings.

The Yankees had a huge chance to tie the game in the seventh. Elmer Dessens relieved Takahashi for the Mets and allowed a leadoff double to Francisco Cervelli. Pedro Feliciano came in and stranded the runner.

After taking out Vazquez, the Yankees brought in their less-than-decent bullpen other than Mariano Rivera. Chan Ho Park walked Ruben Tejada to start the eighth, followed by allowing doubles to Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan, letting the Mets score two to extend their lead to 3-0.

Feliciano also pitched the eighth inning and did the job, going two scoreless to set it up for the Mets.

In the ninth, against Boone Logan, the Mets scored an insurance run with a Jose Reyes RBI single making it 4-0.

In the Yankees ninth, the Mets brought in lefty Raul Valdes, being it wasn’t a save situation. After getting Jorge Posada to fly out to right, he allowed singles to Cervelli and Granderson, as the Mets brought in Francisco Rodriguez with the tying run on deck.

Rodriguez made it dramatic once again, walking Brett Gardner to load the bases with one out for Derek Jeter, who only had one career grand slam. Jeter struck out on a questionable check-swing call, and Nick Swisher fouled out to David Wright at third to end the game.

The Mets have finally proven that their road struggles are over. They have won all seven games on the road trip, to move to 39-28 on the season. They have won three of four against the Yankees this season, and are 19-5 since May 22, the best record in the Majors over that span.

They have won eight straight games and 12 of 13, and will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon with Mike Pelfrey (9-1) going against Phil Hughes (9-1). Their eight game winning streak is tied for the longest this season.

NL East standings (top 3 teams)
Atlanta 40-28
NY Mets 39-28 (1/2)
Philadelphia 35-20 (3 1/2)

Series probable pitchers:
June 19
New York Mets: Mike Pelfrey (2010: 9-1, 2.39 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: Phil Hughes (2010: 9-1, 3.11 ERA)
June 20
New York Mets: Johan Santana (2010: 5-3, 3.13 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: CC Sabathia (2010: 7-3, 4.00 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:
New York Mets:
June 19-20 @ New York Yankees
June 22-24 vs. Detroit Tigers

New York Yankes:
June 19-20 vs. New York Mets
June 21-23 @ Arizona Diamondbacks

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Nobody expected this kind of a run out of the New York Mets. It’s just one of those hot streaks that has come out of nowhere to propel the Mets to the top of the NL.

Entering play tonight, the Mets are 38-28, one-half game behind the Atlanta Braves for both first place in the NL East, and the best record in the NL. They are tied for the fourth most wins in the Major Leagues, and have stormed to elite territory.

But with winning games and taking advantage of the bottom-feeding Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians, comes the test of proving yourselves against baseball’s best (record-wise).

The Yankees sit tied for first in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays, who just lost a series to the Braves, both teams with records of 41-25, three better than the Mets.

It’s setting up pretty nicely for the Mets. The drama is building by the game, as the Mets have set everyone up for surprise, and now get the right team to try and prove they’re for real again.

The Mets have improved their road record with these six consecutive wins against the Orioles and Indians, from 8-18 to a much more respectable 14-18, inching closer towards the .500 mark.

They say great teams play .500 on the road and over at home, where the Mets have done that at 24-10. If they can ever win this series from the Yankees, they’d gain respect from just about everyone.

This game will be pretty interesting from both starting pitchers’ standpoints. It’s a rematch of the first game between the two teams in May at Citi Field—Hisanori Takahashi for the Mets, and Javier Vazquez for the Yankees.

From Takahashi’s standpoint, this game may be tougher than the last against the Yankees, whom he shutout over six innings in his first Major League start.

The Yankees, though, have always had trouble beating guys they’ve never seen before, but normally get to them a second time around. This time, Takahashi will be pitching against them at the bandbox that is Yankee Stadium, and the long ball might bite him.

Takahashi has given up some home runs lately, and you can look for long ball contributions out of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira. He’ll have to keep the ball down against those right-handed power hitters to be effective in this game.

Meanwhile, from Vazquez’s point of view, the Mets may hit him this time around. Just like the Yankees, the Mets saw this pitcher before, when Vazquez threw a gem against the Mets in that Yankees game one victory.

Back then, the Mets, well, were a different team. On May 21, the start of the Citi Field part of the Subway Series, the Mets were 20-23, last place, seven games out of first place. Now, they are 38-28 (18-5 since then), second place, one-half game out of first place.

Part of the Mets losing ways was their lack of offensive aggression. They would take a whole bunch of pitches and allow opposing pitchers to get ahead early in counts, leading to many strikeouts, especially from David Wright.

Now, as an offense with a different approach, they are aggressive early in at-bats, swinging on first or second pitches, and getting hits. Unless Vazquez can counter by throwing breaking balls early in at-bats, he may be in for a long night, especially the way the Mets are hitting and at a bandbox.

This may be one of those games that comes down to the bullpens, with both pitchers being knocked out early, and the Mets may have the advantage before the closer’s spot. Joba Chamberlain and company haven’t been great for the Yankees, while the Mets relievers have been getting the job done.

Everyone in the Mets lineup is hitting, from Jose Reyes down to Ruben Tejada, with everyone in between. The Yankees, after shellacking Roy Halladay, have gone cold, and have some injury concerns regarding Jorge Posada’s foot and Alex Rodriguez’s leg.

This should be a tough game for both teams, with both at or near the top of their respective divisions. It’ll be fun to watch and the series only gets better from here with four great pitchers starting in the next two games.

Hisanori Takahashi vs. New York Yankees (May 21)
ND, 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 hits, 1 BB, 5 SO

Javier Vazquez vs. New York Mets (May 21)
Win, 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 2 BB, 6 SO

Mets vs. Yankees 2010 season series:

Mets lead series, 2-1

May 21: New York Yankees 2, New York Mets 1
May 22: New York Mets 5, New York Yankees 3
May 23: New York Mets 6, New York Yankees 4

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The Mets are officially on a tear. With their 6-4 win over the Indians tonight, the Mets have won seven in a row and 11 of their last 12. They are 12-2 in June and are 18-5 since May 22.

Once again, the Mets tore the cover off the ball, recording double-digit hits in their fourth straight game. The Mets got it going—no pun intended—right off the bat, scoring three runs off Jake Westbrook in the first inning.

They sent eight men to the plate and recorded six hits. The RBI in the inning came from Ike Davis on a single, Jeff Francoeur on a sacrifice fly, and Henry Blanco on a single. They could’ve had more, but Chris Carter was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Jesus Feliciano base hit, as he didn’t slide or take out the catcher.

On the mound for the Mets was 35-year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, trying to win five of his first six starts with the Mets. He gave up runs in the second and third innings—a Jhonny Peralta RBI single and Ruben Tajada fielding error, respectively—cutting the Mets’ lead to 3-2.

But just like the Mets have been doing during this entire road trip, they got the runs right back.

In the fourth, Jesus Feliciano lead off with a walk, and Ruben Tajada moved him to second on a bunt. Jose Reyes doubled Feliciano to third on a pop fly, and after Angel Pagan was intentionally walked to load the bases, David Wright drove in a run with a fielder’s choice groundout. Ike Davis followed with a single, extending the Mets’ lead to 5-2.

In the fifth, the Indians got a run back off of Dickey on a Travis Hafner run-scoring groundout. Dickey’s knuckleball wasn’t as effective as his last start early on, but it got better late in his outing. He went six, as he has in all five starts, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits, and he walked two and struck out seven.

His catcher though, albeit a different one in Henry Blanco, had trouble catching his knuckler again. He committed two passed balls, just like Rod Barajas in his last start, but it didn’t effect the outcome.

The Mets had been playing fantastic defense leading up to this game, where they made two errors, but they also made some nice plays, especially Jose Reyes. Not only did he do it with his glove, he also did it with his bat.

Reyes went 3-for-5, with a single, double, and huge run-scoring triple in the eighth. After the Indians scored a run to inch to within 5-4 in the seventh, with a run off Pedro Feliciano, Reyes brought in Ruben Tejada with his triple in the eighth to make it 6-4, a huge insurance run for Francisco Rodriguez.

Once again, Rodriguez made it interesting. It’s how he has to do things, it seems. After Trevor Crowe led off and struck out, Shin-Soo Choo singled and stole second base. Rodriguez, though, blew rookie catcher Carlos Santana away with a blistering 94-mph fastball, his hardest thrown pitch of the season. He followed that up by striking out a home run bat, the tying-run Travis Hafner to end the game.

The Mets are the hottest team in baseball right now and just refuse to lose. They have gotten to 10 games over .500 and will head to Yankee Stadium as hot as they’ve been since the All-Star break in 2008.

The Yankees have lost two games in a row, and the Mets will have their two top pitchers going in the series.

NL East standings (top 3 teams)

Atlanta 39-28
NY Mets 38-28 (1/2)
Philadelphia 34-30 (3 1/2)

Next series probable pitchers

June 18

New York Mets: Hisanori Takahashi (2010: 5-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: Javier Vazquez (2010: 6-5, 5.43 ERA)

June 19

New York Mets: Mike Pelfrey (2010: 9-1, 2.39 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: Phil Hughes (2010: 9-1, 3.11 ERA)

June 20

New York Mets: Johan Santana (2010: 5-3, 3.13 ERA) vs. New York Yankees: CC Sabathia (2010: 7-3, 4.00 ERA)

Upcoming schedule

New York Mets
June 18-20 @ New York Yankees
June 22-24 vs. Detroit Tigers

New York Yankees
June 18-20 vs. New York Mets
June 21-23 @ Arizona Diamondbacks

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CLEVELAND: The Mets are doing a lot of things right right now. They are obviously winning a bunch of ballgames, and that’s taking them farther away from the .500 mark, as they are now nine over.

They are winning virtually every night that the Phillies and Braves lose, and when those two teams win, like last night, they make sure they keep pace. It’s all a sign of a very good team, that seems to only be getting better, and that’s a pretty scary thought.

Consider that during the Mets winning streak, Angel Pagan is hitting .200. Jason Bay is hitting .250. Rod Barajas is only hitting .214. The Mets aren’t getting contributions from everyone, and they are scorching hot.

They’ll be going for their seventh straight win tonight, and they’ll have a hot pitcher on the mound, R.A. Dickey. So far in his five starts with the Mets, Dickey has been beyond spectacular for what the Mets could’ve hoped. Now the Mets only hope that he continues his magic throughout the summer.

Dickey has pitched six or more innings in each start, not allowing more than four runs in any of them. In his last start in Baltimore, his knuckleball was so nasty, with so much movement, that even his own catcher couldn’t catch it cleanly.

But that’s what you’d like to see out of Dickey, because when his knuckler is floating the way it was that night, he’s unhittable.

He’ll be facing a Cleveland Indians lineup that for the most part is inexperienced. If his knuckler is really working tonight, look for a lot of silly, confusing swings from Indians hitters.

At the same time, if there’s a game in which it’s not working for him, he could be in for a long night, but he is the right guy to pitch against Cleveland.

On the mound for the Indians will be former Yankees starter Jake Westbrook. Westbrook made his debut for the Yankees in 2000, and after not performing well, got dealt to the Indians, where he has been since 2001.

Westbrook is a career .500 pitcher at 67-67, and it’s been the same this season for him. Coming off a 2009 season in which he didn’t throw a pitch due to Tommy John surgery, Westbrook has had an up-and-down campaign.

He has had quality starts, and not-so-good ones. His last one came on Friday against the Nationals, where he threw a great game. He went 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, he walked two and struck out five.

The Mets’ offense, though, has been red-hot, and they never seem to let down. After Jon Niese allowed the Indians to creep back into last night’s ballgame, the Mets responded with a three-run inning, putting the kibosh on the Indians’ comeback hopes.

Along with never letting down, the Mets also hustle. This time, maybe their hustling got a little carried away, as the leader in that department, Jason Bay, got banged up by taking a tumble at first base, and he will be a game-time decision tonight.

The Mets theme this season has been, “If we don’t outscore you, we’ll out-hustle you.” That’s why the Mets are in a position to go on a major tear into the month of July, as long as they hold up this kind of play for another two weeks.

So, R.A. Dickey will take to the mound, hoping to extend the Mets’ winning streak to seven games, and improve the team to 10 games over .500.

There are many reasons to think he can, as Mets’ starters are 16-3 since May 17. The Mets also hope with a little help from the Rays, that they can be in first place heading to Yankee Stadium.

R.A. Dickey vs. Cleveland (career)
1-0, 3.70 ERA, 24.1 IP, 24 hits, 10 BB, 21 SO

Jake Westbrook this season (13 starts)
4-3, 4.62 ERA, 78 IP, 82 hits, 29 BB, 43 SO

2010 season series (New York vs. Cleveland)

June 15: New York 7, Cleveland 6
June 16: New York 8, Cleveland 4

Mets lead series 2-0

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CLEVELAND- The Mets are going from a team that can stay in the race to a team that may be elite. Now, let’s not get carried away; they have won five of their last six against the Orioles and Indians, but who cares? If the Mets weren’t winning these games, people would be all over them.

The Mets won their sixth straight game tonight, beating the inept Cleveland Indians, 8-4, and improving to nine games over .500.

Jon Niese was on the mound looking for his third straight win coming off the disabled list and he was good enough. He wasn’t as dominant as his last start, his complete game, one-hit shutout, but he pitched seven quality innings, holding the Indians to three runs.

The Mets backed him up, as they continue to score early and often. For the third straight game, the Mets put together a five-run inning. It’s the first time they’ve done that since August 2004.

They got the five runs in the third inning to go up 5-0. They stringed together six straight hits, including the last four being doubles from the nine through five hitters. David Wright was part of the big rally again with a two-run double, giving him an NL-high 52 RBI on the season.

The Mets have been helped all series by the Indians defensive follies, and in that big third inning it held true. Ike Davis hit a ball to fairly deep left field where Shelley Duncan misplayed a catchable ball, having it bounce behind him, allowing a run to score. It was the first of two doubles in the game for the suddenly hot Davis.

The Indians started to chip back at the deficit in the fourth and fifth innings. They scored two in the fourth on a Duncan two-run home run, his second in two games.

In the fifth they scored a run on a Carlos Santana RBI single, but he ended the inning by oversliding the bag at second on a double.

Only up 5-3, the Mets got all three runs back in the sixth off of Mitch Talbot. Jeff Francoeur singled in a run and Angel Pagan singled in two runs, as the Mets extended their lead to 8-3. Pagan went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and a stolen base.

Niese then pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning to be in line for his third straight win. Things got a little tight though regarding the Mets bullpen.

In the eighth, Jenrry Mejia walked the first two batters he faced, and Elmer Dessens came in and walked the first guy to face him to load the bases. The Indians would get a sacrifice fly, but Duncan hit into an inning-ending double play with the Mets up 8-4. Elmer Dessens would get the final three outs in the ninth, as the Mets held on to beat the Indians, 8-4.

The Mets offense put together an impressive showing, getting eight runs on 13 hits against Mitch Talbot, who had been 7-4 with a 3.59 ERA.

Jason Bay hurt himself beating out a ground ball in the second inning, as he tripped and spun around on the ground. He left the game later on with a right quad contusion.

The Mets, with the win, are now 37-28, still one-half game behind the Braves for first place. They are 11-2 in June, 17-5 since May 22, and will go for a 6-0 Baltimore/Cleveland road trip tomorrow night with R.A. Dickey on the mound, trying to improve to 10 games over .500.

NL East standings (top 3 teams)
Atlanta 38-28
NY Mets 37-28 (1/2)
Philadelphia 33-30 (3 1/2)

Series probable pitchers:
June 17
New York: R.A. Dickey (2010: 4-0, 2.78 ERA) vs. Cleveland: Jake Westbrook (2010: 4-3, 4.62 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:
New York Mets:
June 17 @ Cleveland Indians
June 18-20 @ New York Yankees

Cleveland Indians:
June 17 vs. New York Mets
June 18-20 @ Pittsburgh Pirates

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