Ike Davis launched one of the Mets’ most manly home runs of the season in the first inning to give New York a 3-0 lead and all the offense they would need to triumph. Davis also singled and walked to continue a hot streak that’s making him look more and more like the first baseman of the future.

Washington right-hander Yunesky Maya was also making his first big league start tonight. While he wasn’t as effective as Gee, Maya settled down after the Davis home run to pitch five innings and give the Nats a chance to comeback. The Mets only got one hit after Maya left the ball game, as relievers Ross Detwiler and Collin Balester were dominant in the last four innings. For the Mets, Pedro Feliciano and Bobby Parnell shared the 8th before Hisanori Takahashi shut the door with a double play in the 9th.

Game Ball: Not only did Dillon Gree pitch impressively, but he also hit an RBI single in the 2nd inning to become the first Mets pitcher ever to record an RBI in his first start.

Turning Point: It’s a lot easier to pitch to contact when you’ve got a lead to work with, and a lead is just what Dillon Gee got when Ike Davis bombed a belt high fastball into center field for a 3-0 lead.

Next Game: The Mets will get up early for a 12:35 PM start tomorrow in Washington. R.A. Dickey will pitch against Livan Hernandez in a battle of old guys with deceptively tricky stuff.

First things first. Jeff Francoeur has indeed been traded to Texas. Good ol’ Frenchy has been a model clubhouse citizen since joining the Mets midway through the 2009 campaign. He even hit for a nice average for his first few months in orange and blue. This year, however, Francoeur has done nothing offensively on a team that can hardly afford the right fielder to do nothing offensively.

Tonight Francoeur said farewell to New York by throwing out Martin Prado at the plate on a 5th inning Alex Gonzalez single. It’s a shame the great defensive play only delayed the Mets demise. Earlier in the inning, Luis Castillo let the ball go straight through his legs on what would have been an easy fielder’s choice. Had that been converted, the Francoeur play would have made the third out. Instead, the inning continued and backup backstop David Ross hit a grand slam off of Jon Niese. That made the score 8-2 and ended the competitive portion of the ball game.

The Mets got all their run scoring done in the top of the 5th when Braves rookie starter Mike Minor briefly lost control and walked 3 batters to go with a Castillo lead-off single. Henry Blanco and Jeff Francoeur hit sac flies to drive in a pair of runs. A nice base hit would have yielded a couple more runs, but it turned out being a moot point as the Mets collapsed in the bottom of the inning.

Jon Niese did a good job getting ground balls and strikeouts through the first four innings. Things unraveled in the 5th of course, but Niese might have gone farther had the defense held up. He ended up with 6 Ks and 2 BBs in 4 and 2/3 innings with 3 earned runs allowed.

There was a sad moment in the 3rd when David Ross hit a ball to the wall in right center. Beltran looked like he would track it down but jumped awkwardly on the track, lost the ball and fell down. Ross ended up with a triple and Mets fans could only shake their heads and try to remember when Beltran would catch anything not hit over the wall. Who knows? Maybe the star center fielder will be able to regain a step with work in the off-season and play a productive last year on his contract. Right now he doesn’t look like himself.

Turning Point: The Mets were looking good going into the bottom of the 5th. Then Nate McLouth got hit by a pitch and Castillo let that ball through and the Braves stormed back. Even before the Ross grand slam, the Braves had built a 4-2 lead that the Mets would not be able to come back from.

Game Ball: In his last game as a Met, Jeff Francoeur got a base hit, a sac fly and one last outfield assist. No other Met did more than that to help the team tonight, though Castillo and Tejada each had a pair of singles.

Next Game: The Mets play the third game in their series vs. Atlanta tomorrow night at 7:10 PM EST. Mike Pelfrey will try to continue his resurgence against sophomore sensation Tommy Hanson.

Update: Jenrry Mejia and Lucas Duda have been promoted. It sounds like Mejia will make his first major league start on Saturday in Chicago. Also Frenchy is missing the Mets fantasy football draft on Saturday. That’s a bummer. Also a bummer: The guy the Mets got for him isn’t so great.

Rubber Game! The Mets played another clunker last night in which they yet again could not score for Johan. The 4-1 loss allowed the Astros to crawl back and even the series. The Mets will try to redeem themselves today at 1:10 PM EST when Houston’s Budd Norris throws out the first pitch to Angel Pagan. Flip over to SNY this afternoon or listen on WFAN if you can bare it.

New York Mets’ Lineup:
1. Angel Pagan RF
2. Luis Castillo 2B
3. Carlos Beltran CF
4. Chris Carter LF
5. David Wright 3B
6. Ike Davis 1B
7. Josh Thole C
8. Luis Hernandez SS
9. R.A. Dickey RHP

After marching out the same lineup two days in a row vs. Houston right-handers (and scoring a total of 3 runs), Jerry Manuel has decided to switch things around for the rubber game. Lefties Chris Carter and Josh Thole replace right-handers Jeff Francoeur and Henry Blanco at the expense of team defense. Luis Hernandez makes his first start since being called up on the 27th. Hernandez is a switch hitter with a career MLB OPS of .557 (244 PAs). He’s been slightly less miserable against righties though!

Interesting Fact/Trend: Mets second basemen this year (mostly Castillo, Cora and Tejada) have zero home runs and a .268 slugging percentage this season. Orlando Hudson has 6 home runs and a .405 slugging percentage. Also Dan Uggla is a free agent in the off-season.

Houston Astros’ Lineup:
1. Michael Bourn CF
2. Tommy Manzella SS
3. Hunter Pence RF
4. Carlos Lee 1B
5. Geoff Blum 2B
6. Jason Michaels LF
7. Chris Johnson 3B
8. Jason Castro C
9. Bud Norris RHP

Astros manager Brad Mills has inserted veterans Geoff Blum and Jason Michaels into the lineup against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Rookie Chris Johnson has hit very well since his June call up, but he’s down hitting seventh today. Mills clearly values experience versus knuckleballs.

Interesting Fact/Trend: Carlos Lee has been having a miserable season, but lately he has returned to form. On the current NL East road trip (9 games since August 20), Lee has 3 HR and 11 RBI, including the 2-run bomb that put the Mets away last night.

On The Bump: The 5.03 ERA and 1.43 WHIP that Bud Norris brings to the ballpark don’t even come close to telling how impressive the youngster has been. He’s averaged more than a strikeout per inning (his K/9 is 5th amongst NL for starters) over the whole season and has a 3.03 ERA in his last six starts. The Astros are 6-0 in those starts, so it’s safe to say they feel pretty good with Young Bud on the mound. By the way, one of those last six starts was vs. the Mets on August 19, when he pitched 7 innings with 4 Ks and just 2 ER.

The Mets will counter with the reliable R.A. Dickey. The knuckleballer just needs to go 3 innings in today’s game to qualify for the ERA title. Dickey’s 2.64 ERA currently ranks 10th in the majors. His last start was a sort of bizarro-Dickey start because his K rate was up and he allowed a big home run that cost the Mets the game. Usually, Dickey succeeds with a modest K rate while avoiding home runs and walks. Don’t take this to mean strikeouts are bad for Dickey, though. Based on past performance, it was just a coincidence that Dickey allowed a big home run while striking out a season-high 8 batters.

Stache’s Keys to the Game

Take care with Lee — Carlos Lee is hot, but Brad Mills has moved Geoff Blum’s mediocre bat right behind him today. There’s less incentive to give Lee a strike than when Chris Johnson was batting fifth.

Unleash the Animal — Chris Carter doesn’t have a position he plays well, so when he’s in the lineup he has to hit. Of course, with the offense in its current state, there’s no reason Carter shouldn’t be in a straight left/right platoon with Francoeur, but Manuel keeps marching Frenchy out there vs. righties anyway. Perhaps a good performance today from Carter will convince Manuel to play him against every right-hander.

Don’t slouch on defense — With Carter and Thole in the lineup, Jerry Manuel is clearly looking for more offense today. It’s up to these two guys (as well as Luis Hernandez) to play decent defensive games to make sure the substitutions result in a net gain.

Mark Simon wrote an interesting article for ESPN on Friday. It works really well as a piece on how awesome John Olerud was in his three seasons with the Mets, but I’m not sure about the Ike Davis comparison. Simon notes that Davis’ father Ron says that Olerud is the baseball player he most wants his son to resemble, which is great. However, acting like Davis actually does resemble Olerud is getting ahead of ourselves.

That’s not to say there isn’t some hope for the future. Defensively, Davis is already emulating Olerud with a 7.4 UZR and good picking skills that help fellow infielders throw with confidence. At the plate, things are a little more complicated. In Olerud’s 1990 rookie season, he hit .265/.364/.430 which isn’t too much better than Davis’ .247/.330/.417 as of yesterday. What really makes Olrerud’s season more impressive, though, is that he did it at age 21. Davis is already 23 years old in his rookie year. When Olerud was 23 he hit .284/.375/.450.

When I watch Davis, I’m not immediately reminded of Olerud. Both guys are tall, white and left-handed, but I feel like Olerud had a more compact contact swing, while Davis has a wider power stroke. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since Olerud never topped 24 homers in a season. The way Davis launches the ball, I expect him to beat Olerud’s career high as early as next season and eventually develop into a 30-a-year guy.

On the other hand, it would be very difficult (but really good for the Mets) for Davis to replicate Olerud’s on-base skills. From 1997-1999, Olerud posted OBPs of .400, .447 and .427. Those are some ridiculous skills and I think we’d all be ecstatic if Davis even approached an OBP like that over the course of a season. More realistically, Davis will work over the next couple of years to push his OBP up to his minor league career average of .371. With a figure like that to go with 30-home run power, Davis won’t be exactly like John Olerud was, but he’ll still be a solid, productive MLB first baseman.

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

It used to be that Fernando Martinez was the Mets corner outfield prospect who got all the media attention. Although Fernando is still a young man, his time in the bigs has been disappointing if not injury-riddled. Fernando’s struggles have paved the way for the mysterious Lucas Duda, whom everyone except the Mets front office themselves have noticed is having a great year.

Duda’s .330/.402/.661 line at Buffalo is simply smash-o-licious. The USC Trojan has power, on-base percentage and a name that’s easy to spell all in one package. It all adds up to a very appealing baseball player. Duda is obviously not going to continue with a 1.000 OPS in the majors (or is he?), but at the least he has more upside than friendly Jeff Francoeur. Perhaps if Duda smiles enough, Jerry Manuel will even give him some starts in September, provided the Mets are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

Of course, if I had my way Duda would be in the majors already. Let’s give those International League pitchers a break. Also, let’s make the Mets season a tad more interesting, because if Duda can play close to an average corner outfield defense, the Mets might actually have something on their hands.

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

Ah, doesn’t it feel good to be back in third place again? What, it doesn’t? Even if you don’t like third place, if you’re a Mets fan, you should like the way the Mets played tonight. They trailed late, but persevered and came out on top, just like a winning team should. At 63-62, the Mets are technically a winning team again, even if that winning team consists of a bunch of underachieving bums.

Seriously, though, the Mets played with pride tonight. They refused to fold when Gaby Sanchez crushed a 3-run homer with two outs in the 7th to ruin R.A. Dickey’s nice start. Even with two outs in their half of the 8th, the Mets did not quit. Angel hustled hard enough to turn a single into a double and was quickly rewarded when he rounded third and scored on Beltran’s single.

In the 9th, Ike Davis led off with a swinging-bunt infield single just past the pitchers mound. After Thole lobbed a broken bat bloop over short stop for another single, the Mets ended up with runners on first and second with two outs. Luis Castillo, who was switched into the lineup after Jesus Feliciano pinch hit for Ruben Tejada in the 7th, became the surprise hero by nubbing a soft liner into right field. Right fielder Mike Stanton was playing in, but his throw was off target and everything was good for one night.

The Mets opened the scoring in the 2nd when David Wright tripled off of Florida starter Josh Johnson and scored on a Jeff Francoeur sac fly. The Marlins came back in the 3rd when hard singles by Hanley Ramirez and Logan Morrison resulted in both players scoring on sac flies. Ruben Tejada ended the threat by diving to his right to nab a Mike Stanton line drive. The bottom of the 3rd saw the Mets even the score when Wright blasted a one-hopper right through Wes Helms’ legs to score Pagan from second.

In the 5th, three straight singles by Pagan, Beltran and Wright allowed the Mets to score a run a set the table for another Francoeur sac fly. Yes, the Mets two through four hitters did nearly everything tonight, knocking around the fish for 8 hits and generating enough offense to make up for Jose Reyes’ 0 for 5 night.

Turning Point: Things looked pretty bad for the Mets with two outs in the 8th inning. They hadn’t had a base runner since the Marlins took the lead in the 7th. That changed quickly when Angel Pagan not only hit a hard grounder up the middle, but stretched the play into a double to put a runner in scoring position. The risk paid off immediately when Beltran hit an 0-2 pitch between first and second to tie the game.

Game Ball: Angel Pagan was so awesome tonight. No matter how many things go wrong for the Mets, he’s always there to remind us that sometimes there are pleasant surprises. He went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and 3 runs scored. In the 6th, he came within inches of a home run.

R.A. Dickey also had a great game, despite giving up the big home run to Sanchez. He struck out 8 Marlins with no walks in seven innings. I’m not going to let one bad pitch in 7 innings get in the way of mentioning that the dude had another great start.

Next Game: The Mets will go for the series win tomorrow night at 7:10 when they throw Pat Misch out there to do battle with Marlins righty Alex Sanabia. While Sanabia has not started against the Mets this year, the Amazins did see him as a reliever back on June 30, when he allowed 1 earned run in 2 innings.

The Mets are going for the road sweep in Pittsburgh this afternoon. First pitch will be at 1:35 p.m. and delivered by Pirates lefty Zach Duke. The Mets own lefty Johan Santana will take the hill for New York. As usual, the Sunday afternoon tilt will be broadcast by both WPIX Channel 11 and WFAN.

By the way, Rod Barajas got picked up by the Dodgers. Huzzah. Jesus Feliciano is back in the majors as a result, and he’ll be playing for the Mets.

New York Mets Lineup
1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Angel Pagan, LF
3. Carlos Beltran, CF
4. David Wright, 3B
5. Jeff Francoeur, RF
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Henry Blanco, C
8. Ruben Tejada, 2B
9. Johan Santana, P

Although Chris Carter was swinging the bat well, Jerry Manuel has removed him from the lineup in favor of Jeff Francoeur. Carter has not had the chance to hit vs. a lefty with the Mets, but with Buffalo, he was 10/27 against them… why not give the guy the opportunity (is Jerry is afraid to hurt Frenchy’s feelings)? Josh Thole is another lefty absent from the lineup, but it’s a day game after a night game, so that makes sense. We all love Hessman, but I’m glad Davis is getting the chance against Zach Duke.

Interesting Fact/Trend: Before last night, PNC park was one of two ballparks that David Wright had at least 30 ABs in and had not hit a home run. Of course, that did not count the All-Star Game. He’s got the monkey off his back anyway, and the only remaining 30 AB/no-homer park is Nationals Park.

Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup
1. Andrew McCutchen, CF
2. Jose Tabata, LF
3. Neil Walker, 2B
4. Garrett Jones, 1B
5. Pedro Alvarez, 3B
6. Lastings Milledge, RF
7. Ronny Cedeno, SS
8. Chris Snyder, C
9. Zach Duke, P

It’s the same lineup as last night, except our old friend Lastings Milledge replaces Ryan Doumit in right field.

Interesting Fact/Trend: All 12 of Andrew McCutchen’s home runs this year have been sad solo affairs in which he only gets to high five the on-deck batter. Moving him down in the lineup would make sense to manager John Russell… if he had another player on his roster fit to lead off.

On The Bump:

Zach Duke (5-12, 5.33 ERA) takes on Johan Santana (10-7, 2.97 ERA) in a match-up that should favor the Mets. We all know how that usually works out. Still, the Mets should feel good after winning two in a row on the road. Duke’s rough season is the result of a wicked 14.5% home run to fly ball ratio (compared to 10% last season when he had a 4.05 ERA) as well as a .345 BABIP. That HR/FB rate is even more alarming considering PNC Park’s pitcher-friendly nature. Look for David Wright to go deep again.

Meanwhile, Johan is having the second half we all hoped he’d have and he’s quieted talks of his accelerated decline. The strikeouts are back, with at least 6 in each of four August starts, including a couple of double digit dandies vs. Atlanta and Colorado. He’s also sporting a 1.64 career ERA at PNC Park. Yummy.

Daily Stache’s Keys to the Game:

1. Score early again – This should be the key to every game, but it is especially so now that Santana is on the hill and the Mets have been scoring early with relative frequency. They’ve scored first in the last six games. Jose Reyes might have something to do with that.

2. Get Reyes around – Jose Reyes doesn’t have everything to do with it. They say “as Reyes goes the Mets go” but since the All-Star break, Reyes was the Mets best hitter, and… they didn’t score much at all. That’s because everyone else stunk. Now that Wright has come around, the scoreboard is getting a workout thanks to Reyes actually crossing the plate.

3. Just keep pitching – The Mets might be able to establish a respectable winning streak if their great pitching keeps up during this brief offensive renaissance. The Mets 3.25 staff ERA since the break is third best in the majors behind Oakland and Atlanta.

I wonder if those anti-smoking ads they play during Mets game — the ones with the clogged aorta — are meant to make Mets losses look better by comparison. Maybe they’re just there to remind us to change the channel during commercial breaks. I have no idea.

The Mets lost 4-3 tonight behind another good second half start by Johan Santana. If not for Hunter Pence, Santana might have had another shutout going. And if not for Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets would be less of a joke. Unfortunately, Rodriguez is here to embarass the Mets and Pence is there to ruin Santana’s evening.

In the first inning, after Fernando Martinez gave the Mets a 1-0 lead with a single up the middle, Santana allowed the first two Houston batters to reach base. Pence was the third Astro up, and he hit crushed a hanging change-up over the left field wall for a 3-1 lead.

Though it would be fitting, Nelson Figueroa could not hold the Mets down in this game. The Amazins would strike right back in the 2nd inning when Santana feigned a bunt attempt with a runner on first and one out. Instead, Santana chopped a hard ground ball past the drawn-in third baseman. The risky play set the table for a very mildly exciting Jose Reyes RBI ground out.

Figueroa exited after five, but the stubborn Mets would not allow him to achieve victory. David Wright struck with a solo shot deep into left field to start the top of the 8th and even the score. Wright had been going through a prolonged RBI slump, and it was nice to see him break out of it when the Mets were not losing 10-0.

In the bottom of the 8th, Pence regained the lead for Houston with his own solo home run. The blast doomed the Mets to another road loss and sent them below .500 once again.

Turning Point: Obviously, it was Pence’s second home run that changed the game for the worse. Going into the bottom of the 8th, the Mets had all the momentum. Wright had just tied the game and Santana was still on the mound. So much for that.

Game Ball: Santana gets it because he probably goes all the way if the Mets could score more against Figueroa and friends. Reyes had a decent game, but did nothing outstanding. It was just another mediocre game all around for everyone. Jeff Sullivan from M’s blog Lookout Landing shares my thoughts when I say sometimes baseball just isn’t a lot of fun.

Next Game: R.A. Dickey gets another crack at a no-hitter after coming a Cole Hamels 6th inning single from the first one in Mets History start against Houston’s Bud Norris tomorrow night at 8:05 EST.

Let’s go Mets.

I’m still trying to figure out the worst part of the most recent Mets loss, a 6-2 beating at the hands of the Colorado Rockies. Was it the bullpen ruining another strong Jon Niese start? Was it David Wright’s golden sombrero? Was it the seven Mets strikeouts in a row between the 6th and 8th innings? I’m really not sure.

After Angel Pagan’s 2-run-homer in the 1st inning, the Metsies managed just one base hit for the rest of the game. It doesn’t help when you go 2 and 2/3 innings without hitting a ball into fair territory.

A lot of credit goes to Colorado starter Jeff Francis, who settled down for 5 Ks and 1 walk in 6 innings after serving up the meatball to Pagan, but the Mets offense has been dreadful this year.

The Mets only out-slug San Diego, Pittsburgh and Houston. Their on-base percentage is only greater than Pittsburgh and Houston. I know Howard Johnson gets a lot of the blame, but the front office has done nothing about the punch-less positions of right field and second base since last winter.

Turning Point: Jon Niese was pretty awesome all night. This start was a lot like his last start in Philly, except this time his control was better and he didn’t walk anybody as a result.

However, after Niese struggled to finish the 7th, it was time for a change. In Philly, it was Bobby Parnell who let the game slip away, so this time Jerry Manuel called upon his newest go-to guy who pitched well as recently as last night.

The turning point was when Hisanori Takahashi walked fellow lefty Carlos Gonzalez with two outs and a runner on first. Takahashi was ahead of Gonzalez 1-2, but couldn’t finish the job. The walk set in motion the series of events that saw the game slip away from the Mets.

First, Manny Acosta entered the game. Then, Acosta’s first pitch was a wild pitch. After getting ahead of former Met Melvin Mora 0-2, Acosta missed with a couple of sliders and then left a fat one over the plate that Mora made him regret.

Game Ball: Jon Niese was the best player on the Mets tonight, although Pagan did have the home run as well as another 400-foot fly ball that died on the warning track in the 9th.

Tonight was tough. I’m a little curious as to why youngsters like Ike Davis and Fernando Martinez sitting down versus left-handers. How are they going to learn to hit lefties if they never see them?

Next Game: Tomorrow afternoon the Mets will send Johan Santana to the hill to try to win the series. The Rockies will counter with the sneaky-good (3.54 FIP vs 4.39 ERA) Jason Hammel. Don’t get too hammered tonight because game time is 12:10 PM.

Everyone’s going to give the game ball to Mike Pelfrey tonight (including us), but before all the talk of “is Pelfrey back?” takes over, let’s look at what he did tonight.

Yes, Pelf did a good job keeping Colorado batters off balance, and his fastball did seem to have a little more giddy-up on it, and 19 out of 26 first pitch strikes is just what we were looking for, but there are still two disturbing facts about his performance. First, Pelfrey struck out all of two batters after the first inning (for four Ks total).

Second, Pelfrey got only 8 ground ball outs compared to 9 fly ball outs. With a miserable strikeout rate like Pelfrey’s, he is usually going to need a better ground ball rate to succeed. Still, tonight was a really good start. Anytime you only let up four hits and a walk in seven innings, it’s a really good start.

Please, though, don’t mistake this for a dominant, destiny-altering outing. The Mets need to see consistency out of Pelfrey, not just one bounce-back performance.

Turning Point: Of course, Ubaldo Jiminez also pitched really well tonight. However, he was finally foiled when Josh Thole used his lightning quick wrists to turn an inside fastball into a game-changing double to right field. The big hit put runners on second and third with nobody out and set up Jose Reyes’ sac fly to score the game’s only run.

Game Ball: The most valuable Met tonight was Mike Pelfrey, but since we’ve already discussed him at length, let’s give it up for Fernando Martinez. The talented youngster who’s been testing Mets fans’ patience for years not only reached on a walk and an infield single, he made a terrific catch in the 8th inning to help Hisanori Takahashi make his case to become the bridge to Francisco.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Mets will yet again try to win two games in a row for the first time since June. Jon Niese will be on the hill opposite fellow lefty Jeff Francis. It starts at 7:10 PM, so make sure you DVR Hard Knocks in case the game runs a little late. Let’s go Mets.