No no-no, but a great start by Gee as Mets head to the Bronx

Just a few days ago, the first installment of the 2011 Subway Series looked dead on arrival. Mets players were dropping like flies, and the Yankees were losing games while seemingly falling apart at the seams.

But now both teams come into this weekend's tilt at the House that George and His Spoiled Kids Built on winning streaks, and while the Mets will still be without three starters, it's the kids who are stepping up and keeping the team from sinking.

A two-game sweep of Washington saw consecutive shutouts, with tremendous starts by Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee. Sure, the Nats are a terrible offensive team, but Niese and Gee were on their games and delivered the kinds of performances the Mets are going to need, particularly when they're shorthanded at the plate, as they currently are.

Then again, when you have Justin Turner, what more do you need? Turner knocked in the only run, his 12th in his last 10 games. Incidentally, the Mets are 9-4 in their last 13 games.

Jason Bay had three hits, and with so much firepower out of the lineup the Mets really need him to get it going. Daniel Murphy is certainly not hitting, but his defense in these two games has been stellar. He also got a break in the eighth inning Thursday when his foot came off the bag on a throw from Turner, but umpire Phil Cuzzi called Jayson Werth out.

Hey, some breaks have to go the Mets' way, don't they?

Gee had a no-hitter into the sixth, when Livan Hernandez — in addition to shutting the Mets down on seven hits — singled with two outs. Figures.

You can see the pitching starting to come around, from Pelfrey on down; hopefully R.A. Dickey will get the memo.

And while they won't be back in time to play in the Bronx, word is that Ike Davis and Angel Pagan should be back within a week or so. Pedro Beato has already returned, and indications are that David Wright won't be out much longer than his required DL stay.

OK, so Irving Picard has a copy of a memo that he says indicates the Mets considered taking out fraud insurance. Big deal. They never did, which would have been a much more powerful indicator that the Wilpons knew something was up with Madoff. But Picard isn't letting go of that bone.

Hey, it can't all be good news, right?

Daniel Murphy dropkicks the Nats

We said early on last season that we loved us some Daniel Murphy. And while Ike Davis has been tremendous at first base, we still felt bad for Murph, who got hurt, went to the minors to learn second base, and then got hurt again on a dirty takeout slide.


At the time, it seemed like that was that for Murphy, at least as a Met. But give the Mets credit for seeing value in Murphy's offense and his work ethic. They held onto him and plugged him into the second base mix, figuring he could at least be a lefthanded bat off the bench. Lo and behold, the guy has played decent defense and has shown that he knows how to swing a bat.

The latest proof came Wednesday night in game two against the Nationals, a game that could have turned on an absolutely awful blown call by third base umpire Marvin Hudson. Jose Reyes was clearly safe at third on what should have been a triple, but Hudson somehow saw him come off the bag and called him out. As Keith and Gary pointed out on air, neither Reyes nor Collins were thrown out despite vociferous arguing, a sign that Hudson knew he blew it.

Murphy was the next guy up, and he battled Tyler Clippard in an eight-pitch at-bat that ended when Murphy blasted a 3-2 changeup for a home run that should have given the Mets the lead; instead, the game was tied, 2-2.

The Reyes call was the kind of play that would have doomed the Mets two weeks ago. The fact that they bounced back showed guts. The fact that they had to bounce back again — after giving up a run in the bottom of the eighth after a failed diving catch by Bay, Murphy failing to cover second, and a passed ball by Thole — and succeeded proved that this team knows how to fight and win.

Give Murphy credit again, making up for his defensive lapse by ripping a two-run double that gave the Mets a three-run lead in the top of the ninth. But it was only part of a huge inning that saw a leadoff hit by Bay, a bloop single by Davis, a bunt single by Harris and then a pinch-hit sac fly to deep right by Chin-lung Hu.

So many contributors. Igarashi with another huge inning out of the pen. K-Rod closing it out. Beato getting the win and pitching well again despite the hard luck in the eighth.

But the biggest thing was seeing the passion of Reyes and the will of Murphy lead to a Mets win, their first after trailing in the ninth inning since Sept. 25, 2009. The Mets never win those games, right?

They do now.

Silence from the Debbie Downers

That headline is really just an excuse to post this video, one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time.


What's funny is that Jimmy Fallon, who was always the first one to lose it in any sketch (and he's the first one to do so here as well) actually ends up holding it together better than most, especially Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz. But you can't blame them. It is hilarious. The band's sound effects are killer. It's amazing they were even able to finish after Debbie says, "It's official. I can't have children."

And a side note: Lindsay Lohan does a great job here. Such promise she had.

I thought of this sketch because of the Mets' current winning streak, which has quieted the critics for the most part. The streak was extended Tuesday night with a 6-4 win at the Nationals, which saw savvy base running and three more hits from Ike Davis, two hits from Jason Bay, a clutch two-run double by Josh Thole and terrific work by the bullpen, from Igarashi's key out in the fifth to Buchholz, Izzy and K-Rod closing things out.

That was the plan all along, right? A solid lineup with Bay and Davis supporting Wright, Beltran finally back and contributing, Reyes getting on base? This is a lineup that can score some runs.

Chris Young didn't make it through the fifth, but the starters have been going deep enough lately that the bullpen was rested, and now they seem to have settled into their roles, at least for now.

Bottom line, this team can compete and win. But we still, almost daily, hear someone somewhere mention who's going to be traded if and when the Mets fall out of contention. Whatever.

And BTW, they never did catch that anthrax guy.

Mets make history, still lose. We've seen this before

I have to admit that early in Wednesday night's game against Washington, as R.A. Dickey was baffling the Nationals, I thought, "It would be fitting that the first no-hitter in Mets history is thrown by R.A. Dickey."

Not Seaver. Not Koosman. Not Matlack. Not Gooden. Not Darling. Not Viola. Not Leiter. Not Santana. R.A. Dickey.

That didn't last long, but the Mets did have a history-making night, getting a triple play and an inside-the-park home run in the same game, both instigated by Angel "Carlos Who?" Pagan. Of course, the Mets forgot to win the game, giving up three runs in the eighth; that trend of late-inning giveaways is as disturbing as David Wright's strikeout frequency.

It reminded me, on a much smaller scale, of another historic Mets game that ended in a loss: Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS, when Endy Chavez made one of the greatest post-season catches of all-time in perhaps the most gut-wrenching loss in team history.

Then there was the Grand Slam Single, which ended one of the greatest Mets games ever, in a series that the team ultimately lost.

The point is, we should be used to seeing the Mets do wonderful things and still lose. It's our lot in life. Which makes me think that when the Mets do finally get a no-hitter, it will be in a 1-0 loss where the other team scores on a walk, a stolen base plus a throwing error, and a sac fly. Mark it down.

This loss to the Nationals was typical in that bad luck again played a role. Just as the Braves' inability to bunt led to a win, the Nationals got the go-ahead run in after a lucky check-swing grounder made its way down the left field line for a double. A productive out and a sac fly later, the Nats had the lead, then tacked on more runs against the declining Fernando Nieve.

But what if Bernardina's check swing rolls foul? The world will never know.


Nieve is clearly on the downswing, which may or may not be related to his heavy workload, but until Igarashi comes back, other than Jennry Mejia -- who has had his own issues -- there's no other righty for Manuel to go to in the late innings.


A bullpen of Nieve, Takahashi, Igarashi and Feliciano leading to K-Rod would be just fine for the seventh and eighth innings, except Igarashi isn't back yet and Takahashi is now starting.


Maybe, when Jon Niese returns from the DL, Dickey should be given that fifth spot in the rotation. Leave Takahashi in the pen, where he's done so well, send Mejia down to be a starter again. Dickey showed enough Wednesday night, and the nice thing about knuckleballers is that they have no pitch count.

And if Dickey falters, the Mets can bring up Dillon Gee, or Pat Misch, or whoever -- but it's clear that Omar Minaya absolutely has to trade for a starting pitcher as soon as he can pull off a deal if the Mets are going to have any chance at staying competitive. (That, and Jose Reyes needs to starting hitting soon. Like, immediately.)

It's the one critical move he did not make in the off-season, and it is such a glaring omission that one has to wonder whether ownership just wouldn't allow him to spend any more money after signing Jason Bay.

John Maine goes against the unbeatable Luis Atilano Thursday night, before the injury-depleted Yankees limp into Citi Field for the weekend set.