Dillon Gee raced out to a 7-0 record in 2011, matching the fourth-best streak to open a season in Mets history. Yet Gee, despite a sub-.500 record so far this year, believes he actually is pitching better this season -- "even though the record is totally skewed," he said.

Gee dominated the Chicago Cubs for a career-high-matching eight innings on Saturday, allowing one run on seven hits without issuing a walk in a 3-1 win that improved his record to 6-7.

Terry Collins said he considered pinch-hitting for Gee to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Gee was insistent he felt good.

"He came in and said, 'Hey, look, I feel great,'" Collins said.

That more than convinced Collins, who had Tim Byrdak warm just in case rookie Anthony Rizzo's spot came up in the eighth. It never did, since Gee tossed a 1-2-3 eighth before departing at 105 pitches.

Gee said he focused on throwing curveballs against the free-swinging Cubs, after getting away from that plan in his previous outing. He used several curveballs to rally back from a 3-0 count against Alfonso Soriano with two runners aboard in the sixth. Gee then caught Soriano off-guard and struck him out with a fastball up in the zone on the full-count offering.

"Against a team like them, they're very aggressive," Gee said. "They hit the fastball well. I just wanted to stick with the curveball."