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Through 40 games, David Wright is hitting .399 with four home runs, 26 RBIs and a 1.099 OPS.

It is one of the best 40-game stretches in Mets history, though there are a few that surpass it. With the help of the Elias Sports Bureau and Mets historian Greg Prince, we remember a half-dozen of the other top 40s in Mets history:

Frank Thomas, 1962
The Mets were terrible but lovable in their early days, and thanks to playing in a Polo Ground ballpark where cheap home runs were commonplace, they had an immediate star with a hitter who tallied impressive numbers in his first 40 games of 1962.

Thomas hit .333 with 13 home runs and 31 RBIs in his inaugural 40 as a Met, setting a standard for others to follow.

Cleon Jones, 1969
Jones hit .378 with seven home runs, 32 RBIs, and 32 runs scored in his first 40 games. The start would launch Jones to set a Mets record with a .340 batting average, a mark that would last for multiple decades.

The year would end well for Jones as well. He would catch the final out of the World Series.

Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter, 1985
We list Hernandez and Carter together because they are forever linked by a championship in 1986. But a year earlier, the two closed the season with a pair of amazing runs.

Hernandez's final 40 games of 1985 were marked by a series of huge hits. He hit .354 and reached base 74 times via hit, walk or error as the Mets fell just shy of the NL East title.

The big moments included a game-winning, ninth-inning home run in San Francisco against the Giants and a walk-off hit on Sept.12 against the Cardinals that put the Mets in first place against their then archrivals.

Carter matched Hernandez for big hits and then some.

Over the 40 games he played from Aug. 23 to the next-to-last day of the regular season, he hit .325 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and a 1.048 OPS. He had 15 go-ahead RBIs in that stretch, four more than any other player in the majors over that time period.

Darryl Strawberry, 1990
Strawberry struggled to hit in the first 40 games of the 1990 season, and was hitting just .230 with five home runs coming into a May 26 matchup with the Padres.

A Strawberry eighth-inning home run against Calvin Schiraldi was the finishing touch for the Mets offense in an 11-0 win over the Padres and started arguably the best barrage in Mets history.

Over the 40-game stretch from May 26 to July 14, 1990, Strawberry hit .372, with 18 home runs and 42 RBIs. He had as many home runs in that stretch as he did strikeouts. No Met hit more in a 40-game span than this one.

John Olerud, 1998
On July 11, 1998, Olerud went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs in an 8-4 win over the Expos. This would begin his most torrid 40-game stretch as a Met, one in which he hit .408 with 10 home runs, 29 RBIs and a 1.148 OPS.

Olerud would carry his hot streak all the way through to the end of the season, as the Mets fell one game shy of the NL wild card. He'd finish the season with a Mets-record .354 batting average.

Mike Piazza, 2000
Piazza seemingly had a bunch of of these 40-game bursts in each of his first four seasons with the Mets. You can take your pick from a couple that look alike.

We'll look at one from the NL pennant-winning 2000 season.

On April 14, 2000, Piazza went 5-for-6 with two home runs and four RBI in a 12-inning win in Pittsburgh.

That started a tear that lasted beyond 40 contests, but at the point at which we cut it off, Piazza had a .383 batting average, 12 doubles, 14 home runs, 33 RBIs and a 1.254 OPS.

The most memorable of his hits would be a game-winning home run against Padres reliever Trevor Hoffman, though two days after this stretch concluded, he’d hit a grand slam against Roger Clemens.

The Mets won two of three from the Pirates to finish a 3-3 road trip. With the help of Baseball-Reference.com and some of our other research tools, let’s look at some statistical notes from this series win.

Stat of the Series: R.A. Really Awesome … Again
R.A. Dickey continued his run of fine work with an 11-strikeout, no-walk gem in a 3-2 win over the Pirates on Tuesday.

This was the second straight season in which the Mets got at least 11 strikeouts and no walks from their starter. Chris Capuano had a 13-strikeout, no-walk game in a two-hit shutout of the Braves last August 26.

The Mets did not have any such starts from 2000 to 2010. The last prior to Capuano was by Rick Reed on the next-to-last day of the 1999 season, one that put the Mets into a tie for the wild card spot, against the Pirates.

Dickey was the first Met to author an 11-strikeout, no-walk start without pitching at least nine innings since David Cone against the Cardinals, June 21, 1992.

An 11-whiff, no-walk game is impressive for a knuckleball pitcher. Tim Wakefield never had one in his major league career. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro had one … in 1967, also against the Pirates.

An Ugly Finish
The Mets blew a 4-0 lead and lost on Monday with Johan Santana on the mound in the series opener.

The Elias Sports Bureau had an amazing note on this: Pittsburgh had lost its previous 160 games when it trailed by at least four runs, the second-longest streak in major-league history, shy only of the 1906 to 1910 Washington Senators (178 games). Their last win in a game in which they trailed by four-or-more runs came on June 1, 2009 and was also against the Mets.

After having made only one error all season, David Wright made two errors in this game. It was the eighth multi-error game of his career. Wright’s multi-homer games lead his multi-error games by a 17-8 tally.

Santana gave up a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning. It was only the second time in his Mets career that Santana gave up a multi-run homer in the seventh inning or later. The other was to Gabe Kapler of the Brewers on April 12, 2008.

Elias noted that Santana’s team lost a game in which he was given a four-run lead for the seventh time. His teams are 83-7 in those games.

Day Tripping
Wright’s 1-for-4 in Wednesday’s series finale dropped his batting average to .399 through 40 games. It snapped a streak of seven straight games in which Wright finished with a batting average of .400 or better.

Wright finished well short of the Mets record for the highest batting average through any 40-game span for a Mets player.

The mark depends on what minimum you set. Via the Elias Sports Bureau, a minimum of 100 at-bats yields Lenny Dykstra’s .440 (44-for-100) from May 27 to July 13, 1986 as the best.

Raising the bar to 120 at-bats nets Mookie Wilson’s .414 stretch (55-for-133) from August 3 to September 22, 1998 tops.

Wright’s best is a .412 from May 1 to June 16, 2009.

More on this topic, Thursday.

A snapshot review of the Mets-Blue Jays series, with the help of Baseball-Reference.com

Stat of the Series
David Wright passed Jose Reyes to move into second place on the Mets all-time career hits list with his three hits this weekend in Toronto.

He's at 1,302 now, 116 shy of all-time leader Ed Kranepool.

Wright reached 1,300 career hits in this series, doing so in his 1,142nd career game.

That’s not necessarily so fast within a historical context, but Wright did reach 1,300 hits quicker than a few notables, among them: Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez and Carlos Beltran.

Clobbered
In Friday’s loss to the Blue Jays, the Mets allowed at least 14 runs in an interleague game for the seventh time in team history. That’s tied for the second-most such games with the Astros. Only the Cardinals, with nine, had more interleague games in which they allowed that many runs.

This game featured a host of weird combinations and accomplishments.

The Mets allowed 14 runs and their pitchers combined to record 11 strikeouts. It was the second time this season that they allowed at least 14 runs and had 11 strikeouts in a game. They also did it against the Braves on April 18.

Prior to this season, they had only achieved that combination once in their 50-year history-- against the Reds on April 29, 1978.

Jonathon Niese allowed eight runs and whiffed six in three innings. That’s the most strikeouts by a Mets pitcher who allowed at least eight runs, while pitching three innings or fewer.

The Mets best pitcher Saturday was their catcher, Rob Johnson, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Johnson, the first Met to ever play pitcher and catcher in the same game, became the first player to record a strikeout as both a catcher (on the receiving end) and a pitcher in the same game since Scott Sheldon of the 2000 Rangers.

The Sun Will Come Out To’Morrow’
The Mets had no chance, save for their ninth-inning rally against Brandon Morrow on Saturday.

Morrow allowed no runs and three hits, with eight strikeouts in a 2-0 win. He’s the first pitcher to throw a shutout against the Mets allowing that few hits with that many strikeouts since Dontrelle Willis in 2003.

On a more obscure note: Jeremy Hefner became the first Mets pitcher to throw at least five innings in a relief loss since Terry Leach in 1988.

BABIP = Baxter Average on Balls in Play
David Wright's batting average is largely a product of an amazing .476 Batting Average on Balls In Play.

But one Met has him beat. Mike Baxter, after a 3-for-4 in Sunday’s win, now has a .516 BABIP in 41 at-bats this season. Baxter is 16-for-30 when hitting the ball within the field of play.

Francisco Treat
Frank Francisco earned what we would call an adventurous save on Sunday. It was one in which he pitched a scoreless inning, struck out the side, and allowed two baserunners.

The last Mets reliever to earn such a save (one inning pitched, no runs, three strikeouts, two baserunners) in a one-run game was Billy Wagner in a 5-4 win against the Dodgers, July 22, 2007.

A look back at the Mets, with help from resources such as Baseball-Reference.com
Stat of the Week

David Wright and Jose Reyes each had four hits in the Mets-Marlins game on Saturday.

They never had four hits in the same game as teammates with the Mets (2004-2011)

Pitcher Plunkings
In Saturday’s win over the Marlins, R.A. Dickey became the second pitcher in Mets history to be the beneficiary of a hit by pitch with the bases loaded. The other was Jae Seo against the Cardinals in 2004.

Dickey also extended his streak of not striking out as a hitter. Through seven starts, he had 16 plate appearances and no strikeouts.

In fact, of his first 32 swings this season, he only missed twice.

The Wright Stuff
In this season of impressive statistical accomplishments, Wright notched a first.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wright’s .411 batting average through the team’s first 38 games makes him the first Met ever to carry a .400 batting average beyond the team’s 30th game of the season.

Cleon Jones was batting .411 after 30 games in 1969, but he slipped below .400 in his next game and never returned. He finished the season hitting .340.

A Grand Disaster
The Mets blew a two-run ninth inning lead in the finale of their road trip last Sunday, losing on Giancarlo Stanton’s walk-off grand slam. In what was a rough week for the Mets, we declare it the Moment of the Week.

It was the fourth walk-off grand slam the Mets have allowed since 2009, the most in the majors in that span. No other team has allowed more than two.

The Mets allowed their first walk-off grand slam in 1970 against Bob Bailey of the Expos. They’ve allowed 10 total since that season, matching the Tigers for the most in the majors.

It was the second time in the series that the Mets lost a game in which they led in the bottom of the ninth inning. Elias notes that the last time the Mets lost a pair of games in the same series in which they led in the bottom of the ninth or later was Sept. 3 and 5, 1992, against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Old Man Miguel
Miguel Batista beat the Brewers on Monday. It was the first time that Batista beat the Brewers since April 14, 1999, when he pitched his first career complete game as a member of the Montreal Expos.

Batista is the third 41-year-old to throw seven innings and allow no runs in a game for the Mets. Orlando Hernandez did it three times in 2007 and Tom Glavine also did it once that season. Both were slightly older than Batista, who is about six months younger than what Hernandez (reportedly) was at the time.

Batista has three wins for the Mets since turning 40. Glavine has the most wins by a Met in his 40s with 28, followed by Hernandez with 14 and Orel Hershiser with 13.

The next pitcher on the Mets' 40-plus win list is a good name though, one Batista can catch with one more victory. Hall of Famer Warren Spahn had four wins as a 40-plus Met.

Zack Attack
Zack Greinke and two relievers combined to shut out the Mets, 8-0 on Monday, combining for 10 strikeouts and no walks in the process.

Only once in their history have the Mets had a worse home shutout loss in a game in which they whiffed at least 10 times and didn't walk. That came on August 14, 2006, a 13-0 loss to Cole Hamels and Phillies.

Oh, Happy Day
The Mets wrapped up their series with the Reds by stealing a game, scoring the last nine runs to win, 9-4. The Mets have more wins in day games (11) than night games (10), despite having played six more night games than day games.

Wright had two hits, giving him 25 in 15 day games this season. His .463 batting average in day games leads the NL, with Daniel Murphy not far behind at .389.

If Wright keeps this up, he'll be chasing the Mets' record for batting average in day games, set by none other than Murphy last season. Murphy hit .385, breaking the mark previously held by Paul Lo Duca, who hit .380 in day games in 2006.

Vintage Metric of the Week
Ike Davis’ 4-for-62 performance at home to start the season brought back some memories of some home struggles of the past.

The most notable home slump by a Met takes us back to 1986, when, of all people, Darryl Strawberry, went 0-for-47 at Shea Stadium from July 29 until it was finally broken on Sept. 7.

The Mets would turn out just fine that season.

But our spin in the time machine actually goes back to 1968, which is the residing spot for the two players who posted the worst single-season home batting average in Mets history (minimum 100 at-bats).

Middle infielders Jerry Buchek and Al Weis hit .132 and .133 respectively that season.

We’re 35 games into the season and there are all sorts of ways by which we could evaluate how the Mets offense and pitching are faring.

But what about their defense?

Let’s take a closer look at the Mets from that perspective, using both some basic statistics, and some advanced work from Baseball Info Solutions (BIS), a company that charts games for major league teams and media.

BIS, a company based just outside Allentown, Pa., tracks every play of every game in multiple ways.

It compiles data for a stat known as Defensive Runs Saved, which measures a fielder’s ability to turn batted balls into outs and succeed at other skills pertinent to his position (such as having a deterrent throwing arm, turning double plays, or successfully defending bunts).

It also has a group of video scouts who tag plays into categories – about 30 categories of Good Fielding Plays (which they call GFPs) and 50 categories of Defensive Misplays & Errors (DM & E).

Thirty five games is not meant to be a predictive sample, but it does allow us enough to make a basic assessment of what has happened.

The Mets Have Some Imperfections
The Mets may have overachieved on the mound and at the plate to get to 20-15, but they’ve underachieved in the field.

The Mets rank second-worst in the majors in Defensive Runs Saved this season with their defense viewed as having cost the team 23 runs.

The primary reason for that is that they rank third-worst in Defensive Efficency, a stat tracked by Baseball Prospectus, that shows how often the defense turns batted balls into outs. The Mets have done so on 69 percent of batted balls against them.

An average team will have a defensive efficiency of 71 to 72 percent. The difference comes out to about one play per game. Over a full season, that adds up.

In 2010 and 2011, 20 of the 27 teams to finish with winning records finished in the Top 15 in defensive efficiency. The teams that finished in the bottom five averaged 70 wins.

The Mets have two issues that are likely going to force their pitchers to get extra outs this season, both on the right side of the diamond.

Lucas Duda is having a very difficult time in right field and the BIS video trackers have not been kind.

Duda has been credited with just one GFP and, after his miscue Monday led to two extra bases on a single that rolled by him, he now has eight DM&E.

A good rightfielder will have about a 1:1 ratio. Duda isn’t close. Duda also rates below average when it comes to deterring runners from taking an extra base on base hits and fly balls.

Those misplays play a part in his ranking fifth-worst in the majors and worst among right fielders with –8 Defensive Runs Saved.

The other problem the Mets have is in converting double plays, though this is something that has looked better to the eye recently.

Second baseman Daniel Murphy has made significant improvements to his pivots and flips in the last week, but still lags behind the best in double play conversions (situations in which he was either a pivot or relay man with a man on first base and less than two outs).

He has converted 13 out of 30. The average second baseman turns them at a rate such that he’d have converted 19. Murphy still has a ways to go.

But there has been improvement and sometimes it takes awhile for the numbers to catch up and recognize that.

Murphy had three misplays related to attempting to convert a double play in his first four games of the season. He hasn’t had any since then.

But They Have Two Gold Glove Candidates…
Two Mets have played very good defense this season. One has been heralded for this quite a bit, David Wright. The other is pitcher R.A. Dickey,

A revision of BIS’s scoring system gave Dickey the lead among pitchers in Defensive Runs Saved last season with 10. He has two already this season, putting him on pace for similar numbers.

Dickey put on as solid a defensive display as a pitcher can in Saturday’s win, with three assists and a putout, including perfect execution of a tag play at third base and the trapping of another runner off second after fielding a comebacker.

That earned him a video montage on that night’s Baseball Tonight and praise from analyst Rick Sutcliffe.

"When you don't throw 90 miles-per-hour, you have to do the little things," Sutcliffe said that night. "R.A. does just that."

Dickey nearly broke the Mets 49-year-old record for assists by a pitcher last season with his MLB-leading 58. He’s already totaled 14 in his seven starts in 2011, tied with Mark Buehrle and Justin Masterson for most in the majors.


Wright has been far better through the first 35 games of 2012 than he has been in recent seasons.

Wright has made six GFPs in the last four games, giving him 16 for the season. Saturday, he earned a Web Gem (and a GFP) on Saturday for his perfect throw from foul territory that retired Marlins leftfielder Austin Kearns.

His latest GFP was the diving stop on Norichi Aoki in the eighth inning of Monday’s win over the Brewers.

Wright’s Good Play/Misplay ratio is 2-to-1 (16 GFP, 8 DM&E), far better than his 31 GFP, 32 DM&E tally last season and among the best in the game. It's on par with the player considered the NL's best defender-- Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

The biggest difference from last season to this season has been in Wright’s throwing arm, which has been repeatedly praised on game telecasts for being sharper.

Wright had 10 throw-related DM&E last season and had two in his first six games in 2012. But he’s had just one in his last 26.

The one blemish for Wright is that he’s average when it comes to Defensive Runs Saved, as he has 0 this season.

The average Mets fan would likely disagree with that and something to watch over the last 127 games will be how that number bounces around with the visible improvements Wright has made.

The Shift is Working
You’re going to hear a lot about shifts this week, because the Mets are playing two teams -– the Brewers and Blue Jays -– who use it a lot.

But the Mets have also employed it a decent amount. BIS tracks defensive shifting with video review and ranks the Mets 12th in shifts used with 31 (about one per game), all against left-handed hitters.

BIS breaks this down further, noting that the Mets have used the “Ted Williams Shift” against a batted ball 17 times this season.

That’s a shift in which the shortstop or third baseman plays behind or to the right of second base, and the second baseman moves into shallow right field.

That defensive alignment worked in that it got outs on three of four line drives hit against it, and 11 of 13 ground balls.

The strategy has been to use it against the most extreme pull hitters, like Braves catcher Brian McCann, who had three ground outs and two line outs into the shift earlier this season.

Defensive Storylines to Watch
A few defensive storylines are still in development mode for the Mets. We’ll check in on those later this season.

1-- How the Mets fare in centerfield. Angel Pagan’s penchant for letting balls bounce off his glove and roll away led to the Mets ranking well below average in just about every metric related to this position last season.

So far, the combo of Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Andres Torres have rated about average, with the most egregious miscue being Nieuwenhuis’s misplay of a potential game-ending blooper against the Giants. He does rank among the leaders in the majors in Web Gems with three.

2-- How the Mets fare against basestealers. The Mets have allowed 30 steals this season, tied for fifth-most in the majors. They’ve nailed 23 percent of attempts, tied for seventh-worst among the 30 teams.

3-- How Ike Davis handles first base. Davis has rated about average so far in Defensive Runs Saved and Good Play/Misplay Ratio (11 GFP, 5 DM&E).

Davis’ trademark, his ability to snatch foul balls on the verge of going into stands, has happened twice this season. He and Travis Ishikawa are the two first baseman credited with a pair of GFP for such a play.

In-Depth runs every Tuesday

WHAT IT MEANS: The Mets rebounded from a disappointing series in Miami to beat the Brewers 3-1 at Citi Field on Monday night.

BACK AT IT: Before the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said he would stick with Frank Francisco as the closer. Francisco was tagged for two losses over the weekend and blew a save against the Marlins, giving up five earned runs over 2/3 innings in two games.

Collins said the team wanted to see if Francisco could make some changes, but it did not appear they worked too well Monday. He entered the game in the ninth to protect a 3-0 lead, coming out to a chorus of boos. Three of the first four Milwaukee batters reached, including a RBI single by Cory Hart, and Milwaukee brought the go-ahead run to the plate twice.

He struck out Brook Conrad looking for the second out and retired George Kottaras on a long fly to right-center to end the game.

BATISTA'S BRILLIANCE: Miguel Batista pitched one of the team's best games of the year as he held the Brewers scoreless over seven. He gave up just four hits, and Milwaukee did not hit many balls hard during the course of those seven innings.

The Mets had been searching for some consistency out of the spot in the rotation vacated by Mike Pelfrey, and Batista has been been able to provide that. In his two starts since joining the rotation, he's tossed 12-1/3 innings and surrendered just two runs against two playoff teams from 2011. He recorded his first win of the year.

THE DANIEL MURPHY SHOW: Daniel Murphy provided almost all of the offense on this night. His RBI single gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the fourth and he scored the team's second run on a suicide squeeze by Ronny Cedeno in the sixth. His grounder to second in the eighth ultimately led to a run, although it was more luck than anything else. Read on ...

WHEN IT'S GOING GOOD, IT'S GOING GOOD: In the eighth, David Wright was caught in a rundown trying to score on Murphy's grounder. As he tried to run to home, Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez simply dropped the ball and Wright scored to make it 3-0. Wright's hitting .398.

QUITE CHILLY: Ryan Braun was booed heavily on Monday night, his first appearance in Flushing since he tested positive for elevated testosterone this offseason. Braun went 1-for-4. Former closer Francisco Rodriguez also received a chorus of boos when he was introduced.

BACK IN ACTION: First baseman Ike Davis and third base coach Tim Teufel both missed Sunday's game with the flu, but they were back at it Monday. Davis went 0-for-4.

UP NEXT: The Mets will go for the sweep of this two-game series when Dillon Gee (2-2, 4.78 ERA) takes on former Cy Young winner Zack Greinke (3-1, 3.35) at 7:10 p.m.

We debut a new feature, which we’ll do as regularly as we can throughout the rest of the season. ESPN senior baseball editor Matt Meyers and ESPN NY blogger Mark Simon will take a look at some questions in Metsville and make predictions for the coming week. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Where will David Wright’s 2012 rank among the best seasons in Mets history?

Matt Meyers: Nothing will top Dwight Gooden’s 1985 season. For position players, Carlos Beltran’s 2006 season will be tough to beat, as it’s rare to get that kind of combination of power, OBP, speed and defense, and I think Wright will come up short of that season in the power department.

However, I can easily see this being the best season of Wright’s career, and as good as any other offensive season in Mets history. His BABIP is bound to drop, but he seems to have solved the contact problems that plagued him from 2009 to 2011.

Mark Simon: If Wright hits .317 the rest of the way and finishes with 600 at-bats, he’ll get to 200 hits and a .333 batting average. That feels doable, given the start, and the manner by which he’s spraying line drives all over the field.

That batting average, with 25 homers, 40 doubles, and 100 RBIs-- I’ll mark it down as a top-5 offensive season in club history.

Wright’s season could be historic in one regard: The Mets have never had a player lead the NL in on-base percentage. He could very well be the first.

What should the Mets do about the closer situation?

Meyers: Don’t you mean “bullpen situation?” Moving Francisco out of his ninth-inning role won’t make him more effective, and he can be just as dangerous in close games in the seventh and eighth innings. Besides, it’s not like the Mets have a lot of other reliable relievers, which is the real problem. Everyone was raving about the pen the first two weeks of the season, so I think you just stay the course and hope things turn around.

Simon: Francisco’s start to the season is exactly why it seemed odd that the Mets gave him a two-year deal instead of one year. Ideally, you give him his next chance with a comfortable lead, and have Bobby Parnell ready behind him if at all possible.

Name something that the Mets are doing well that they are not getting enough credit for.

Meyers: I’ll give a hat tip to Eric Simon of Amazin' Avenue, who made a great point on Twitter about Wright’s throwing accuracy. All the attention has gone to his improved offensive game, but his throwing had become an adventure, and he has really been much more reliable on throws this year.

Simon: Mike Baxter’s early-season pinch-hitting success has been extremely valuable. Even when he doesn’t get a hit, it feels like he’s giving a good at-bat. It feels like it has been forever since the Mets had a reliable late-game option off the bench, but Baxter may turn out to be the Mets' best pinch-hitter since Matt Franco, or at least Marlon Anderson.

Prediction for the Week?

Meyers: I think Lucas Duda will hit at least two home runs this week, and his power will start to come around. He’s been pretty much a singles hitter the last couple of weeks, but he’s hitting the ball hard, and with such homer-prone righties as Yovani Gallardo, Mike Leake and Brandon Morrow on the schedule, I think Duda will have a big week.

Simon: This has the feel of 2-2 in the next four games. It will be tough for the Mets to get wins against Gallardo and Zack Greinke back-to-back, and the Reds are a better team.

For an individual pick, how about this?

The Mets bust Aroldis Chapman’s scoreless streak courtesy of a Scott Hairston home run. He’s the one guy on the team that I’d feel good about timing Chapman’s 100 mile-per-hour fastball.

The bullpen blew a two-run lead lead in the eighth as Arizona rallied for a 5-4 win Friday night at Citi Field. The Mets have lost a season-high four games and turn to Johan Santana, who is winless on the year, to stop the bleeding Saturday.

Saturday's news report:

• Read game recaps in the Post, Daily News, Star-Ledger, The Record, and the New York Times.

• After an 0-for-4 night that included an error and rolling his ankle, Ike Davis placed the blame for Friday night's loss on himself. Davis is hitting just .172 and is struggling, and his manager wants to see him grind out of this slump. Read more in the Post and the Star-Ledger.

• Miguel Batista will pitch Tuesday, taking the spot formerly belonging to Mike Pelfrey. The veteran will be available in the bullpen Saturday afternoon. Read more about why Batista was promoted to the rotation in the Post, Star-Ledger, and the New York Times.

• The Mets demoted Chris Schwinden to Triple-A Buffalo and called up utility player Vinny Rottino. Schwinden had been ineffective in the starting rotation before being yanked, and Rottino went 0-for-1 Friday. Read more in the Star-Ledger.

• David Wright was presented with a plaque from Darryl Strawberry for becoming the franchise leader in runs batted in. With Wright's future uncertain, Strawberry said he believes Wright will stay, mentioning how he always regretted that he left Flushing as a free agent. Read more in the Post, Star-Ledger, and The Record.

• Yankees closer Mariano Rivera tore his ACL and his meniscus and Collins said he believes that the injury affects all of baseball. The closer said he plans to return in the 2013 season.

• The Wall Street Journal talked to Mets players about why pitchers shag balls in the outfield.

• The Mets honored the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, who died Friday of cancer, as all batters used tunes from the groups as their at-bat music. Read more in the Star-Ledger.

• The ball that got by Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series was auctioned for $418, 250, according to an Associated Press story inThe Record.

TRIVIA: Who is the only other player besides Wright to have two double-digit hit streaks this season?

Friday's answer: Five different players have led the Mets in saves since Rivera became the Yankees' closer in 1997 (John Franco, Armando Benitez, Braden Looper, Billy Wagner and Francisco Rodriguez).

To manager Terry Collins, it's night and day when comparing Saturday's starter Mike Pelfrey from 2011 to 2012.

"His stuff is completely different. The new delivery has helped, much better life on his fastball, using his curveball a little bit more," Collins said before Pelfrey faced the Giants. "Last week, his split was what it was two years ago. He put guys away, got swings and misses. I thought that's been the biggest thing thus far this year, is that his stuff has been better."

Coming off arguably his worst season in the majors after finishing 7-13 with a 4.74 ERA, Pelfrey has pitched well to start the season, with a 3.09 ERA and a pair of no-decisions.

Collins believes Pelfrey's use of his sinker as his out pitch has been key, as he's been able to rely on it. The manager sees an increase in confidence from the tall right-handed pitcher and also credited the catchers for their preparation with the pitchers.

"I think they’re starting to realize there’s a purpose to each pitch that they throw and (saying), ‘Hey look, we got to throw your breaking ball. We can’t just sit here and live with sinker, sinker, sinker,'" Collins said. "And I think the catchers have done a much better job of managing what the pitcher has to do to be successful and making him use those pitches."

KIRK UP TOP: Kirk Nieuwenhuis is atop the lineup to not boggle down the bottom with too many lefties. He went 1-for-3 Friday with a home run and his manager raved about his competitive streak.

"When I first met him, my first trip as the field coordinator here, I went to Binghamton and I watched those guys, there was a group, (Lucas) Duda was one, Nick Evans, Nieuwenhuis, during batting practice they were nice and loose and having a good time and then I walked out on the field right before game time and they were different people. I said 'Wow, these guys get ready to play.' When the game starts, it's all business. I really like that about Kirk."

When asked about what kind of hitter he sees Nieuwenheis developing into, Collins wasn't sure. He said Nieuwenheis doesn't fit the mold of a leadoff hitter with his size and strength, but if he continues to get on base, there's no reason he can't be at the top.

"And that's what we're hoping for right now, the way he's swinging the bat right now, we want him to get on base and get some guys up so when (Daniel) Murphy and David (Wright) and middle of the lineup comes up, we can do some damage," Collins said. "But he's also going to do what he did last night. He's got enough strength. He can hit the ball out."

IKE STILL SLUMPING: After batting 0-for-5 last night, Ike Davis is hitting. 140. Collins doesn't seem too concerned about the young first baseman.

"I know he's working, he's been out early, he's been hitting early on the road, he hit early yesterday, we're trying to get him going and as I told him, I move him and get him to relax, but I haven't got anybody else I can put in that spot right now," Collins said. "We've got to be patient with him and I think eventually and very soon he's going to start doing some damage."

Welcome to the second edition of "The Week in 'Met'rics," where we celebrate all that is amazin' and some of what is not about Mets statistical and historical accomplishments.

Our biggest resource in this search is the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index, a source of much entertainment and amusement.

Stat of the Week
It was a great week of accomplishments for David Wright, who matched Darryl Strawberry’s career RBI mark on Wednesday. The two each have 733 RBI.

Wright became the first player in franchise history to reach base twice (via hit or walk) in each of his first nine games of a season. The last player to do so for any team is former Met Mike Cameron, who had such a streak for the 2002 Mariners.

The Mets record for consecutive games reaching base at least twice at any point during the season is 12, set by John Stearns in 1977. Ron Hunt (1964), Derek Bell (2000) and Wright (2009) each had 11-game streaks.

First Things First
The Mets hit a first-inning home run in each of the three games in their series against the Phillies.

Wright had one of those on Saturday, in his first game back from his finger injury, and in hitting one tied an obscure Mets record in the process.

Wright now has 36 career first-inning home runs, tied with Strawberry for the most in Mets history.


Wright’s five first-inning home runs are the most by any Met at Citizens Bank Park. The only other Met with more than one is Jose Reyes, with two.

Also in that game, the Mets recorded their first stolen base of the season (Mike Baxter). The Elias Sports Bureau notes that the Mets' first steal coming in their eighth game was the third-longest drought to start a season in franchise history. It took 17 games to nab a steal in 1963 and 12 games in 1962.

Oh, So Niese … Again
Jonathon Niese pitched scoreless ball over 6 2/3 innings. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that Niese became only the second Mets pitcher in the last 30 seasons to start and win his first two appearances in a season, shutting out the opposition through six innings in each. The other was Frank Viola in 1990.

Manny Unhappy Returns
The bizarre pitching line of the week belonged to Manny Acosta, who allowed four runs and one hit in relief in the Mets loss to the Phillies on Sunday.

The Mets have had 19 instances of a pitcher allowing four or more runs on one hit or no hits. This was the third such occurrence in the last 12 months. Dillon Gee and Jason Isringhausen each had such a line last season, but prior to that, no Mets pitcher had such a line for nearly 10 years!

The last to do so was Armando Benitez against the Braves in June, 2001.

Bay (Doesn’t Just) Watch
Jason Bay hit a home run in his first game after missing time due to a finger injury. Bay also robbed Braves shortstop Jack Wilson of a home run, with a leaping catch. It was the second straight year he robbed a Braves shortstop of a home run. He snatched one from Alex Gonzalez last season.

Also of note was that for the first time in his Mets career, reliever Jon Rauch allowed a hit. Rauch’s streak of hitless appearances to start his Mets career ended at five. That matched Jaime Cerda (2002) and Roberto Hernandez (2005) for the best such Mets career-starting streaks.

Monday’s win raised the Mets record to 7-3. We noted that the Mets have started 7-3 on seven previous occasions, and on each of those, they’ve finished the season at least 10 games over .500.

Some other 10-game milestones:

• The Mets 2.33 ERA through 10 games was sixth-best in team history, the best since the team had a 2.12 ERA through 10 games in 2002. The franchise best was in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, when the Mets staff posted a 1.67 ERA through 10 games.

• The 83 strikeouts by Mets pitchers tied the 2005 Mets for second-most strikeouts in the first 10 games of the season. The club mark is 88, set in the first 10 games in 1990.
• On the downside, the 85 whiffs by Mets hitters is the most the Mets have ever had in their first 10 games.

Johan gets Chopped
Johan Santana allowed six runs in 1 1/3 innings in a 9-3 loss to the Braves on Tuesday. It was the shortest start of Santana’s career.

Santana is the fourth starting pitcher in Mets history to give up at least six runs while recording four or fewer outs against the Braves. The other three are Mike Scott (1982), Bobby Jones (1997) and Pat Misch (2009).

Unhappy ending
The Mets gave up 14 runs to the Braves in their series-finale loss on Wednesday. It’s the fourth time in Mets history that they allowed that many runs in a game in Atlanta, the first since 2004, when they yielded 18.

Vintage Metric of the Week
The Mets beat the Braves four times in a row this season, prior to losing to them in the final two games of their series.

When was the first time the Mets beat a team four times in a row?

That would be the inaugural season of 1962. The Mets won the first four games the franchise ever played against the Cubs, with three of those games being decided by one run. They would finish 9-9 against the Cubs that season, 31-111 vs everyone else.

Yesterday, we posed a question, asking you how you feel about David Wright. Today, Buster Olney joins in.

Buster's guess is that the Mets will put Wright on the trade market come July. In his CrossRoads column, Buster talked to three evaluators about Wright's game.

From an AL evaluator: "He will have value at the trade deadline if healthy and performing as usual. He will bring compensation as a free agent, so his value to Mets is fairly high, and a team acquiring him will have to give up more than the value of a couple of high draft picks. He's a very good player, but not consistent enough to be a star on offense and defense. His defense has gone backwards and get into funks offensively. He'll produce numbers, and most every team would want him, but not as a No. 3 or a No. 4 hitter on a good team."

From an NL evaluator: "Wright's value is limited by the lack of control and expensive salary. He's not a great defender and hasn't cleared 20 HR in two of the past three seasons. He's been trending downward by most statistical metrics and our scouts are concerned his swing has gotten long and slow, leading to a high strikeout ratio. Think about it this way: Aramis Ramirez just signed a 3-year, $36 million deal with the Brewers. Ramirez is a better hitter and similar defender to Wright -- who is due $31 million for the next two seasons if his option is exercised -- so what are you paying for? Make-up? Fame?"

From an AL scout: "David Wright is a potential coup. He's eerily similar in value to the Seattle version of Adrian Beltre, although he (and everyone else in baseball) is not the defender that Beltre is. He and Beltre both were suffocated by their home parks, Citi Field and Safeco Field, respectively. Teams should have pounced and offered Beltre a premium multi-year deal when he left Seattle originally. If available, I'd trade and sign Wright now. Another caveat with Wright is that he's performed and handled himself admirably in New York, which bodes well for any type of market going forward."

Q: Let's keep the conversation from yesterday going: What would you do with Wright?

David Wright arrived in New York in 2004 and he instantly seemed like the Mets' version of Derek Jeter.

He did the right things on the field, said the right things off the field. Like Jeter with the Yankees, Wright even grew up a Mets' fan.It was the perfect comparison.

In fact, Wright was even more personal than the polite, but aloof Jeter.

History is always ultimately written by the winners so since the Mets have fallen short so Wright as the Mets' Jeter doesn't seem as appropriate these days because of the larger context.

This, in my opinion, has less to do with Wright and more to do with the Mets' franchise overall.

Wright has been as classy a New York athlete that I have ever covered. Even last year, when Fred Wilpon said Wright is "not a superstar," Wright ran circles around the owner in how he responded by taking the air out of what could have been a controversy.

If you consider Wright less than a superstar, it is my opinion, this probably has more to do with the Mets than Wright. They are the ones that have sapped his power with walls that were just far enough to impact his mind and his home run numbers. They were the ones that didn't deliver enough talent around him.

Listen, I think Jeter is an all-time great and if you watch him all the time all the extra stuff his teammates, managers and coaches say about him are apparent, but Jeter is not Jeter if he were a Pirate. Would he have been a Hall of Famer? Probably, because he likely still would have had 3,000 hits. But he would not be looked upon the same way.

So part of Jeter's success has been when he became a Yankee.

Wright, to me, could still be the Mets' Jeter, but he needs a little more luck. To me, the franchise has to act more like a superstar than the player.

Questions of the day: How do you feel about David Wright? Do you want the Mets to keep him or trade him? Have you been satisfied with his career so far?

It’s about an hour before the final game of the Mets-Reds series in Cincinnati last Thursday afternoon and David Wright has plenty to do.

“Day games are tough,” he says as he turns down a request to chat with a reporter. “Gotta get my work in.”

For Wright, that’s about making sure his approach and swing are consistently producing what the Mets need most-- line drives.

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary defines a line drive as “a solidly batted ball that approximately parallels the ground during its flight, rather than arching in the manner of a fly ball” and cites its first usage in 1895.

By most calculations, line drives result in hits around 70 percent of the time. They are the highest percentage play for a hitter.

There are multiple statistical sources that chart batted balls by type and it’s an inexact science. But the sources do agree that the Mets have increased their rate significantly, going from a line drive on one of every six balls in play in 2010 to almost one out of every five in 2011.

That looks like a small jump, but it takes them from being one of baseball’s worst teams in line-drive rate to being above-average.

Because they’ve put balls into play more frequently this season, it’s also made them one of the most prolific teams in the majors in total number of line drives. The team is averaging 5.3 per game in 2011.

If the Mets can maintain what they’ve done so far this season, they’d finish the year with about 125 more line drives than they hit in 2010. That should add another 80 to 90 hits to the team tally.

Offense is down this season, but the Mets are on pace to score 70 more runs than they did in 2010. Line drives are a big part of why they are 14-1 in games in which they manage at least 12 hits, but no home runs.

“Everybody’s trying to hit a line drive, right?” said second baseman Justin Turner, when we broached the subject of hitting approach.

Indeed, it is common sense to most players to try to hit line drives (particularly when your home ballpark is as cavernous as Citi Field), but it’s not an easy thing to do.

“It’s about being on time,” said Baseball Tonight analyst Aaron Boone, describing the process.

“What’s ‘on time?’ Being ‘on time’ allows you to be in a powerful position, to see the baseball like it’s a beach ball. The front foot has to get down in plenty of time. Then its hips, then hands. That allows you to pop the ball. Guys who get in trouble are the ones who commit their hands before their hips. They hit too many ground balls.”

A lot of factors can determine whether a hitter is “on time.”

Let’s take Wright as an example. When Wright was playing with the stress fracture in his back, he couldn’t hit line drives.

In the 22 games Wright played between suffering his stress fracture against the Astros (on April 19) and when he went on the disabled list in mid-May, Wright hit just .215, with a .250 BABIP (batting average when putting the ball in play for the defense to field). Those numbers are way out of whack with Wright’s career norms.

In that span, Wright managed only eight line drives out of the 56 times he made contact, a rate far below what he’d typically produce.

The various batted-ball evaluators peg Wright as being someone who hits 100 to 110 line drives per season. For a month, he was hitting at a pace that would have netted half that many over a full year.

Since Wright’s return, he’s produced a line-drive bonanza -- 13 line drives in 43 turns ending with contact. Of those 13, 11 have resulted in base hits.

Wright has been amazingly effective against pitches in the lower-third of the strike zone or below. He has 12 hits in 16 at-bats that ended with a pitch to that spot (as gauged by MLB’s Pitch F/X system) since his return, five coming on line drives.

In technical terms, hitting coach Dave Hudgens described Wright’s approach as “keeping his front side closed and being short to the ball, having a short hand path to the ball.”

While watching Wright on Monday night, ESPN baseball analyst Bobby Valentine noted that Wright had made an adjustment to his approach recently in how he brings his elbows back, in conjunction with the toes on his front foot tapping the dirt.

That gives him the right mechanics to produce the proper line drive swing.

“He has a lot of margin for error with his approach,” added fellow Baseball Tonight analyst Doug Glanville.

For Wright’s part, he’s made both a physical and mental adjustment, such that he no longer worries about his injury when he’s at the plate.

“It’s a hard enough game,” Wright said after the Mets completed their four-game sweep in Cincinnati. “It just compounds things when you’ve got something else on your mind.”

What has been on Wright’s mind recently is matching the output of his teammates. He’s listened to Hudgens approach of making the most of the pitches he sees in the strike zone. And he’s watched Daniel Murphy and Turner rake line drives all season. Both are enjoying stellar offensive years Wright still has time to have one of his own.

“A lot of things in baseball are contagious,” Wright said. “A couple of guys get hot and they can pick up the whole team.”

The work Wright referenced earlier that Thursday afternoon paid off in the form of three hits, including a fifth-inning line drive single in the Mets 10-9 win. That streak would reach 10 games before ending in Monday’s loss.

“David is in a comfortable state right now,” Boone said. “He’s very talented and gifted. He works hard and he’s very focused. Sometimes that gets in his way, but right now he looks like someone who is letting his ability perform.”

"In-depth" appears Tuesdays during the regular season.

Jonathon Niese Stat To Watch
The Niese-Joey Votto matchup could be an interesting one. Niese has had an odd month in terms of his performance against left-handed hitters. Lefties are 11-for-29 in July against Niese (.379 BA) after hitting .206 against him in the first three months of the season.

The primary damage has been done against both his cutter (five hits) and his curveball (five hits). Niese entered the month having only given up three hits on his curveball to lefties all season. But he yielded two apiece to the Giants and most recently the Cardinals (Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay) in the last two-and-a-half weeks.

Johnny Cueto Stat To Watch
Cueto has allowed three runs in six of his 14 starts this season, but has not allowed more than that in any contest.

Cueto hasn’t fared well against the Mets, allowing 19 runs in 21 career innings against them, but has done alright against Jose Reyes. He’s retired Reyes eight straight times, three by strikeout, since allowing a hit to him in his last meeting.

Cueto Timing May be Just Wright
After getting opposite-field hits on a pair of fastballs in his season debut against the Marlins, five of David Wright’s next six hits have come against changeups (three) or sliders (two).

Cueto throws both, with the slider being his primary strikeout pitch for much of the season. However, after striking out nine hitters with it in his final two starts of June, Cueto has only fanned two via the slider in July.

His putaway rate with the pitch this month is just six percent, meaning only six percent of his two-strike sliders have resulted in a strikeout. It was 23 percent in May and June.

Wright has seen five two-strike sliders since returning but has not yet struck out against one.

Carlos Beltran may be due
Beltran hit five home runs in his first 61 career at-bats at Great American Ball Park. He’s homerless in his last 36 at-bats there, his last coming on Sept. 4, 2007 against Matt Belisle.

Potential test for Isringhausen
Should the Mets need Jason Isringhausen to close, it would be only the second time in the last six weeks that he’ll have pitched on back-to-back days. Isringhausen seems to have found a second wind. He’s struck out at least one batter in each of his last five appearances, totaling nine in six innings, after going five straight appearances without recording a strikeout.

The Mets have a chance to jump a game over .500 on Wednesday when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a three-game series. R.A. Dickey will face Kyle McClellan on Wednesday night. But, just like Tuesday, the most important names for the Mets will likely be Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. Both returned to the lineup on Tuesday, lifting the Mets to a 4-2 win over St. Louis.

Here are Wednesday's news reports:

• Reyes played for the first time since July 2 when he exited a game against the Yankees early due to a strained left hamstring. He had two hits on Tuesday, to boost his league-leading multihit game total to 44. He also made two exceptional plays in the field in the eight, the second being a 6-6-3 double play that ended the inning with the bases loaded.

Read more on Reyes in the Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Daily News.

• Beltran came back following a three-day absence due to a viral illness that caused "104 to 105"” degree fevers, according to the All-Star right-fielder. Beltran didn't miss a beat in his return, finishing 3 for 3 with two doubles and two walks to raise his personal average against Cards starter Kyle Lohse to an astounding .564 in 39 at-bats. He's now reached base safely in 25 games, his longest streak since a 30-game stretch spanning the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Read more on Beltran in Newsday, the Post and the Daily News.

• On July 6, 1999, Jason Isringhausen notched his first career save with the Mets. On Tuesday night, he got his second. Isringhausen, one member of the Mets' post K-Rod closer-by-committee, pitched a perfect ninth to record his first big-league save since Aug. 1, 2008. The 12-year gap between Mets saves is the largest in franchise history.

Read more on Isringhausen in the Post, Star-Ledger and Newsday.

• David Wright went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, two runs scored, an RBI and a strikeout in his fifth minor-league rehab game with St. Lucie. He played nine innings at third base for the second straight night. Overall, Wright is hitting .421 (8-for-19) with eight runs scored. He’s been on the disabled list since May 18 with a lower back stress fracture.

• First baseman Ike Davis expressed skepticism he would be able to return to the New York Mets this season. Speaking to children at Coleman Country Day Camp in Merrick, N.Y., on Long Island, on Tuesday, Davis candidly described his left ankle as "not good." "But next year I will be back and healthy," Davis told the campers. "I promise."

Davis injured the ankle in a collision with third Wright by the pitcher's mound at Coors Field in Denver on May 10 and has not returned to the lineup because of lingering discomfort when he attempts to run.

Read more on Davis in the Times, the Post and Newsday.

• Dillon Gee no-hit the Cards for 4 1/3 innings on Tuesday. He finished the night allowing three hits in seven innings to earn his ninth win, the highest total among major-league rookies.

• Josh Thole is expected to return to the Mets on Wednesday after missing Tuesday's game due to paternity leave. Thole and his wife, Kathryn, welcomed their first child (see bottom), a son named Camden, at 8:41 p.m. Tuesday.

BIRTHDAYS: No one who appeared for the Mets was born today but Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg turns 23.