Schwei: Wright's Hot Hitting, Marcum's Inability To Win And More Mets Notes

By John Schweibacher
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David Wright has taken over the lead in the voting to be the starting third baseman for the National League All-Star team.

Wright has also been hot at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and a home run in the Mets' 8-0 win over the Phillies on Sunday in Philadelphia.

Wright became the ninth player in club history to have four extra-base hits in one game, and the third to do so against the Phillies:

•6/23/90: David Wright at PHI
•8/30/99: Edgardo Alfonzo at HOU
•4/7/99: Rickey Henderson at FLA
•7/3/96: Alex Ochoa at PHI
•8/14/93: Tim Bogar at PHI
•9/7/89: Gregg Jefferies vs. STL
•8/16/87: Darryl Strawberry at CHI
•7/5/87: Tim Teufel at CIN
•8/18/64: Joe Christopher vs. PIT

Wright hit his 10th and 11th home runs of the season in the Mets' 4-3 win at Atlanta on Thursday. Wright has hit at least 10 homers in all 10 of his major-league seasons. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other players to reach double-figures as a third baseman in at least 10 consecutive seasons starting as a rookie were Eddie Mathews (1952-66), Ron Cey (1973-86), and Mike Schmidt (1973-84).

Shaun Marcum fell to 0-9 in 2013 after losing 5-3 in Atlanta last Wednesday night. Marcum is the third pitcher in Mets history to lose his first nine decisions in a season. Anthony Young started the 1993 season 0-13 and Bob L. Miller began the 1962 campaign with 12 consecutive losses.

Matt Harvey lost another no-hit bid on Jason Heyward's infield single leading off the seventh inning, but held on to earn the victory in the Mets' 4-3 win in the day portion of the day/night doubleheader last Tuesday at Turner Field.

It was the third time this season that Harvey took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Elias notes that only three other pitchers during the expansion era held an opposing team hitless through six innings three
times in the first 25 starts of their career: Al Downing, Jose DeLeon (4) and Kent Mercker.

Zack Wheeler struck out seven batters in six innings to get the victory in his major-league debut in the Tuesday night game in Atlanta. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1900, Harvey -- who struck out 13 in the opener -- and Wheeler were only the third pair of teammates, both age 24 or younger, to start and win on the same day while totaling at least 20 strikeouts. The others were Bob Feller and Denny Galehouse of the 1936 Indians and Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain of the 1965 Tigers.

The Mets play a pair of games against the White Sox in Chicago and a make-up game with the Rockies in Denver before heading home to face the Nationals.

The Mets split their two games with the Chisox at Citi Field back on May 7 and 8. This will be just the second series between the Mets and White Sox in Chicago. The pale hose took two of three back in June of 2002 in the only Interleague series between the two clubs prior to this season.

In addition to Thursday's game in Colorado, the Mets still have three other contests to make up due to bad weather. They have one  with the Twins in Minnesota, one at home vs. the Marlins and another against the Nationals in Washington.

Terry Collins will manage his 400th game for the Mets this week. Of the nine other Mets skippers to lead the Mets for that many games, only three have a posted a lower winning percentage than Collins:

Manager                     Games                          W/L PCT

• Casey Stengel:        582                                    175-401 .302
• Joe Torre:               709                                    286-420 .405
• Dallas Green           512                                     229-283 .447
• Terry Collins         396                                     181-215 .457
• Jerry Manuel        417                                     204-213 .489
• Yogi Berra             588                                      292-296 .497
• Gil Hodges              649                                     339-309 .523
• Bobby Valentine  1,003                                 536-467 .534
• Willie Randolph     555                                    302-253 .544
• Davey Johnson    1,012                                  595-417 .588

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Gee vs. Howard -- Ryan Howard went 3-for-3 with two home runs against Dillon Gee on Saturday. Howard is now 7-for-15 with six homers in his career against Gee.

Happy Recap: Great to be Young and a Met -- Eric Young, Jr. is hitting .364 (8-for-22) since being acquired from the Rockies.

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