Oliver Perez pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and Aaron Heilman added two perfect innings for the save as the New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins 3-0 Friday night.

The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the first when rookie Daniel Murphy reached base on an infield hit and David Wright blasted a homer into the left field bleachers. Carlos Delgado added a solo shot in the fourth inning.

Perez lost his no-hitter in the second inning when Wes Helms doubled to right, advancing our NoNoHitters.com count one tick and marking 7,345 New York Mets games without a no-hitter. He didn’t give up his second hit until the seventh inning when Cody Ross doubled to left.

Heilman pitched two perfect innings for the save, a day after retiring a pair of ninth-inning batters to earn the win in Thursday’s walkoff victory against the San Diego Padres.

With the win, the Mets move back into second place and pull within a single game of the first-place Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 2-0 in 12 innings Friday night thanks in part to a game-ending diving catch by Brandon Moss. Moss turned a potential line-drive hit into a double-play.

Getting the ball on Saturday is former Devil Ray Brian Stokes, who was called up from the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs for his first Mets start. Since Stokes has as good a chance as any to throw the first Mets no-hitter, he’s been officially added to our NoNoHitters.com poll asking who will finally break the curse.

Stokes has 0 votes as of this posting, trailing Orlando Hernandez and Brandon Knight by 1. We started the season with the Mets’ starting five and a couple of disabled list guys and the list has since grown considerably, as anyone who gets a start and remains with the club or its affiliates keeps his spot. Other AAA vote-getters include Nelson Figueroa (5 votes), Tony Armas Jr. (3 votes) and Claudio Vargas (2 Votes)

Despite the long list of names, 24 percent of our voters still think it’ll be “Some other guy” who finally hurls a Mets’ no-no.

If Johan Santana wants to get more wins for the New York Mets, he’s apparently going to have to pitch nine innings.

Reliever Scott Schoenweis gave up a one-out ninth-inning homer to the San Diego Padres Jody Gerut (who’s been quite the Mets killer this series) to tie the game at 3 and erase Santana’s chance for a win. The Mets then brought in Aaron Heilman - who’s made giving up homers a habit this season - and he retired the next two batters.

But no worry. David Wright hit a clutch two-run homer to left in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets a 5-3 win, which is credited in the books to Heilman.

The Mets no-hitter was again killed by the long-ball, but this time it didn’t come until the second inning when Santana gave up a homer to left to Chase Headley. That bumped our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,434 games without a no-hitter.

Well, it didn’t take long to get to 7,433.

Jody Gerut knocked Pedro Martinez’s fist pitch over the right field wall Wednesday night to give the San Diego Padres a 1-0 lead (2-0 after Brian Giles’ dinger two batters later) and advance our NoNoHitters.com count one more game.

The Mets lost 4-2, but Martinez and pitched well. He lasted 6 1/3 innings, giving up just four hits but he yielding three runs (only two of them earned) and three walks.

Rookie Daniel Murphy had a strong night, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

The leadoff homer off Pedro marked the 49th time in the franchise’s 46 1/2-season history that a potential Mets no-hitter was broken up by a home run. In fact, Pedro did it in his previous start in Houston on Friday, yielding a leadoff homer to the Astros’ Kazuo Matsui.

See our updated No-hitters killed by first at bat page for more details on this and the 30 other instantly killed no-hitters so far this year.

The Phillies shut out the Marlins, so the Mets fall to three games back in the National League East.

The New York Mets barely avoided another ninth-inning meltdown Tuesday night, holding on to beat the Houston Astros 6-5.

With a 6-2 lead heading into the ninth, the Mets handed the ball to Aaron Heilman, who let two runners reach base before giving up a three-run homer to Jody Gerut. Fortunately, Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis were able to each get an out to end the game.

Fernando Tatis lit up the offense with two homers for four RBIs, and rookies Dan Murphy and Nick Evans scored the Mets’ other two runs.

Starter Mike Pelfrey earned his 10th win of the season, going 6 2/3 innings while giving up two earned runs on nine hits. He struck out three and walked one. Pelfrey lost his no-hitter in the first inning when Brian Giles singled to center, advancing the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,432 Mets games without a no-hitter.

The New York Mets scattered nine hits but couldn’t score a single run as the team dropped its fourth straight in a 4-0 loss to the Houston Astros.

Starter Oliver Perez pitched well early (a second-inning homer by Ty Wigginton aside), but he got into trouble in the fourth by yielding four consecutive hits - three of them doubles - for three runs.

Perez lost his no-hitter in the first inning when leadoff hitter Kaz Matsui singled to right center. It was the 30th time this season that a Mets starter has given up a leadoff hit, and the 908th time in the team’s 46 1/2-season history. (See our No-hitters killed by first at bat page for more details.)

With John Maine placed on the retroactive disabled list to make room for another reliever, Eddie Kunz was called up from AA Binghamton and did his job in one inning of relief. Maine will likely miss just one start, and the move was made mostly to avoid placing Billy Wagner on the DL, as he’s dealing with stiffness in his left forearm. That’s troubling as despite last night’s blown save, we all know what happens when the Mets can’t call on Wagner to finish. (See Heilman, Aaron … Sanchez, Duaner)

Billy Wagner blew a save and Aaron Heilman hung Pedro Feliciano out to dry with first and third with no outs in the tenth Saturday night as the Houston Astros came from behind to beat the New York Mets 5-4.

The Mets had a 4-2 lead heading into the ninth inning, but Wagner gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases. Pinch hitter Geoff Blum singled to left, but Mark Loretta started heading back to third as if the ball was going to be caught. By the time Loretta switched directions, Hunter Pence was just a split second behind him.

Mets catcher Ramon Castro caught Fernando Tatis’ throw as Loretta and Pence barreled into him for the runs. Castro wound up leaving the game with an injury.

After Feliciano replaced Heilman, Feliciano got a strikeout and yielded an intentional walk before Erstad hit a fly ball to left. Tatis made a nice play, but the run scored and the game ended.

In the eighth, Scott Schowenweis gave up a home run Kazuo Matsui, continuing the Mets bullpen’s inability to consistently put games away for Mets starter Johan Santana, who pitched well enough for his 10th win of the season.

Santana went 6 1/3 innings, giving up just three hits, two walks, a pair of hit batsmen and one earned run while striking out three. He lost his no-hitter in the fourth inning when Matsui led off the inning with a triple, bringing the NoNoHitters.com count up to 7,430 Mets games without a no-hitter.

Damion Easley hit a two-run homer and Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado each drove in runs.

Daniel Murphy made his Mets debut after playing just a single game for New Orleans at the AAA level. A natural third baseman, Murphy made a great leaping catch in left field and threw a strike to second to double up Hunter Pence in the bottom of the seventh. He also recorded his first Major League hit and scored a run.

Murphy took the roster spot of Marlon Anderson, who was placed on the disabled list with a strained hamstring.

Aaron Heilman gave up an eighth inning grand slam to Mark Loretta Friday night to give the Houston Astros a 7-3 win over the New York Mets.

Pedro Martinez returned to the rotation, giving up five hits and two walks over five innings. Unfortunately, three of those five hits
were solo home runs.

The first came right away, as Kazuo Matsui led off the bottom half of the first with a dinger to right-center. It’s the 48th time a New York Mets pitcher has given up a homer to the first batter, and it bumped our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,429 Mets games without a no-hitter. (See our No-hitters killed by first at bat page for more details.)

At least the Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies both lost, so the Mets remain a game back on the Phils.

The Florida Marlins scored five runs in the fourth inning and added two in the eighth Wednesday night to beat the New York Mets 7-5 and knock them out of first place.

The Mets again jumped on board in the first inning after David Wright hit into a run-scoring double-play after Jose Reyes and Argenis Reyes led off with singles.

But starter Mike Pelfrey got into trouble in the fourth inning as the Marlins strung together six hits to score five runs.

The Mets clawed back within one on a three-run seventh-inning homer to left by Damion Easley, but the Marlins’ Dan Uggla responded with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.

The loss, combined with the Phillies’ win, gives first place to the Phillies and leaves the Mets a half game back. The Marlins sit 1 1/2 games back.

Pelfrey lost his no hitter in the second inning when Dan Uggla singled to center, moving our NoNoHitters.com county to 7,428 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Carlos Delgado launched a fastball over the right-centerfield fence for his ninth homer of the month Tuesday night the help the New York Mets defeat the Florida Marlins 4-1.

Delgado’s RBIs provided the Mets with a little breathing room, as the game-winning run actually came two innings earlier when Carlos Beltran singled home Nick Evans in the sixth.

Starter Oliver Perez had a little trouble getting his breaking balls over but pitched a solid game, giving up one earned run, five hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out five.

Jose Reyes (3-for-5) led off the game with a double but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. His hit was followed by back-to-back doubles by Evans and David Wright to get the Mets on board with a run.

The sole Marlins run came in the bottom half of the first after Perez gave up a double to Jorge Cantu, which extended our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,427 Mets games without a no hitter. It was followed by a Josh Willingham double to tie the game at one.

A pair of walks got reliever Aaron Heilman into a bit of trouble in the seventh as he was trying to paint the corners for an umpire who wasn’t budging on that part of the strike zone. But Heilman settled down to get through the seventh unscathed and struck out three in the eighth to set up closer Billy Wagner.

Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

The win extended the Mets’ lead over the Marlins to two games, but the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 Tuesday night to remain a half game back in the National League East division.

The rubber game of the series is Wednesday night, with Mike Pelfrey getting the ball for the Mets and Josh Johnson scheduled to go for the Fish.

The Florida Marlins scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday night to beat the New York Mets 7-3 and remind the N.L. East that this is more than a two team race.

John Maine pitched well, but lasted just 4 1/3 innings after being pulled in the fifth with a stiff shoulder.

After the Marlins tied the game at 2, the Mets manufactured the go-ah ead run in the top of the eighth thanks to a smart baserunning play by David Wright. With the shift on for Carlos Delgado, Wright took an unoccupied third base on a fielder’s choice. Then, after the Marlins issued an intentional walk to Carlos Beltran, Wright scored on what appeared to be a double-play ball hit by Fernando Tatis. Tatis raced toward first, but the throw went wide and Wright scored.

Then Joe Smith and Scott Schoenweis combined to blow the game, allowing five runs on six hits. Net result: Florida is one game back; Philadelphia is a 1/2 game back.

Maine lost his no-hitter bid in the first inning when Jorge Cantu hit a ball just shy of Tatis for a single. That makes it 7,426 New York Mets games without a single no-hitter.