The Philadelphia Phillies’ Shane Victorino hit a two-out, ninth-inning single Friday night to beat the New York Mets 3-2 and again waste a stellar outing by starter Johan Santana.

Santana gave up just two runs and six hits over eight innings, and reliever Duaner Sanchez struck out Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell to start the ninth inning. But Sanchez hung a changeup and got beat by Pedro Feliz for a double before unsuccessfully challenging Victorino with an inside fastball. Game over.

The Mets broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth when Jose Reyes beat out a double play to let Damion Easley score from third. They added a second run when David Wright walked with the bases loaded, but the Mets failed to put the game away when Carlos Beltran struck out swinging to strand three runners.

Meanwhile, Santana was working his mastery, needing only 50 pitches through five innings. Santana got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the sixth - throwing 22 pitches as the Phils hit four singles to tie the game at two - but he settled in again for the seventh and eighth. Perhaps Manuel should have left him in for the ninth.

Santana lost his bid for a no hitter on the first batter when Jayson Werth singled to left. That advanced our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,406 New York Mets games without a no hitter and makes the 903rd time in franchise history (and the 24th time this season) that a Mets game has begun with a leadoff hit by their opponent. (Check out our No hitters killed by first at bat for more details.)

• Our No hitters officially recognized by baseball page lists the 235 sanctioned no hitters in Major League history. In September 1991, baseball’s Committee on Statistical Accuracy changed the official definition of the feat, saying, “A no hitter is a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit.” That dropped 50 games off the record books.
• Our Close, but no cigar: No hitters not officially recognized page lists the 50 former no hitters stricken from the record books, and more recent ones that would have qualified under the old rules. The list includes games that lasted less than nine innings and ones in which the pitcher held a no hitter through nine but lost it extra innings.
• Our Mets minor league no hitters tries to list the no hitters accomplished by the New York Mets’ AAA, AA and A affiliates. This is a meant as a work in progress and will likely never be 100 percent complete, but the point is to show it can be done while wearing a Mets uniform.

The Mets’ offense built Mike Pelfrey a 9-0 lead by the third inning Thursday night en route to an 11-1 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Any hope of the elusive Mets no hitter was quashed in the first inning when Chris Duncan singled to center. That marked the 7,405th franchise game without a no-no.

But Pelfrey pitched great to improve to 6-6, yielding just one earned run and six hits in seven innings of work.

Jose Reyes went 1-for-4, but his lone hit was a base-clearing triple. Carlos Delgado had a homer and sacrifice fly for three RBIs.

The Mets begin a weekend series with the first-place Philadelphia Phillies on Friday with the hopes of making up some of the 4 1/2 games back.

The Mets’ 2008 tradition of one-game win streaks and one-game losing streaks continued Thursday night with an 8-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pedro Martinez struggled in the outing, lasting just five innings while giving up 5 earned runs and seven hits. He lost his no hitter on the first batter when left-fielder Skip Schumaker singled to center. That put the NoNoHitters.com count at 7,404 New York Mets games without a no hitter, and marked the 902nd time a Mets game has begun with a leadoff hit by their opponent.

Damion Easley went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs, while Jose Reyes and David Wright each added three hits

Tony Armas Jr. won his season debut Tuesday night as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4.

Armas, called up for a game from the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, went six innings, giving up four earned runs and eight hits. The Mets gave him some run support as David Wright went 3-for-4 with a home run and Carlos Delgado went 3-for-3.

It was once again Aaron Miles who killed the no hitter. He doubled to right in the first inning to advance the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,403 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

The Mets continued to show their inability to develop any positive momentum Monday night during a 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

John Maine looked shaky right from the start, and he was lucky to escape the first inning giving up just two runs. He lasted just four innings, giving up five runs (three of them earned), seven hits and three walks.

Meanwhile, on the no-hitter front, Aaron Miles singled to right off Maine in the first inning to advance the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,402 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Derek Jeter hit a one-out fourth inning signle Sunday to break up Oliver Perez’s three-inning no hitter and move the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,401 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Perhaps Perez’s strong stretch was jinxed by TBS play-by-play announcer Chip Caray and borrowed SNY analyst Ron Darling, who discussed the Mets’ dubious streak during the third inning. Keep it quiet on-air until it happens, fellas.

Anyway, Perez pitched a brilliant game, giving up just three hits - one of them being a home run - in seven innings of work. O-P also struck out 8 as the Mets move back to just a game shy of .500.

Like an old jalopy’s odometer that just keeps on rolling through miles, the NoNoHitters.com count crossed into the 7,400s Saturday with a Bobby Abreu first inning single off Johan Santana.

Santana (7-7) once again had a strong start, and once again the Mets wasted it. He gave up three runs and four hits in six innings worth of work, but the Mets could manage just six hits with solo homers by Raul Castro and David Wright. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado each went 0-for-4.

What comes around, goes around.

The New York Yankees scored two runs in the fourth, two in the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the seventh to lead the Yanks to a 9-0 beating of the New York Mets in game two of Friday’s day-night, cross-borough doubleheader.

Meanwhile, the Mets could come up with just 8 hits as their time at .500 lasted just hours.

The potential no hitter was again foiled in the first inning when Bobby Abreu singled to right off of Pedro Martinez. That puts the NoNoHitters.com count at 7,399 games without a no hitter.

Carlos Delgado set a New York Mets record with nine RBIs Friday afternoon to lead the good guys to a 15-6 whopping of the New York Yankees in the first game of a day-night, cross-borough doubleheader.

Delgado, filling the DH role for the Mets for the day game at Yankee Stadium, went 3-for-5 with a grand slam, a three-run homer and a two-run double. The previous Mets record for RBIs by a single player was eight, set up Dave Kingman on June 4, 1976.

Starter Mike Pelfrey lost his no-hit bid in the first inning by giving up a two-out single to Alex Rodriguez. That advances the NoNoHiiters.com count to 7,398 Mets games without a no hitter.