Starter John Maine took a no hitter into the fifth inning Wednesday as the New York Mets rebounded from two losses to beat the Seattle Mariners 8-2.

Maine no-hit the Mariners through four until Jeremy Reed led off the fifth with a single to right to advance the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,397 games without a no hitter. The accomplishment marks the 257th time a Mets pitcher has made it through four or more no-hit innings during their 46-plus years of existence.

Here are some updated numbers on Mets pitchers who have kept Hs off the board until at least the fifth inning, courtesy of Retrosheet. *

• 153 potential Mets no hitters were broken up in the fifth
• 64 potential Mets no hitters were broken up in the sixth
• 22 potential Mets no hitters were broken up in the seventh
• 15 potential Mets no hitters were broken up in the eighth
• 3 potential Mets no hitters were broken up in the ninth (all by Tom Seaver)

Maine scattered just five hits and two earned runs over six innings of work for his eighth victory of the season. Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

David Wright drove in three runs with two homers to left, and Jose Reyes added a three-run round-tripper to right.

*Information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at www.retrosheet.org.

So much for my perfect square theory.

Back on May 30, I made the bold prediction that the Mets no hitters curse would be broken in the team’s 7,396th game. Why? Because the number 7,396 is a perfect square of 86 (in other words 86 x 86 = 7,396), and clearly ‘86 was the luckiest year in team history.

But in the first inning of game 7,396, Jose Lopez singled to center off Oliver Perez to extend the streak of the New York Mets never accomplishing a no hitter at least one more game.

And then, the Mets lose 11-0.

I’ll refrain from any further predictions.

Seattle Mariners starter Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years Monday to lead the Mariners to a 5-2 win over the New York Mets.

The last time that happened, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, was in 1971 when Cleveland pitcher Steve Dunning homered off of the Oakland A’s Diego Segui.

Monday night’s slam off Mets’ ace Johan Santana followed a David Wright error, so none of the runs were earned. Santana lost his no hitter in the first inning when Jose Lopez singled to left, increasing the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,395 games without a New York Mets no hitter.

Mike Pelfrey pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings Sunday to lead the Mets to a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Jose Reyes again opened the game with a triple and David Wright singled him home to give Pelfrey an early 1-0 lead. Carlos Beltran’s blast with Wright on-base in the third provided the rest of the Mets’ offense. The Mets had only six hits and the Rockies managed just four in a rare pitchers’ duel in a hitters’ ballpark.

Rockies’ No. 2 hitter Jeff Baker again killed the no-hitter opportunity - this time with an infield single in the first - to advance the NoNoHitters.com count at 7,394 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Two steps forward, another step back.

Mets starter Pedro Martinez looked sharp for four innings before giving up a pair of homers in the fifth inning that led to a six-run outburst and a 7-1 loss for a team that had just climbed back to .500.

Jose Reyes led off the game with a triple and scored on a Luis Castillo sacrifice fly, but the Mets could manage just three additional hits during the game. The Colorado Rockies, in contrast, tagged the Mets for 14 hits.

Martinez lost his no-hit bid in the first inning when Jeff Baker lined a single to left, putting our NoNoHitters.com count at 7,393 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

The New York Mets rallied for fine runs in the second inning Friday night to overcome an early deficit and beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 for the team’s second straight victory.

The Mets are back at .500 and now trail the first-place Philadelphia Phillies by just 4 1/2 games.

John Maine gave up two runs in the first but settled in to yield no more. He gave up just six hits over 6 2/3 innings - starting with an opening single to left by the Rockies’ Willy Taveras. That bumped our NoNoHiitters.com count to 7,392 New York Mets games without a no hitter and marked the 901st time a potential Mets’ no hitter was killed by the first at-bat (Click here for more details.)

Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman finished out the game to give Maine his seventh victory of the season.

The New York Mets scored runs in the ninth and tenth innings Wednesday night to notch a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

After David Wright spoiled Angels’ closer Francisco Rodriguez’s save opportunity with a two-out RBI single in the ninth, Damion Easley homered in the 10th to give new manager Jerry Manuel his first Mets victory.

Starter Oliver Perez, who pitched a solid game during our visit to Shea Friday night, threw three scoreless innings before yielding four runs in the fourth and fifth. He lost his no-hit bid in the third inning when Chone Figgins singled to right, bumping our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,391 without a Mets no hitter.

After visiting family in New Jersey for a couple of days, our road trip to Shea needed a stopping point on the way back west. The National Baseball Hall of Fame would have been a perfect destination, but Cooperstown, N.Y.. was a bit far off our trip route so we switched sports gears and headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Canton was an odd setting to learn of Willie Randolph’s 3:15 a.m. firing, but with two of us wearing Mets T-shirts, we came across plenty of Mets fans who wanted to add their two cents to the managerial conversation. And much of the long return ride from Canton to South Dakota was spent listening to sports radio commentators and analysts describe the handling of the situation as “classless” and “unprofessional.”

I completely agree that the whole situation was handled like crap, but the bottom line is we’re 6 1/2 games back with plenty of time left in the season and I would like to win a pennant. Either remove “interim” from Jerry Manuel’s title or hire a permanent replacement and let’s get to work. With the way the Phillies have been playing, there’s no time to wait.

Anyway, back to Canton. The (football) Hall was well worth the trip. It features tons of helmets, balls, trophies and jerseys to peruse, and the museum has added a ton of interactive stations for the kids. The room featuring bronze busts of all of the inductees is amazing, and we spent nearly an hour in there alone.

Perhaps our next Mets trip to Citi Field will feature a side trip to Cooperstown so we can also take in some baseball history.

Day One of the Mets’ Jerry Manuel era ended in a 6-1 loss.

The apparently tired New York Mets committed three errors and managed just six hits, and ace starter Johan Santana yielded five runs (four of them earned), a pair of walks and eight hits in six innings of work to take the loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and other various surrounding California metro areas.

Perhaps that’s what happens when a team makes a managerial change at 3:15 a.m. EDT. That doesn’t exactly help rest the squad after a playing a night game after a three hour flight.

Willie Randolph’s firing also did little to change the Mets’ no hit fortunes. Santana gave up a first inning single to Maicer Izturis to boost the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,390 games without a Mets no hitter.

For the 900th time in franchise history, a potential New York Mets no hitter has been broken up by the first at-bat.

Chone Figgins doubled to left off Mike Pelfrey Monday night to increase the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,389 New York Mets games without a single no-no. It’s the 900th time that has happened on the first at bat, and the 675th time it has occurred with a single. (Check out our No hitters killed by first at bat for more details.)

This is happening way to often this season. Over the Mets’ previous 46 seasons, there have been an average of just over 19 no hitters broken up on the first at-bat. So far in 2008 (and we’re not even close to the All Star break yet) there have been 22! And Pelfrey has had six of them:

• May 3, 2008: In Arizona, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Diamondbacks’ Chris Young.
• May 10, 2008 (Game 2 of a day-night doubleheader): In New York, Mike Pelfrey gave up a leadoff double to the Cincinnati Reds’ Ryan Freel.
• May 31, 2008: In New York, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Juan Pierre
• June 5, 2008: In San Diego, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Padres’ Jody Gerut
• June 12, 2008: In New York, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chris Young
• June 16, 2008: In Anaheim, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Los Angeles Angels’ Chone Figgins

Of course, Pelfrey also went the deepest this season without giving up a hit, throwing six innings of no-hit ball against the Washington Nationals on May 15.

The Mets won 9-6, but it was not enough to save the job of Manager Willie Randolph, who was let go a couple hours after the game finished.