Maybe we should stop holding out for a no hitter and just start rooting for victories.

Mike Pelfrey took a no hitter into the sixth inning Thursday, but the New York Mets gave their starter no run support and wound up losing to the Washington Nationals 1-0 as the NoNoHitters.com count climbed to 7,359 games without a Mets no hitter.

Pelfrey’s no-hit bid came to an end when he gave up an Aaron Boone single in the seventh. Pelfrey pitched out of the inning, but he gave up a sacrifice fly RBI in the eighth for the game’s only run.

And for the record, the correct count number is in fact 7,359. Gary Cohen had mentioned 7,360 during the broadcast, but we’ll likely move up to that pinnacle Friday night against the Yankees. ESPN, which used the 7,359 number, also noted that Pelfrey’s effort was the 40th time the Mets took a no-no past the sixth.

The Washington Nationals’ Felipe Lopez led off with a double to right Wednesday night to bump the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,358 New York Games without a no hitter.

Claudio Vargas, a 29-year-old righthander called up from the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, gave up the hit, which marks the 889th time a Mets pitcher has yielded an opening hit, and the 142nd potential no hitter broken up by a double.

That made us update our No hitters killed by first at bat page for the 11th time this season. Couldn’t we at least take these a little deeper into the game?

The Mets lost 5-3, and Vargas took the loss despite allowing just three hits and two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings of work. Reliever Aaron Heilman wasn’t much help, giving up three earned runs in his 1/3 of an inning, prompting choruses of boos from the Shea crowd.

In other Mets pitching woos news, the club designated starter Nelson Figueroa and reliever Jorge Sosa for assignment, meaning the club has 10 days to trade, release or send them to the minors.

The Washington Nationals’ Austin Kearns hit a second-inning single off of John Maine Tuesday night to put the New York Mets NoNoHitters.com count at 7,357 games without a no hitter.

Maine’s strong outing during the Mets 6-3 win earned him his fifth victory of the season. He lasted six innings, yielding just one other hit, one walk and one earned run to drop his season ERA down to 2.81. Maine struck out five.

Billy Wagner got his eighth save of the season and has still yet to give up an earned run this season.

Right fielder Ryan Church went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and 4 RBIs. Catcher Brian Schneider went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Washington Nationals’ starting pitcher Odalis Perez opened the third inning with a single to right field Monday night to advance the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,356 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Mets’ starter Nelson Figueroa lasted just five innings, giving up six runs (four of them earned) on five hits and five walks.

Perez, on the other hand, helped his cause at the plate by going 3-for-3 with two RBIs.

The Mets lost 10-4, and I don’t really have too much more to say about it. This season seems like it’s been two steps forward, two steps back.

The Washington Nationals’ Aaron Boone’s second-inning single to right-center off Mets’ starter Oliver Perez Thursday night has given the NoNoHitters.com counter its latest tick to 7,341 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

Perez held the Nationals scoreless through 4 innings, but allowed 5 runs in the next 1 2/3 innings of work, as Washington wound up scoring all 10 runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings.

Aaron Heilman boosted his ERA to 6.23 with his 1/3 inning of work, giving up three hits, one of which was a Felipe Lopez grand slam. Two of the runs were charged to Heilman.

Not to be outdone, Jorge Sosa gave up three hits and three earned runs in his inning of work, boosting his season ERA to 7.36.

The Washington Nationals’ Cristian Guzman singled to right off of Johan Santana Wednesday night to boost the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,340 games without a New York Mets no hitter.

Santana scattered two runs and seven hits over seven innings - and also helped his cause at the plate with two doubles - as the Mets beat the Nats 7-2.

The Mets snapped a three-game losing streak after being swept brutally during a two-game series in Chicago and losing the final game of the Phillies series Sunday in Philadelphia.

Nelson Figueroa, who retired the first 14 batters he faced in his first Mets start against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 11, walked the first batter Thursday night and then retired 10 straight Washington Nationals before giving up his first hit - an infield comebacker by Ryan Zimmerman.

The ball hit Figueroa’s mitt and trickled too slowly to Jose Reyes for him to make a play, thus bumping our NoNoHitters.com count up to 7,334 games without a New York Mets no hitter.

Unfortunately, the infield hit was followed by a towering Nick Johnson blast over the right field wall to give the Nats a 2-1 lead.

Figueroa, 33, was making his second start for the Mets. He was originally drafted by New York in the third round of the 1995 MLB draft (833rd overall). The Mets traded Figueroa and Bernard Gilkey to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he pitched his first game with that club in 2000.

Figueroa looked strong in his second start (7 innings, 2 earned runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts), and with the way he’s retiring strings of early batters, I’m thinking he - eventually - just could be the one.

The Washington Nationals’ Ronnie Belliard hit a high outside fastball off of John Maine on a hit-and-run Wednesday night to raise the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,333 New York Mets games without a no hitter.

It marks the fourth straight Mets no hitter broken up in the opening inning following Nelson Figueroa’s retiring of the first 14 batters he faced on April 11.

Maine settled down for a solid start and the Mets used the long ball to beat the Nationals 5-2. Maine lasted 6 2/3 innings, yielding just 2 runs and 5 hits while fanning four and walking four.

Two of those walks came when Maine’s control started to wane in the seventh, but the increasingly reliable Joe Smith got the final out and pitched a flawless eighth before Billy Wagner recorded his second save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth (although it included a deep fly to center chased down by Carlos Beltran).

Figueroa takes the mound for Thursday’s game.

After laughing off a series of boos when he was announced, Washington Nationals CF Lastings Milledge marked his return to Shea with a first-inning double off Mike Pelfrey to move the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,332 games without a Mets no hitter.

Mets catcher Brian Schneider - a former Nat - quickly sent Milledge back to the dugout when Milledge tried to steal third, and the Mets went on to beat the Nationals 6-0.

Pelfrey threw 7 scoreless innings, giving up just 5 hits and two walks while striking out 4. He improves to 2-0 on the season, and received bullpen help from Aaron Heilman and Duaner Sanchez, who made his first appearance in two years.

On the offensive side, David Wright - fresh off his Letterman appearance - hit a homer and two doubles to drive in five runs.

All of the Mets and Nationals players wore number 42 Tuesday night in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier 61 years ago on April 15, 1947.

Earlier Tuesday, the Mets held a news conference at their future home of Citi Field to unveil the design of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, an Ebbets Field replica entranceway that will invite fans into the team’s new home. The rotunda will feature an 8-foot sculpture of Robinson’s No. 42 as well as a statute of Robinson in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform.

For another perspective on why all the Mets were wearing 42, check out Mets By The Numbers’ Happy Ron Hodges Day post.