Barajas, Niese give Mets a laugher in Philly

PHILADELPHIA - The Mets showed up early Friday at Citizens Bank Park and made themselves right at home during a midafternoon workout. In T-shirts and shorts, they shagged fly balls, joked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Most of all, the Mets hit and hit and hit during the extra batting practice. It was a trend that continued deep into the night. David Wright and Jeff Francoeur each homered and Rod Barajas went deep twice in support of Jonathon Niese as the Mets bulldozed the Phillies, 9-1, in a win that felt like a shot across the bow of the defending National League champions.

"It was awesome," Francoeur said. "This game doesn't crown us champions, but it definitely beats losing it."

As a result, on the opening day of May, the first-place Mets have a 1½-game lead over the Phillies, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Coming off a 9-1 homestand, the Mets have won 11 of 13 and extended their winning streak to eight games, the longest since they won 10 straight from July 5-17, 2008.

"It's still very early, and they're a little banged up over there right now," Jerry Manuel said. "But for us to come out and swing the bats the way we did, I thought that was the most impressive thing. I was very, very excited about that. I thought we needed to get somewhat untracked offensively."

Barajas played for the Phillies in 2007, but since his departure, he has six homers in seven games against his former club. Barajas hit his team-leading fifth home run off Brad Lidge in the ninth inning and it clanged off the leftfield foul pole. It was his second two-homer game this year.

"I've always been told to hit the ball hard," Barajas said, "so that's what I try to do."

Wright smacked his 12th homer at Citizens Bank Park - the most for him at any visiting stadium - and first since April 14 at Coors Field. It went about 410 feet into the shrubbery beyond the centerfield wall.

But hitter-friendly CBP didn't seem to bother Niese, who earned his first victory (1-1) in five starts. He tied a career high with seven strikeouts in seven innings and limited the Phillies to four hits and one run. Niese retired 14 straight at one point and the last 17 of 18 before turning the ball over to Jenrry Mejia to begin the eighth. The Mets' rotation is 7-1 in its last 15 games with a 1.57 ERA.

If not for great catches by Francoeur and Jason Bay, Niese might not have survived the second inning. Francoeur robbed Raul Ibañez of extra bases - and probably saved a run - when he crashed into the rightfield wall to snare a deep shot into the right-center gap. With two on and two out, Bay chased down Shane Victorino's long drive with a leaping grab at the wall.

"That was kind of a momentum-shifter for us," Niese said.

Francoeur slammed his knees into the wall on that play and had to be removed in the seventh after he was drilled on the left elbow by Danys Baez. Francoeur was diagnosed with a bruised elbow. X-rays were negative, but Manuel was leaning toward resting him Saturday.

The Mets put the game out of reach with four runs in the seventh. Barajas had an RBI double, Angel Pagan, who had three hits, missed a homer by inches for a two-run triple and Jose Reyes wrapped it up with a run-scoring single.