Mets have two-game win streak

Ike Davis watched his long fly ball skyrocket toward centerfield and carom off the black wall directly in front of the Home Run Apple. As for where it struck in relation to the bright orange line above the 408-foot sign, Davis had no clue.

"It's a long way out there," Davis said. "I can't see that far."

The Mets again were reminded Friday that Citi Field is a very big place. Even the umpires, who were much closer than Davis, failed to get a good look at his blast off Arizona reliever Esmerling Vasquez during that pivotal moment in the seventh inning. So when the ball stayed in the park and Davis stopped at second with an apparent RBI double that tied the score at 1, manager Terry Collins suggested a video review.

Which is what the umpires did, and in less than two minutes, the crew re-emerged to signal a home run. Davis finished his trot around the bases, and the two-run shot propelled the Mets to a 4-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Told afterward that the orange boundary used to trace the Apple's housing -- it was altered to run flat across after the 2009 season -- Davis smiled.

"Thank you to whoever changed that," said Davis, who homered for the second time in as many nights. "Here you've got to hit it real well."

Just as satisfying for the Mets was the performance of Mike Pelfrey, who allowed five hits and one run in seven innings, his longest outing of the season, to earn his first win. Pelfrey (1-2) was anointed the de facto ace of the staff in January, but Friday was the first time he pitched like one. He helped the Mets win consecutive games for only the second time this season. Their longest winning streak is three games, from April 2-5.

"We took a small step," Collins said. "We got a long way to go. We're climbing back."

The Mets need Pelfrey to be a part of any resurgence, and Collins believes he "set the tone" by pitching his way out of a first-inning jam.

Chris Young drilled his second pitch of the game into the left-centerfield gap for a triple and Pelfrey followed that with a walk to Kelly Johnson.

No outs, with D-Backs at first and third, looked like a recipe for disaster. But Pelfrey struck out Justin Upton, got Stephen Drew on a foul pop to third base and retired Miguel Montero on a fly ball to leftfield for no harm done.

It was a huge relief for Pelfrey, who had been sick all day and still looked pale afterward. He surrendered the only Arizona run on back-to-back doubles in the third inning -- the second a bloop by Upton that dropped in front of a sliding Carlos Beltran -- and retired 14 of the last 16 he faced.

"When I started to get ready before the game, I got real hot and started sweating," Pelfrey said. "I was going to have to grind it out tonight. I kept coughing. I puked in my mouth and I swallowed it on the mound in the sixth inning."

Beyond Pelfrey, the Mets' rotation soon might get a little crowded, with Chris Young expected to come off the disabled list Tuesday. But if Young shows any difficulty during Saturday's side session, Collins said he won't hesitate to delay his return; the Mets are intrigued by the prospect of keeping Dillon Gee in the rotation.

"Given the pitching overall this season, it's a nice problem to have if it develops," GM Sandy Alderson said before Friday's game. "Let's see whether these trends continue. We'll see how Dillon pitches. We'll see if Chris comes back on Tuesday. That would be a nice problem to have if we had to figure out how to get back to a five-man rotation -- an effective five-man rotation."