MLB

Mets hope to finish strong like Orioles did last year

Sure, now the Mets get hot at home.

In a season that has been equal parts misery and disappointment, the Mets are reaching, grasping for anything positive. There is the hope of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey winning 20 games and the Cy Young. There is the wish for David Wright to establish the franchise hits record at home. There is talk of finishing strong with what little remains.

Hey, you go 7-24 at home after the All-Star break and you usually don’t find yourself talking wild-card positioning. That seventh win came yesterday, 3-2, and completed a three-game sweep of the just-as-frustrated Marlins. While Wright moved one notch closer to the team hits record with a two-run homer, the victory came through a two-out, ninth-inning, game-winning single by Ruben Tejada, who batted for a second time in the game after an intentional walk.

“Obviously for me in the second half, there’s been some ups and downs,” said Wright, who suggested an Orioles-like resurgence for next season.

“It would be nice to finish on a strong note. Look at, for example, what the Orioles did,” Wright said. “They finished strong last year and it kind of carried over into this year. It would be kind of nice to do that. There are a lot of individuals who want to do that. We as a team and an organization would like to do that.”

In his first at-bat, Wright, now hitting .304 after batting .351 before the All-Star break, launched a first-pitch Ricky Nolasco fastball for his 19th homer, just to the left of center, for a 2-0 lead. It was career hit 1,415 for the All-Star third baseman — and 25 of those hits, including six homers, have come against Nolasco.

BOX SCORE

“For what [Wright] did the first 2 1/2 months of the season, I don’t think you’re going to see that very often. I want him to finish strong,” manager Terry Collins said. “I want him to break the hit record at home. But that home run he hit today? Into that wind?”

Yeah, it was a blast. So Wright, in 600 fewer games, moved within three hits of tying Ed Kranepool’s career franchise total. It wasn’t the decisive hit — Tejada delivered that as the Mets made it three straight after the 16-1 debacle against the Phillies on Thursday that produced suggestions of quitting on the season.

“The issue was to let them know we had — whatever we had left, 15, 14, 12 [games] — do not think for one second that people aren’t watching what’s going on and that was only the message trying to be stressed. It is about playing the game until the bell rings,” Collins said of the week’s big event not involving Lucas Duda’s hustle.

Tejada, the young shortstop who Collins feels has battled fatigue, stroked the game-winner after Miami walked pinch hitter Fred Lewis intentionally to load the bases. A similar move worked in the seventh.

“David Wright is a veteran guy. Every time, he tries to help me,” Tejada said. “He said to me, ‘Keep going on, finish strong.’ ”

Mets starter Chris Young got a no-decision after allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits in six innings and striking out five.

Miami scored twice in the fifth, first on a Bryan Petersen sacrifice fly and then again when catcher Kelly Shoppach’s attempt to nail base stealer Gorkys Hernandez at second sailed into center, allowing Gil Velazquez to score from third.

* Reliever Frank Francisco will be “shut down for a few days” after awakening Saturday with soreness in his elbow, Collins said.

Francisco warmed up Friday, said he felt fine but on Saturday was hurting. “I got up in the bullpen, I got [ready] … but the next was the bad day. My tendinitis got worse,” Francisco said.

It is not known if he’ll pitch again this season.