So far, so good without Carlos Beltran. On the same day when the Mets traded away one of their best players in decades, they went out and continued to hit like he never left, pounding the Reds 8-2 for their 3rd straight victory.

David Wright has to step up with the departure of Carlos Beltran. If Wednesday night was any indication, he should be just fine as the team's top slugger.

David Wright had the biggest blow, a 3-run homer to center field in the 7th that  broke the game open and gave the Mets an 8-1 lead. Wright went 2-4 with 4 RBI on the night, as he continues his torrid hitting since coming back from the DL. He is 12-28 with 2 homeruns and 11 RBI in just 6 games.

Daniel Murphy added 4 more hits with an RBI and a run scored, and now has his average up to .319, good for 3rd in the National League. Murphy also had 2 more doubles giving him 28 on the year. He trails only Carlos Beltran in the NL in that category.

As for Carlos Beltran’s replacement in right field? Lucas Duda filled in quite nicely, drilling a laser beam solo homerun to right in the 6th.

The Mets pounded their nemesis Bronson Arroyo to the tune of 5 runs and 7 hits in 6 innings. They reached double digits in hits for the 5th time in 6 games this road trip, and even Mike Pelfrey had a base knock!

Speaking of Pelf, he might have had his best start of the season. Mike went the distance for his 2nd complete game of the season, and did not allow more than 1 hit in any inning. He struck out only 3 but did not walk a batter, and except for a homerun ball to Joey Votto he was pretty much flawless. The Mets are now 53-51 with a league-high 31 road wins, and will go for the 4 game sweep Thursday afternoon.

Three Up:

1) David Wright- DW has been a completely different player from the one before the DL stint. His swing is much faster and more compact, and so far he has cut way down on strike outs. He is driving the ball, and knocking in runs in bunches. Wright has always been a streaky player, but maybe this time around he can stay hot for the long haul.

2) Mike Pelfrey- I have been hard on Pelf all year, and with good reason. But tonight he gave a glimpse to the pitcher we all thought we were going to see when he came to the big leagues. Pelf threw an effortless complete game for the win, and most importantly did not walk a batter. Excellent job by Mike tonight, but for me he will need to do this a lot more down the stretch to clinch a spot in the 2012 rotation.

3) Daniel Murphy- It’s incredible to hear, but Murph is now 3rd in the league in hitting! It’s been a spectacular July for Daniel, and he is finishing the month strong. Tonight was his first career 4-hit game, and now that he is hitting in front of a red hot David Wright he should get plenty of pitches to hit.

Three Down:

1) Bronson Arroyo- Normally a Mets killer, Arroyo simply didn’t have it tonight. The Amazins feasted on him from the start, and Bronson never gave his offense a chance to win.

2) Jose Arredando- When Arredando relieved Arroyo the game was still within reach for the Reds at 5-1. But the reliever could not keep it close, serving up Wright’s 3-run bomb and forcing Cinci to wave the white flag in the 7th inning.

2) Jason Bay- I give the guy credit for his effort and stellar defense on a nightly basis, but the Mets pay him to hit and he continues to fail miserably in that aspect. Another 0-5 tonight sinks Bay down to .223 on the year. What a disaster.

Rizzi’s Rants:

- With their 2 runs in the 1st inning, the Mets are now up to 192 2-out runs, most in NL.

- The Amazins have at least 10 hits in 5 of the 6 games on this road trip. The Mets can freakin’ hit, there is no question. If they just had some big time power (or if Ike Davis was healthy and the real Jason Bay ever came back to Earth) they would be one of the top lineups in baseball.

- The Reds have played some absolutely piss poor defense this series. A lot of the bad plays have been ruled hits, but there have been probably 15-20 plays that COULD have been made, but were NOT made. The Reds shotty defense has cost them dearly in these 3 games, no doubt about it.

- Mike Pelfrey led off the 5th with a hard hit single to left, just his 2nd hit of the season. Pelf was forced out at 2nd, but he still started out a big Mets inning with a base hit.

- David Wright made a great bare handed grab and throw to 1st to rob Chris Heisy of a bunt hit to lead off the bottom of the 5th, but SNY was late coming back from commercial and we missed it live.

- Another night, another diving catch for Jason Bay. He robbed Drew Stubbs of a hit in the 6th, and seems to be making a habit of these plays. Who would have thought Bay would be a defensive specialist for us?

- It is a great sign to see how well the team played on the same night their best (read: only) power hitter was traded away. It’s a testament to how much influence Terry Collins has in the club house, and he deserves a lot of credit.

- The odds were already slim that the team would make a playoff run. They got much slimmer with the departure of Beltran. But hey, they keep winning, and if they continue to play this way who knows what can happen. As long as they stay on the fringe of the wild card race I will be very into this team, so let’s ride it out as long as we can.

The tying run was in scoring position. The winning run was on 1st. The bases were loaded with 2 outs, and the Mets held a slim 4-2 lead. The capacity crowd in Cincinnati was on its feet as Brandon Phillips tried to play hero. But the veteran closer Jason Isringhausen buckled down and struck out Phillips on 3 pitches to end the game, preserve the win for R.A. Dickey, and pick up career save number 296.

It was an entertaining game to watch from start to finish between 2 even teams. The Mets and Reds both entered the night with identical 50-51 records, and it was nothing but zeros early as a pitcher’s duel emerged between Dickey and Mike Leake.

It was a well deserved 5th win for the quirky, yet effective R.A. Dickey.

The Reds finally got on the board first in the 6th inning when Phillips drilled a double off the right field wall and Miguel Cairo came around from 1st base. But as they have done so many times this year when they go down, the Met came right back and countered with runs of their own. Carlos Beltran drove in the tying run with a sac fly that scored Jose Reyes for the 2nd out of the inning.

It looked like an innocent enough inning, unless you have watched the Mets all year. They are an incredible offensive team with 2 outs, and they proved it again tonight, adding 3 more runs in the 7th. A huge 2-run double from Daniel Murphy gave the Mets the lead, and then Hell froze over as Jason Bay drilled an RBI double of his own to right field. It was Bay’s first double in 50 games…. that’s right, 50 games, and the Mets were up 4-1.

Cincinnati came back with a run in their half of the 7th when Drew Stubbs singled to center. Paul Jannish looked like he might be dead meat at home trying to score from 2nd, but Murphy made the wrong move and cut off Jason Pridie’s throw. That was all for R.A. Dickey, who threw 6 2/3 stellar innings, allowing the 2 runs while striking out 8.

That was all the Reds could get, thanks to Isringhausen’s tight rope walk in the 9th. Dickey earns his 5th win of the year, and the Mets get back to .500 at 51-51.

Three Up:

1) R.A. Dickey- Dickey may have had his best start of the season. His knuckle was consistently over the plate, and he rarely had to go to the heater. If it wasn’t for Murphy’s dumb cut off he would have only allowed one run against a good lineup in a hitter’s ball park. He has had a solid 2nd third of the season for sure.

2) Bobby Parnell-What a great recovery from Sunday’s terrible outing. Parnell bounced back with a bang tonight, pitching a scoreless 8th inning with almost nothing but pure heat. The key at-bat was getting the reigning MVP Joey Votto in a pinch hitting role.

3) Daniel Murphy- I couldn’t believe it myself, but Murph is now in the top 5 in the league in doubles, and 9th in the NL in batting average. He is an adventure in the field, but he is having a very, very good offensive season. So much for Mike Francesa’s assessment that he “is not a Major Leaguer.”

Three Down:

1) Pedro Beato- The kid has great stuff, but sometimes he just can’t find the plate. Tonight he came in in a huge spot in the 7th inning relieving R.A. Dickey, and promptly walked Cairo on 4 pitches. Terry Collins smartly pulled him right there, and Tim Byrdak bailed him out by striking out Jay Bruce.

2) Logan Ondrusek- The Reds reliever has had a great year with a sub 2.00 ERA, but tonight he was dreadful. Ondrusek gave up 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning, allowing the game winning runs and earning the loss.

3) Brandon Phillips- He did got 1-5 with an RBI double, but it was a rough final 2 innings for Phillips. He struck out on high heat from Bobby Parnell leading off the 8th, then went down swinging to end the game an inning later, with the bases loaded and the winning run on base.

Rizzi’s Rants:

- When I am in the ballpark I love seeing homeruns, come backs, and rallies. But when I am watching baseball on television there is nothing like a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel.

- I love it when the SNY trivia question comes up and I know the answer right away. It makes me feel so smart (about a topic that is not even close to intellectual).

- Jason Bay made another great diving catch in the 4th inning, robbing Jay Bruce of a double. Bay hits like me after 7 beers, but he has played a great left field all season.

- Miguel Cairo always seems to get the big pesky hit AGAINST the Mets. Where was that when he was ON the Mets?

- Terrible call by 2nd base ump Wally Bell in the 7th on Drew Stubbs’ steal attempt. Josh Thole made a perfect throw and Stubbs was out by 2 feet, but was called safe. Luckily he never came around to score.

- Great job by Tim Byrdak to get Drew Stubbs on 3 pitches to end the 7th after Beato walked his one guy. It was a little piece of revenge for Byrdak, who gave up the NL Central clinching homerun to Bruce last year.

- Daniel Murphy’s awkward putout to lead off the 9th was a huge play, and a great recovery, but I couldn’t help laughing my ass off. As long as he keeps raking doubles and coming up with clutch hits, Murph’s intense yet strange defensive skills will remain hilarious.

- Izzy talked post-game about how the Reds told him in Spring Training that he “had nothing left in the tank.” It must have felt nice for him to nail down the save in Cincinnati.

- The Mets now have 192 2-out runs- the most in the National League.