Thanks in large part to Mike Pelfrey (pictured), who might be their best pitcher right now, the Mets kept rolling Tuesday night with a 7-0 blanking of All-Star Tim Lincecum and the Giants. It was the Amazin’s fourth win in a row and fifth in the past six games, lifting them to within 1 1/2 games of the Phillies in the NL East. Colleague Kevin Kernan writes that the Mets are poised to be the contenders everyone expected thanks to a soft schedule this month and a weak National League.

It appears to be no coincidence that the Mets are rolling at the same time Carlos Beltran is taking off. Beltran had a three-run homer of Lincecum in the first inning to pace the win.

In the notebook, we have more detail on Ryan Church’s cloudy outlook. There are also items on the never-ending comebacks of Orlando Hernandez and Moises Alou.