NEW YORK _ The Mets look at the standings in the National League and see nine of 15 teams with sub-.500 records. History would suggest one or two of those teams is going to make a run and end up in the playoffs.
Why not us, the Mets say. Why not now?
It helps when you have a piping hot Jacob deGrom on the mound and it helps when you are playing the Phillies, the team with the worst record in baseball.
DeGrom threw seven dominant innings on Friday night and the Mets squeaked across just enough offense to win their sixth in seven games, 2-1, before 37,134 at Citi Field.
DeGrom struck out 12 and was charged with one tainted run. The run was earned according to baseball's scoring rules, but it was hardly deserved.
With DeGrom throwing a no-hitter with two outs in the fifth, center fielder Curtis Granderson lost a fly ball in the twilight. It fell behind him for a triple and led to the Phillies' run.
But that's the bad news. DeGrom (8-3) gave up three hits and walked one for his fourth win in a row. In 32 innings over those outings, he has allowed three earned runs and struck out 31. Not too shabby.
In the two starts before that, deGrom was strafed for 15 earned runs in eight innings. It was baffling and now it's way in the rearview mirror of deGrom's season.
The Mets were coming off a 10-game road trip that started 0-4 and ended 5-5. So they felt pretty good about themselves for winning five of the last six.
"I don't think there's any question that we feel a little bit differently today than we did a week ago," general manager Sandy Alderson said. "I think it's fair for us to view it that way."
Still, the Mets started the night 10{ games behind Washington in the NL East and 9{ games behind co-leaders Arizona and Colorado in the wild-card race.
DeGrom overmatched the woeful Phillies (26-52) from the start as he struck out two of three in a perfect first.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the second on Granderson's two-out RBI infield single against right-hander Ben Lively (1-3), who was making his sixth big-league start.
The Mets made it 2-0 in the fourth when Jose Reyes hit a triple off the right-center field wall and scored on Travis d'Arnaud's single to left through a drawn-in infield.
DeGrom zoomed through the first 42/3 innings, allowing only a leadoff walk to Andrew Knapp in the third.
The no-hitter was broken up when Knapp lofted a fly ball to center with two outs in the fifth. Granderson never moved until it was too late. It became clear he hadn't seen the ball when it fell far behind him. Knapp made it all the way to third with what was scored a triple.
Former Met Ty Kelly followed with a legit line single to left to make the score 2-1. DeGrom recovered to strike out Lively to end the inning, and then struck out the side against the top of the Phillies' order in the sixth.
DeGrom allowed one other hit, a two-out ground single to center to Nick Williams in the seventh. It was Williams' first big-league hit. DeGrom struck out Knapp to end the inning and his brilliant night at 111 pitches.
Jerry Blevins allowed a one-out double to pinch hitter Cameron Perkins in the eighth, but combined with Paul Sewald to maintain the lead. Addison Reed threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his 13th save.
