PHILADELPHIA -- Jonathon Niese stayed warm, and the surprising New York Mets cooled off Philadelphia. Niese pitched seven steady innings on a rainy Tuesday night and Daniel Murphy had three hits to lead New York to a 6-1 victory over the Phillies. Ruben Tejada doubled and had two RBIs for the Mets, who chased Cole Hamels in the fifth and have won seven of nine. They improved to 15-11 overall, marking the first time New York has been four games over .500 since July 14, 2012. "Conditions are really tough and Jon just keeps cruising along," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "You have to be pretty impressed with the way hes going about it. He used all of his pitches. It seemed like he had good command of his curveball even though it was wet. ... He went out and pitched another great game." Marlon Byrd homered and Ryan Howard had two hits with a double for Philadelphia, which lost for only the third time in nine games. The start was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 28 minutes, and the temperature at first pitch was a chilly 46 degrees. Many in the announced crowd of 28,189 who braved the cold were dressed more appropriately for a Philadelphia Eagles football game in December, with hooded sweat shirts, winter coats and wool blankets. There was a misty rain for the first 2 1/2 innings before heavy rain began to fall in the bottom of the third. The rain tapered off to a drizzle before becoming heavy again in the seventh. The weather hardly affected Niese (2-2), who didnt allow a hit until Byrds two-out homer in the fourth. The left-hander gave up four hits while striking out five and walking one. "It was another cold one," Niese said, "but it seems like the more I pitch in cold weather, the more I figure out how to stay warm." Niese sat near a heater in the Mets dugout and kept his hands in his jacket pockets, which contained hand warmers. While on the mound, Niese said he made sure to move around constantly rather than stand still. "I was able to effectively throw my pitches," he said. Said Murphy, "He threw the ball great. It was a treat to watch from second base." Hamels (0-2) struggled in his first home start of the season, allowing six runs on eight hits with five walks and a hit batter in 4 2-3 innings. Seeking his 100th career victory, Hamels lost the strike zone in the fourth when he walked four batters, including Niese with the bases loaded, as the Mets took a 3-0 lead. Hamels was making his second start of the season after opening on the disabled list due to left biceps tendinitis. The leftys ERA rose to 6.75 as he dropped to 2-8 in his last 10 home starts against the Mets. Murphy had a two-out RBI single in the third, and Josh Satin singled home a run in the fourth. "Ive never seen Cole be that erratic, and Im sure a lot of that was the conditions," Collins said. "Its early in the year and he missed a lot of spring training. Hell be fine, Im sure." Hamels said the conditions made it difficult to pitch but blamed himself for not being able to adjust better. "The elements got the best of me today," he said. "From my standpoint, Im truly embarrassed because I didnt really give anyone a chance." Hamels said a lack of perspiration made gripping the ball difficult. "When youre able to perspire, youre able to get certain types of grips with the baseball," he said, before joking: "Today might have been the day to use pine tar, but unfortunately I dont do that. It might have been the day to learn. It was difficult to throw the baseball and difficult to throw strikes. You have to be able to battle out there, and I wasnt able to do it." Byrds homer pulled the Phillies to 3-1, but New York chased Hamels when it got an RBI double from Chris Young and a two-run single from Tejeda to make it 6-1 in the fifth. NOTES: Mets starters have given up more than three runs once in the last 13 games. ... Murphy extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Mets RHP Bartolo Colon (2-3, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Kyle Kendrick (0-2, 3.52) in the conclusion of the two-game series Wednesday night. ... During the rain delay, the Phillies showed Game 6 of the NHL playoff series between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on the scoreboard and rang the bell in centre field traditionally rung for home runs when Wayne Simmonds scored a first-period goal to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Wholesale Shoes Nike .com) - Nathan MacKinnon scored the winning goal in the shootout as the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Wholesale Shoes Cheap .5 million contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. Hatcher agreed to terms Thursday, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. https://www.wholesaleshoesforcheap.com/vapormax-sale/ . Not that Durant cared. The only streak he cares about is still intact. Wholesale Shoes USA .com) - The collective hearts of Chicago Bulls fans sank on Friday night when Derrick Rose went down with a leg injury against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fake Wholesale Shoes . Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale.The day after Brandon Morrow walked eight batters in just two and 2/3rds innings and got the hook, Ricky Romero had a two-inning control meltdown of his own Sunday at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo. Facing the Reds Triple A affiliate Louisville, Romero walked the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second, but he escaped unscathed both times and actually lasted five innings. Romero didnt give up any more walks and didnt surrender a run during the stint. Earlier in the week, an upbeat Romero was on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor and co-host Dave Hodge and said he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a year and a half. He also said he would welcome a call-up right now if the Blue Jays needed or wanted him. As shaky as the Jays starting pitching has been this season, especially over this just completed homestand, Romero doesnt figure to get called up anytime soon. He simply has to be more consistent with his control. The largest pitcher I have ever seen in the Majors is C.C Sabathia. Though he has trimmed down now a bit, there were times over the past two or three years where he weighed between 285 and 300 pounds. Well in that same Buffalo-Louisville game on Sunday, the Bats used a closer by the name of Jose Diaz. A year ago, the 64 native of the Dominican Republic pitched at 347 pounds and of course was known by the nickname of Jumbo. This year having just turned 30, he realized it might be time to shave off a few pounds to try and prolong his career. He got down to 278, but the stat sheets now are listing him at 315. Jumbo racked up his sixth save Sunday against the Bisons. He throws with pretty good velocity, too. Cincinnati already has Aroldis Chapman as their closer, but who knows at some point, he may surface in the Majors. Historic Lineup Since the Blue Jays in the Pat Gillick era were one of the very first teams to extensively scout and sign talent out of the Dominican Republic, it only seems fitting that on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, they became the first team in Major League history to field a starting lineup that included six players born in the Dominican. The starting 9 included Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. An equally, if not more, historic moment occurred back on Sept 1 of 1971 when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded an entire starting lineup of African American and Latin American players including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The rest of the starting 9 included Al Oliver, who later played with the Expos and the Blue Jays, Rennie Stennett, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Gene Clines and starting pitccher Dock Ellis.dddddddddddd Better April The Blue Jays started last season at 10-17 in April and they are already guaranteed a better first month this time around. John Gibbons and company are 12-13 with two games at Kansas City left in this month. But something to remember, there were only two playoff teams with losing Aprils in the American League a year ago. Tampa Bay went 12-14 but rebounded to finish 91-71 to earn a play in the knockout game with Texas to decide the second Wild Card spot. Cleveland earned the first Wild Card at 92-70 after opening April at 11-13. Conversely Texas had the best record in April at 17-8, but finished the season in that knock-out game at 91-71. All of that means if the Blue Jays are going to need 91 victories to have a shot at the playoffs this year, they will have to go 79-58 the rest of the year or 21 games over .500. Thats not impossible, but the starting rotation will have to be far better the rest of the way. Right now, the Blue Jays staff era is 4.45, 25th in the Majors, just slightly ahead of Baltimore at 4.49. I dont know if this is a plus but the only team in the AL East with a sub -4.00 era is Boston at 3.90 and the BoSox are fourth in the division just behind the Blue Jays. This and That Its really interesting to look at the early season gap in some pitching categories between the National League and the American. The Senior Circuit has eight of the top 10 staff ERAs. Only Oakland and K.C. break into that group. The National League has had 10 complete games to just four for the American, including two by Texas. There have been 34 shutouts in the National League to 23 in the American. St. Louis has six and Texas leads the American with six. I guess it just helps to illustrate why Ervin Santana chose Atlanta over the Blue Jays. After going 7-9 in their 1st 16 game segment against the East, the Jays have a 20-game stretch where they dont play their own division at all. Their next game against the East is May 20 at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, they only have six games against the East for the entire month of May, getting Tampa Bay at home the week after that Boston series. The All-Star voting has begun for the Mid-summer Classic Tuesday July 15th at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. If voting closed today, the only Blue Jays on my ballot would be lefty Mark Buehrle and Melky Cabrera. Jose Bautista could make it as well, but more on his name and All-Star reputation at this point. I also did a rough count and if Buehrle keeps it up, his natural turn to pitch would fall on All-Star Tuesday so their might even be a chance he could start. But thats still a lot of innings pitched and a long way off. ' ' '