(Best E Casino) - Lately the New York Mets have been playing like the team many thought they would be entering this season. Now the resurgent club, which is riding a season-high seven-game win streak, is hoping for a similar return to prominence from Pedro Martinez.

Martinez takes the mound this afternoon in search of a second straight winning start as the Mets continue a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies at Shea Stadium.

New York, the consensus preseason favorite in the National League East, has closed within 1 1/2 games of first-place Philadelphia in the division standings with its current tear, which was extended with Friday's 2-1 victory over the Rockies. It's the team's longest run since it also won seven games in a row from August 17-24, 2006.

The Mets last won eight straight contests from June 7-15 of the 2006 campaign.

Damion Easley was the hero for New York last night, as the veteran infielder went 2-for-3 and snapped a 1-1 deadlock with a solo home run off Taylor Buchholz with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Easley's blast made a winner out of Pedro Feliciano (2-2), who got the final out of the top of the eighth. All-Star closer Billy Wagner then preserved the win by tossing a 1-2-3 ninth.

Mets starter Oliver Perez issued six walks in six innings but was able to minimize the damage by limiting Colorado to just one run. Aaron Cook was also effective for the Rockies, with the All-Star hurler yielding just one run on six hits through the first six innings.

New York got a second member on the NL All-Star squad on Friday, as third baseman David Wright was selected as an injury replacement for Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

The Mets continued their domination of the Rockies at home with last night's triumph. New York has now won 16 of its last 18 games against Colorado at Shea Stadium.

New York will try to keep that string of mastery intact behind Martinez, who came through with one of the best performances of his injury-marred 2008 campaign this past Monday in Philadelphia. The three-time Cy Young Award winner gave up just a pair of runs, both coming on solo homers, and struck out a season-best six batters over 5 1/3 innings to record his first victory since June 15.

Prior to that showing, Martinez had surrendered 17 runs in just 15 innings over a three-start span in which he lost twice and had a no-decision. One of those rough outings came against the Rockies at Coors Field, where Martinez was tagged for six runs and nine hits in just 4 1/3 innings during a June 21 defeat.

Martinez is 2-3 with a 4.70 ERA in nine career appearances, including seven starts, versus Colorado. He has not beaten the Rockies since July 29, 1997, while then a member of the Montreal Expos.

Ubaldo Jimenez opposed Martinez in that June 21 encounter and pitched brilliantly for Colorado that night. The promising young Dominican limited the Mets to one run and two hits over a career-best eight innings to lead the Rockies to a 7-1 win in his only previous start against New York.

Jimenez has had his share of struggles in enemy parks this season, however, as the 24-year-old is just 1-6 with a 5.98 ERA in 10 road starts. That lone victory did come Monday in Milwaukee, with Jimenez firing seven shutout innings and yielding only three hits.

These teams also played a pair of three-game sets at Coors Field earlier this season and wound up splitting those six meetings.