Ike Davis blasted a walk-off homer in the ninth to give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday at Citi Field. The Mets take the series two game to one and cap off a two and five homestand.

Jeremy Hefner got the start and delivered a spectacular performance that richly merited a win, but the young righthander did not figure into the decision despite pitching into the ninth. He totaled eight innings pitched and only allowed just one ninth inning run that could have been avoided had Lucas Duda made the catch in left field that led to the Astros run that tied the game. Hefner allowed five hits, walked one and struck out seven. Nice job by the kid who cam within three outs of a complete game shutout until that mishap in left field,

Bobby Parnell vultured the win in relief despite a shaky two-thirds of an inning in which he allowed a walk and two hard hit balls, one of them a single that nearly scored a run if not for a great and redeeming throw to home plate by Duda, and a fabulous block of the plate by catcher Kelly Shoppach.

The only runs of the game came on two solo home runs by the suddenly resurgent Ike Davis. His first home run put the Mets up 1-0 in the fourth inning, and the second homer iced the game in the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets begin a nine-game road trip when they take on Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Chris Young (3-7, 4.33 ERA) will oppose Vance Worley (6-9, 4.06) at 7:05 PM.

Notes and Observations:

Mets leadoff hitter Andres Torres struck out four times to earn the Golden Sombrero and see his average sink to .230. It’s almost September, and I’m certain that he won’t be back in 2013, but he’s still batting leadoff. Weird.

Ike has been turning on the power and after hitting his 23rd and 24th homers on the year, he now has 70 RBIs this season. Although he’s never going to end the season with an average above .250, he is batting .287 in August and his slugging percentage for the sason is now over .450. So there’s that…

Daniel Murphy could have suffered a serious injury. After the game Terry Collins told reporters Murphy felt a pop in his shoulder during his at-bat in the eighth inning. He was replaced by Ronny Cedeno in the ninth inning. An X-Ray and MRI has been scheduled. Has Murphy ever ended the season NOT on the disabled list?

Sandy Alderson did a complete 180 (again) when he met with season ticket holders and painted a rosy outlook for the offseason saying payroll will most likely be at $100 million or even higher. This of course 48 hours after he told reporters that he never spoke with Wilpon about payroll or budget and that he expected not to have much more than $5-$15 million to spend and that while he says there will be many changes to this team, it would come via trades and not free agency.

Alderson also urged ticket holders to give Jason Bay a break, this also coming after he emphatically declared that Jason Bay is a valuable part of this team and would not be released.

“We have a player on this team who has been here a while, who from a results standpoint, for himself and certainly for the fans, has been a big disappointment. That’s Jason Bay. But Jason gives it everything he’s got. He’s as frustrated as anybody for what’s happened. And so next time Jason strikes out – and he will just like everyone else will over the course of the rest of the season – if you and maybe some others you know just keep in mind what this guy is going through and the fact he’s still giving 100 percent. The results are not there – we all know that. But sometimes that frustration needs to be tempered by recognition of the effort which is being put in.”

Yeah… It was only yesterday when I made a declaration of my own and said Jason Bay will be on the 2013 Opening Day roster. I’ll keep reminding you of that as this soap opera plays out.

At least on the Jason Bay issue, Alderson has been very pretty consistent, as he told Mike Francesa, then the beat writers, and finally potential 2013 season ticket buyers the same thing. A consistent message is hard to come by these days from the Mets, so gems like this should be cherished.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Ya Gotta Believe, Baby! 🙂