NEW YORK -- Jeff Francoeur and Daniel Murphy each homered to help the New York Mets beat the Houston Astros 7-1 Friday night in the opener of their final series of the season.
David Wright had an RBI double in the first and finished with three hits for New York, which had lost four of five-including an embarrassing three-game sweep at Washington.
John Maine (7-6) pitched seven innings and improved to 4-1 with a 3.28 ERA in five career starts against Houston. He allowed one run on five hits in his longest outing since he was activated Sept.? 13 after being sidelined with a sore right shoulder.
The Mets began the season with high hopes this last series would consist of a few final at-bats and getting the rotation in order before the playoffs started. Instead, an avalanche of injuries and shoddy play combined to take the drama out of New York's last couple weeks of the year.
The Mets were eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of each of the last two seasons. It was over much quicker in their first year at Citi Field.
Wandy Rodriguez (14-12) completed a breakout season with six effective innings for Houston, which has lost three of four. He allowed three runs on eight hits.
Rodriguez was one of the only bright spots this year for the Astros, mired in fifth in the NL Central. The 30-year-old left-hander had a career-high 14 wins, 33 starts, 205 2-3 innings and 193 strikeouts.
Houston also dropped to 4-7 under interim manager Dave Clark, who took over when Cecil Cooper was fired Sept. 21. Clark is trying to make a case to stay on as the season winds down.
Francoeur connected in the sixth, hitting a line drive just over the wall in left to give New York a 3-1 lead. It was Francoeur's 10 th homer since he was acquired from Atlanta on July 10 and 15th overall this season.
Murphy had a pinch-hit drive in New York's four-run eighth, picking up his team-leading 12th homer.
Bobby Parnell worked the eighth and Sean Green finished for the Mets. Francisco Rodriguez, who surrendered a game-ending grand slam to Justin Maxwell in the Nationals' 7-4 victory Wednesday night, warmed up in the eighth but sat down when it became a non-save situation.
Geoff Blum drove in Houston's run with a fielder's choice in the fourth.
