Opposite dugout: Mets have cooled off after hottest start in the majors

Manager: Terry Collins (5th year)

Record: 16-10

Last 10 games: 3-7

Who to watch: 1B Lucas Duda (.304 with 2 HR, 12 RBIs), CF Juan Lagares (.324 with 11 RBIs), RHP Bartolo Colon (4-1, 3.31 ERA), RHP Jacob deGrom (2-3, 3.34 ERA), RHP Jeurys Familia (1.35 ERA, 10 saves)

Season series vs. Orioles: First meeting (3-0 in 2012, 19-9 all-time)

Pitching probables:

May 5 - RHP Bud Norris vs. RHP Bartolo Colon, 7:10 p.m., MASN2
May 6 - RHP Ubaldo Jimenez vs. RHP Jacob deGrom, 7:10 p.m., MASN

Inside the Mets:

No one can accuse the Mets of starting slowly this year. They sprinted to a 15-5 start, opening the season with 10 straight home victories and defying prognosticators who thought their spring training proclamations about contending in the National League East were just idle chatter intended to boost morale. Their 11-2 record at Citi Field is the second-best home record in the majors and the Mets are firmly entrenched atop the NL East, even though they've dropped two straight and seven of their last 10 games.

But it hasn't been easy. Third baseman David Wright went down with a right hamstring injury and hit the disabled list barely a week into the season, and the Mets didn't skip a beat. Right-hander Zack Wheeler found out at the end of spring training that he'd need Tommy John surgery, and the next-man-up mentality took hold. Closer Jenrry Mejia couldn't get loose on opening day and wound up on the disabled list; no worry, since Jeurys Familia stepped in and has recorded 10 saves in as many opportunities. Starting catcher Travis d'Arnaud (fractured right pinkie finger) and lefty reliever Jerry Blevins (fractured left arm) went down in the same game, and the Mets just kept rolling.

Some of the guys integral to the turnaround are not familiar to Orioles fans, who rarely get to see a rematch of the 1969 World Series combatants. Gold Glove center fielder Juan Lagares, who signed a five-year, $23 million extension just before the season started, has been a reliable table-setter. He's hitting .324 and has a hit in all 14 home games. First baseman Lucas Duda hasn't replicated the power stroke that produced 30 home runs last season, but he's getting on base at a substantial enough clip to rank among the NL leaders in that category.

Others are very familiar to the Orioles because they spent a majority of their careers in the American League and have a track record against Baltimore. Left fielder Michael Cuddyer, who spent the first 11 of his 15 major league seasons in Minnesota, inked a two-year, $21 million deal in November after turning down a $15.3 million qualifying offer from the Rockies, where he'd spent the previous three seasons. He's batting .231 with three homers and 12 RBIs, but is a career .294 hitter with eight homers and 26 RBIs in 60 games against the Orioles. Former center fielder Curtis Granderson has moved to right and rebounded under the tutelage of Kevin Long, the Mets' new hitting coach who held a similar role with the Yankees when Granderson played in pinstripes. The average isn't there yet, but Granderson has walked 17 times and has a .385 on-base percentage. In 85 career games against Baltimore during the decade he was with the Tigers and Yankees, Granderson has produced a .285 average, 21 homers and 57 RBIs.

Right-hander Bartolo Colon, a 42-year-old who gets hitters out with both stuff and guile, starts the opener, and the 18-year-veteran boasts substantial numbers against the O's and in interleague games. He's 12-8 with a 3.25 ERA in 27 games (26 starts) lifetime versus Baltimore and 24-17 with a 4.16 in 50 career interleague starts. This season, he has worked at least six innings in all five of his starts, and is 2-0 with a .277 ERA at home. Colon has reached 91 pitches in each of his last three starts. His 0.980 WHIP is way off his career mark of 1.304, and Colon has been limiting the damage when he does allow baserunners - with runners on base, foes are hitting only .225 against him, and only .174 with runners in scoring position.

Right-hander Jacob deGrom, Wednesday's starter, is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year and has never faced the Orioles. He's 1-2 with a 3.79 ERA in three career interleague starts. Citi Field has treated deGrom well - he's 2-1 with a 1.45 ERA in three 2015 home starts. Don't be surprised if O's skipper Buck Showalter stacks his lineup with left-handed hitters against deGrom, since southpaw swingers are slashing .379/.413/.552 against him with three home runs and six RBIs this season. The key to beating deGrom is getting to him early. Opposing hitters bat .300 against him in the first inning, so it's important to attack him early before he can settle into a rhythm in familiar surroundings. deGrom went at least six innings in each of his first three starts this season, but hasn't gotten through the sixth in the past two outings.

Most times, teams detest two-game series, but the schedule-makers did the Orioles a solid by having them face the Mets in two games, followed by four games against the Yankees, meaning the O's don't need to change hotels during a week in the Big Apple, only play in different boroughs. The Mets and Orioles won't meet again until August, when the Mets visit Camden Yards for two more games on Aug. 17-18 in the midst of Baltimore's 10-game homestand, their longest of the season.