New York @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( May 9, 2010 ) San Francisco 6, NY Mets 5

The New York Mets will resume play after the All-Star break with a pretty good offensive reinforcement.

Carlos Beltran is back from knee surgery and will be in center field and batting cleanup when the New York Mets open a four-game series on Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.

The five-time All-Star is fresh off a 14-game minor-league rehab stint and told reporters that he is no longer dealing with pain in his right knee.

The Mets are hoping that Beltran can quickly wipe off any rust and provide some pop to an offense desperate for more power. New York has just 70 homers, tied for 22nd place in the majors.

Third baseman David Wright leads the Mets with 14 homers with first baseman Ike Davis and catcher Rod Barajas clubbing 11 apiece. Left fielder Jason Bay has been a huge disappointment with just six homers.

The 33-year-old Beltran hit 101 homers for the Mets from 2006-08 before hitting just 10 in 81 games last season while batting .325. He had knee surgery in January.

Typical Beltran production would boost New York’s chances of winning the National League East. The Mets (48-40) are in second place, four games behind the Atlanta Braves.

Beltran’s return sends right fielder Jeff Francoeur to the bench and hot-hitting Angel Pagan (team-leading .315 average) moves from center to right.

San Francisco (47-41) is in fourth place in the bunched-up National League West, four games behind the San Diego Padres.

Giants ace Tim Lincecum wouldn’t have minded if Beltran hadn’t been activated until after the series in San Francisco. Beltran is 4-for-7 with a homer and four RBIs against Lincecum.

Lincecum is 9-4 with a 3.16 earned-run average this season. That’s a good first half for most pitchers but represents a dropoff for Lincecum after winning back-to-back Cy Young awards.

Lincecum started the season strong and then had a horrible stretch over the latter part of May. He got things together for most of June before lasting just three innings against Boston and following up with a loss to Colorado.

Lincecum defeated Milwaukee in his most recent start by allowing one run and four hits over seven innings while striking out 10.

He has struggled against the Mets in four career starts, going 0-1 with a 5.04 ERA.

R.A. Dickey starts for New York. Dickey (6-2, 2.77) won six straight starts over a 30-day span but is 0-2 over his last three outings.

Dickey lost to Atlanta in his last start, giving up four runs – three earned – and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings.

San Francisco catcher Buster Posey is batting .500 (20-for-40) in July and was National League Player of the Week for last week’s efforts.

In 11 games since the Giants traded Bengie Molina to Texas, Posey has six homers and 15 RBIs. Posey is batting .350 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 38 games.

Also swinging a hot bat for San Francisco is first baseman Travis Ishikawa, who has more hits in July (12) than he did over the first three months combined (11).

Ishikawa is batting .414 (12-for-29) with 11 RBIs this month. He had just four RBIs when July began.