by ROGER RUBIN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS , The Star-Ledger

Nieve was inserted into the Mets' ailing rotation a week ago and is pitching like he belongs there. For the second time in seven days the Houston Astros castoff shut down one of the AL's top offenses to help the Mets rebound from a heartbreaking loss.

Last night he allowed three hits and one run over six innings, ushering the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Field just one night after Francisco Rodriguez blew a ninth-inning lead in a loss to Baltimore.

Nieve stifled the Yankees into the seventh last weekend to help the Mets recover from Luis Castillo's costly error.

"That's the key to any team's success," catcher Brian Schneider said. "When a key player goes down, to have someone who can step up and get the job done. He's done that."

The Mets never make it easy, and last night was no exception. After Nieve came out with a 4-1 lead, Bobby Parnell nearly gave it up. He faced five batters in the seventh and exited with the margin down to 4-3 and a runner on third base. Pedro Feliciano preserved the lead by snaring Carl Crawford's smash back through the middle and throwing to first for the final out.

Sean Green allowed two baserunnners but no runs in the eighth. Rodriguez had none of the command problems from the night before and put the defending AL champions down 1-2-3 in the ninth for his 18th save.

"It felt good to come back and get it done," K-Rod said.

Schneider hit a three-run homer into the Mets bullpen for a 3-0 lead in the second inning. It went out just to the right of the 415-foot mark, the deepest part of the park. David Wright had a run-scoring double in the third and Ryan Church had a huge RBI single in the eighth to loosen what had become a tight game.

Schneider's home run came at the perfect time for Castillo, who was in the on-deck circle. Any animosity felt from the error last weekend was covered by the home run cheers.

It's hard to believe the Astros, a last-place team, cut Nieve in March. He's 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA in two starts and one relief appearance for the Mets .

"It's been a tremendous surprise, obviously a pleasant one," manager Jerry Manuel said. "This was somewhat unexpected in the sense that his history indicated he wouldn't be as good as he's been, but he seems to have turned the corner for himself and he's performing extremely well."

Nieve is a virtual certainty to get another turn in the rotation because John Maine isn't expected back that soon. If he continues to pitch this well, there will be an argument for keeping Nieve in the rotation even after Maine returns.

"I feel really glad they gave me the chance to be in the rotation. I feel so good I've been doing good in the games," Nieve said. "I'm trying to be 100 percent as I was in the last two games and I am going to keep going.

"Every day I want to show them I can be in the rotation, get a spot in the rotation and be a part of it for a long time."

Parnell appears to have lost his standing as a trusted member of the bridge to K-Rod. He pitched so well that he became the eighth-inning man, stepping in for the injured J.J. Putz. But it's become hard to entrust any lead to Parnell since he has allowed at least one run in four of his past five appearances.

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