On a day of roster moves, unexpected news and intriguing developments, the Mets took their first step toward restoring some normalcy to their upside-down world by defeating the Houston Astros, 6-2.

The monsoon-like weather that greeted their flight from Denver early Thursday morning seemed to wash away a series’ worth of bad pitching, poor hitting and sloppy defense. John Maine, Carlos Delgado and a cast of understudies helped the Mets snap their four-game losing streak.

In a notorious hitters’ park, Maine shut out the Astros through seven innings before allowing two in the eighth, and he set a career-high with nine strikeouts. Delgado went 4 for 4, and combined with Ramón Castro and Ricky Ledee to drive in four runs with two outs.

For the first time since last weekend in Philadelphia, the Mets looked like themselves, stealing bases and drawing walks and jumping all over an erratic pitcher, Jason Jennings.

“It’s unfortunate what happened in Colorado, but we had to win sometime,” Maine said. “So why not tonight?”

Manager Willie Randolph said simply, “That’s the way we like it.”

The Mets’ previous three games, in which they were outscored by 34-12 during a sweep by the Colorado Rockies, reminded the pitching coach Rick Peterson of an eerie moment Wednesday, when he walked into the clubhouse to see “The Twilight Zone” playing on a television. When he returned a few hours later, it was still on. Same show, different episode. While relaying the anecdote, he nodded at the connection, but left the obvious unsaid. The Mets sleepwalked through a twilight zone, too, only theirs lasted 72 hours, and they were still dealing with the aftereffects when they arrived here.

It is not Randolph’s style to hold a team meeting, but he took a few minutes before the customary scouting meetings Thursday to address his players, reminding them to put what happened in Denver behind them and finish up strong in their final series before the All-Star Game break.

The speech came after the team learned that Carlos Gómez, the rookie outfielder who has impressed during his hurried apprenticeship, fractured a bone of his left hand on a check swing. He is expected to miss the next two months.

Into the clubhouse walked Dave Williams, who threw a bullpen session in preparation for Sunday’s start but was not activated from Class AAA New Orleans yet, and David Newhan, who replaced Gómez.

And Paul Lo Duca, in concert with team officials, agreed to drop his appeal and begin serving his two-game suspension. If Major League Baseball did not rule on the appeal immediately and wound up imposing the suspension Saturday and Sunday, Lo Duca would miss five consecutive days, including the All-Star Game break. He did not want to run the risk of messing up his timing.

“It’s too much time without seeing live pitching,” Lo Duca said.

Filling in for Lo Duca, Castro went 3 for 4 with a two-run double.

Newhan, up for his second stint with the Mets, may be a temporary solution. With bad weather delaying Lastings Milledge’s rehabilitation in Port St. Lucie, Fla., the Mets sent him to Class AA Binghamton, where he hit a home run Thursday night.

John Ricco, the assistant general manager, said Milledge, recovering from sprained ligaments in his right foot, would need to play several more games before the team considered him for a promotion. But Milledge could be ready after the All-Star Game break to supply the same sort of energy and speed as Gómez did since he joined the Mets.

In his past four starts, all victories, Maine has allowed six earned runs over 30 innings as he made a late push to be included on the National League All-Star team. When the team was announced Sunday, Maine shrugged off not being selected and said there were others more deserving than he was. He still had a chance when John Smoltz withdrew from the All-Star Game because of an injury, but the Astros’ Roy Oswalt was added instead of Maine.

“I’ve seen him progress, and people should see him and start to see that he’s coming into his own,” Randolph said.

Maine’s fastball crackled from the first inning, when he struck out the side swinging, and he balanced it with a nifty slider that he located to both sides of the plate. His shining moment came in the sixth when, after allowing consecutive singles to Craig Biggio and Hunter Pence, Maine struck out the sluggers Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee.

For Delgado, who remarked to David Wright before the game how well he felt hitting in the batting cage, his four hits raised his average on the trip to .419 and his season average to .242, the highest it has been since he was hitting .244 on April 14. His first-inning single drove in Ledee, starting in left field in place of Gómez, to extend the lead to 2-0, and Delgado said afterward that he was recognizing pitches early. He added that he did not swing at a bad pitch all night.

“That’s Hitting 101 with Carlos Delgado,” he said. “The first lesson is free. After that, I start charging.”

As he spoke, a smile crept across his face, and it remained there when asked about his second hit of the game, a third-inning double that caromed off the center-field wall and rolled down the hill. It traveled about 430 feet, a long way to hit a ball without getting credit for a home run.

But for Delgado and the Mets, it was nice to see someone else doing the chasing for a change.