The longest-tenured Brewer -- now 10 years and counting -- has had many chances to leave Milwaukee throughout his career. He ignored them. And when his previous contract entered its final year in 2004, he faced yet another golden opportunity to jet out of town.

Again, he turned it down, choosing instead to re-sign with a team that he saw evolving into a contender.

"I saw the form of it coming," Jenkins said. "I saw these young guys coming, I knew how good they were, because I played in Spring Training with them. Now, everything's kind of coming to fruition."

Turns out he was right.

The Brewers own the best record in the Majors, and for the first time in the outfielder's decade-long career, the postseason seems like a real possibility.

It's vindication of sorts for Jenkins, who had long been a pocket of power in a lineup traditionally devoid of pop. If players who spend their entire careers with one team are a dying breed, players who spend their entire careers with one struggling franchise are virtually extinct.

Consider Jenkins a glaring exception.

"He's a talented player," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "[He] and Benny [Sheets] will really appreciate this, more than probably anybody else in that room, because they have been through a lot of the very, very lean times."

Sheets joined as a rookie in 2001. Jenkins has been around since 1998. And neither has seen a winning season -- until now.

"It's tremendous," Jenkins said. "I've been through a lot of rough seasons here in 10 years with this team, and it's obviously great to finally get out to a good start and have some promise. The future looks bright."

Mended Hart: Cory Hart's sore right wrist is finally healed, but even a clean bill of health wasn't enough to allow the right fielder to wriggle his way into Milwaukee's lineup.

Hart was benched on Saturday in favor of left-handed bat Tony Gwynn, with the team facing Mets rookie right-hander Mike Pelfrey. It marked the sixth straight off-day for Hart, but the first that had nothing to do with an injury. Hart shook off the rust with a batting practice session on Friday and reported no pain.

"It was the first time in a while that it hadn't bothered me swinging," Hart said, noting that he doesn't always expect to play against right-handers. "I should be in there soon. It's always a guess with righties."

Hart was batting just .211 against right-handers before the injury, .303 off lefties. He said he expects to play on Sunday against Mets lefty Oliver Perez, and Yost confirmed that Hart should be in the lineup.

Second baseman Rickie Weeks also had a routine day off on Saturday, replaced by backup Tony Graffanino. That swap thrust leadoff duties into Gwynn's lap, with the speedy Weeks on the bench.

Streaky business: In some ways, Milwaukee's now-defunct six-game winning streak was almost without precedence. The team hadn't even won four straight since last July 9-15, a string divided by the 2006 All-Star break.

But in other ways, there was plenty of history behind it. The last time the Brewers managed a streak that long was April 28-May 5, 2005, when they took seven straight against St. Louis, Cincinnati and the Cubs. Milwaukee followed that string by dropping the first two games of a three-game set to the Mets, and the team was never the same, losing 9 of its next 14 to fall from one game above .500 to three games in the red.

This time around, the Brewers hope to recover a little more quickly and effectively.

"You got to get back on that horse," Jenkins said. "Knock on wood, we haven't lost many back-to-back games this year, so hopefully we can keep that trend going."

The Brewers, who lost three straight to the Dodgers and Cubs in the season's opening week, haven't dropped consecutive games since.

Consistent crew: Back-to-back defeats have been rare for Milwaukee, mainly because the hitting has been so consistent. Even in the losses -- as evidenced Friday night -- the team's hot bats have showed no signs of slowing.

J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder, two of the National League's top six home run hitters, both struck again with long balls on Friday, while Jenkins added an RBI hit of his own and is now just a few at-bats short of qualifying for the league's top 10 in batting.

The trio accounted for all four of Milwaukee's RBIs and four of the team's six hits.

"I wouldn't have expected to have this many home runs and this many at-bats," Hardy said. "I didn't expect that, but it's good to happen that way."

Coming up: The Brewers close out their three-game set in New York with a Sunday matinee at Shea. It's a battle of lefties, as Chris Capuano takes the hill for Milwaukee opposite Oliver Perez for the Mets, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:10 p.m. CT.