Mets Pass Crucial Test

The Mets are once again the hottest team in baseball — winners of four straight, and eight of their last ten. They are in second place, just a game and a half behind the surprising Braves. But perhaps more importantly, they are two games in front of the Phillies, who are by far the best team in the division, but having trouble scoring runs without Jimmy Rollins (now Phillies fans know what the Mets went through last year without Jose Reyes — not to mention Beltran and Delgado).

While that series sweep (by shutout) over the Phils a couple of weeks ago was the biggest series of the season so far, this weekend’s interleague set in Baltimore was also huge. While the Mets have been extraordinary at home (24-10), they’ve been less than ordinary on the road (8-18 entering the weekend).  The Mets needed to show that they could win on the road in order to be serious playoff contenders.

And the Mets did just that, sweeping the Orioles out of Camden Yards, winning Sunday’s game 11-4 behind two David Wright homers (left). Now, naysayers will say it is only the Orioles, the worst team in the league. But these are the teams the Mets have to beat. Losing on the road in Baltimore would have been a horrible sign — not only can’t they win on the road, they can’t even beat the Orioles. Fortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Now the Mets have to continue their run and take at least two out of three from the last place Indians in Cleveland. This is key because the Mets play the Yankees next weekend. The Yankees are on a pretty good roll of their own — they are now tied for first in the AL East. The Mets will be lucky to take one game from them. That would mean a 6-3 road trip, something we could all be happy with.