NL East still close after two months

May 29, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets second baseman

(center) walks off the field with his teammates after a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Mets won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

New York Mets

A good week for the Mets saw them take two of three from the Pittsburgh Pirates and three of four from the Phillies.  While the series against Philadelphia is technically over, they will have one more game on Monday with a makeup from April 30^th.

After the makeup game, New York will travel to Chicago to take on the Cubs and then San Francisco to play the best team in baseball in the Giants.  The Mets will need to play with some added intensity against the worst team in the NL Central and keep it rolling into their series with the NL West leader.  New York has a chance to get above .500 and stay there once the week is through if they can win the games they are supposed to as well a game or two against a better opponent.

David Wright and Daniel Murphy are vying to be the Mets’ leading hitter.  Wright has a .293 average with a team-leading 30 RBI.  Murphy is hitting .291 with 14 doubles and 23 walks.  They have been the most consistent hitters in the New York lineup and have played in the most games of any Mets’ players as well.

The free agent signing of Bartolo Colon has not panned out as well as New York would have hoped.  The 2013 all-star is 4-5 with a 4.73 ERA and is giving up a batting average of .286 to opponents.  Instead, the Mets most consistent starter has been Jon Niese who is 3-3 with a 2.69 ERA.  He is limiting opposing hitters to a .238 average and has logged 70.1 innings of work, most on the New York pitching staff.

Juan Lagares was sent back to the disabled list on Monday as the team recalled Matt den Dekker to fill the void on the roster.  den Dekker was optioned to Triple-A just hours earlier to make room for extra pitching after the Mets needed arms following two 14-inning games.  Largares was hitting .288 with 11 doubles.