Looking Up?

Mike Piazza's eleventh-inning RBI single gave the Mets a 3-2 win at Washington, and the Mets took a four-game series from the front-running Nationals. Despite Willie Randolph's best efforts to ruin the Mets' production with his increasingly-crazy lineups, his team has gotten enough runs to win of late.

As good as the Mets' pitching has been of late (Kris Benson is living up to his contract, for now), their lineups might spell doom for them before the year is out. Why should Jose Reyes and his team-worst on base percentage hit leadoff? Should David Wright really hit below Marlon Anderson? Wright's hitting so well he could handle the third spot. He certainly should never have to wait on deck while Anderson or Brian Daubach hits.

The Mets have a lot of ground to make up in the evenly-matched NL East. And, as well as the Nationals have played, Gothamist still isn't sold on them. When all is said and done, the Mets will probably have to beat the Braves to qualify for the postseason, something they have not done since, well, ever. Taking three out of four from Washington was a nice week, and the Mets should be glad to have their games still mean something leading into the All-Star Break.