The Phillies entered play Monday with a sizeable seven-game lead in the NL East over the Mets. But after Wednesday's 6-0 win by New York, completing the three-game sweep, the division is now in play.
New York now sits just four games behind the Phillies for first place in the division with four more games against Philadelphia still to be played. But Wednesday's win was also significant in that it improved the Mets' record against the Phillies to 7-2, securing the season series and the tiebreaker in the event of a tie.
But while the Mets are playing the best they've played in some time, winning five of their last six and eight of their last 11, they are keeping the series sweep in perspective.
"We’re going to continue to take it one day at a time," Carlos Mendoza said after Wednesday's win. "Baseball‘s crazy, everything happens fast here. We have to continue to control the things we can control, and that’s coming in day in and day out with a mission and a purpose. That’s winning ball games. We know we’re good; that’s a good team there. Every game counts. That’s our mentality right now."
The Mets (72-61) still have 29 games to go this season, so there's a lot that can happen between now and the end of the regular season.
But it's hard not to feel something about sweeping the team that you're chasing for the division.
"It gives us some confidence, for sure. But I think that's just what we expect out of ourselves," Mark Vientos said of the sweep. "Feel like we know how great of a team we are and this is just what we do. It’s exciting. Just gotta keep taking it one game at a time."
The young slugger went 2-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. His two-run shot in the seventh gave the Mets the cushion they needed, and it is the sixth longball he's hit during his current streak. But Vientos is just part of a Mets offense that has been on a hot stretch of late and has helped them close the gap with the Phillies.
Wednesday was the 12th time Mets hitters recorded double-digit hits over their last 16 games. In 23 games this month, the Mets are batting .281/.358/.491 and are ranked first in the majors over the month in slugging and OPS (.849), are second in batting average, OBP, home runs and runs scored.
They hope to continue that hot hitting and their winning ways when they host the Miami Marlins for a four-game series starting Thursday. The Phillies return home to host the Braves for four games of their own. It's plausible that the Mets could be tied or close to the Phillies in the division by the end of the weekend.
That seemed almost impossible just two weeks ago.
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