NL East

With baseball a full two months in the books, teams are starting to make their runs toward the All-Star break.

With so much parity in MLB, teams with nearly identical records are separated by a few spots, sometimes more.

There are still many teams in realistic contention for their division title, but I will narrow it down to five teams right now that we could see playing in late October.

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Back in February, when the Mets signed Hisanori Takahashi to a minor league contract, barely anyone noticed.

Now, almost two months into the season, Mets fans are enamored by his talents.

The Mets, Marlins, and Nationals are all three games behind the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies, while the Braves are 2.5 back.

Either this speaks to how good the division is compared to what many thought, or it speaks to how many flaws the Phillies truly have and how average the division is.

How unpredictable is the NL East right now? So much that every team has a winning record. The Mets, along with the Marlins and Nationals, are 24-23, good for a three-way tie for third place in the division.

The Braves are sandwiched in between those three teams and the first-place Phillies, whom the Mets will try and sweep tonight.

The Mets have been as shocking as it gets all season long. What they have done in the first two games of this series with the Phillies is bordering on impossible.

There are times when a Major League Baseball team can’t seem to catch a break, and the reasons are not so obvious.  Good news, Philadelphia Phillies fans: this is not one of those situations.

In losing Wednesday night to the New York Mets, the Phillies struggled with the same two problems that have killed them during the current eight game streak in which they are 2-6 against four inferior baseball teams.

The first round of National League All-Star votes have been counted, and as can be expected, it’s slim pickings for the Amazins.

David Wright is already 73,000 votes behind current third base leader Placido Polanco in one of the closest-fought All-Star battles, and Jose Reyes will need something resembling a miracle if he is to catch Jimmy Rollins or Hanley Ramirez for the starting shortstop gig.

Not all of these pitchers are officially being shopped by their respective teams. In fact, it isn’t likely that all or even most of these pitchers will be traded.

In all the years I have watched Mets baseball, this might be the strangest, and there have been a lot of strange seasons recently.

After an awful start to the season, a torrid eight-game winning streak, and a slump, the Mets are on another winning streak again.

This time, the Mets have won three in a row to get back to .500 at 23-23 on the season, and actually find themselves tied for last place.

The Braves are through 44 games, which puts them over a quarter of the way through the season, and you know what that means.

That’s right—it’s time to hand out some grades and make some early judgments on how the season is going so far.

I’m looking at the bullpen today and will get to the lineup regulars next. Check out my report on the starting pitchers here.

Eric O’Flaherty

Any shred of an inkling I ever had about wondering what would happen to me if I vomited on an off-duty cop is officially gone.

Gone like Matthew Clemmens’ dignity.

Clemmens, the 21-year-old New Jersey man who was arrested on April 14 at a Phillies game, pleaded guilty Tuesday to simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.