NL East

Scott Olsen rebounded after a poor start last week to to pitch seven innings while allowing only six hits, no runs, and recording eight strikeouts against a strong hitting Dodgers club. Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps came in to close the door, helping complete the shutout and giving the Nationals a 1-0 victory to take the series from Los Angeles.

 There have been a number of developments over the past week with regard to the health of both the Washington Nationals and their farmhands. The biggest story in terms of its impact on the team is the status of Ryan Zimmerman.

Through the first 18 games, the Mets are at .500, and it is like the season is starting fresh. They still don’t have Carlos Beltran, but they do have Ike Davis and a healthy Jose Reyes, and some of the struggling players like Jason Bay and David Wright appear to be on the verge of breaking out.

Despite Craig Stammen's second consecutive strong start, the lights-out performance of the bullpen, and even Nyjer Morgan's clutch hitting, the Nationals lost 4-3 in a 13-inning thriller to the Dodgers.

The loss drops the club back to .500 and saw them squander a chance to beat one of the best pitchers in the National League, Clayton Kershaw.

It all came down to the bottom of the 13th inning.

Despite the fact that that starting pitcher John Maine said he’s healthy enough to go during his next scheduled start on Tuesday, it might be a good idea for the Mets to call up R.A. Dickey anyways.

Here me out on this one, Dickey has been pitching well so far this season for Triple-A Buffalo. His stats: W-L: 2-1, 3.03 ERA, 4 GS, 1 CG, 29.2 IP, 5 BB, 16K.

What did I tell you? A week ago the Mets looked awful as they dropped their fourth consecutive series to start the season to open the season.

Well, after winning two consecutive series and five of their last six games, things are looking good in Flushing.

Don’t kid yourselves, this team does have problems, but they weren’t as bad as they were a week ago.

In an exciting game that came down to the final at bat, the Mets beat the Braves behind Ike Davis‘ first career home run and a brilliant relief appearance from Hisanori Takahashi, who went three innings and struck out seven to get the win.

Notes

• John Maine left after just 3.2 innings with muscle spasms and pain in his non-throwing elbow. His line: 3.2IP, 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, 0HR.

This spring Mets manager Jerry Manuel spoke of his plan to bat shortstop Jose Reyes third in the order. Since then we have not seen the speedy leadoff hitter anywhere but atop the lineup.

Francisco Rodriguez did something he has never done before as a New York Met: he recorded a five out save and it sounds like manager Jerry Manuel liked what he saw enough that he might use him to do that more often.

“Once he’s ready to go he’s shown he can pitch multiple innings and he can bounce back,” Manuel said .

The Mets got a strong start from Johan Santana and a big sixth inning that propelled them to a 5-2 victory over the Cubs. The win gives them their first series win of the season, as they took three out of four games against Chicago.