Interleague play is in full swing this year as the Mets travel to Cleveland to take on the Indians beginning tonight. The Mets boast a 5-1 record against the AL after sweeping the Baltimore Orioles on the road this past weekend (granted the O's are a league worst 17-47 this year but... you know... whatever). The Amazins are a season-high 7 games over .500 at 35-28 and have gone 15-5 in their last 20 contests and moving within a game and a half of first place Atlanta. They have won 4 straight games and 8 of the last 9 and look to keep on rolling as they hand the ball to ace Johan Santana tonight. Santana has once again suffered from a lack of run support and shoddy bullpen work this year, compiling only a 4-3 record despite his 2.96 ERA (which is all the more impressive considering that includes a start in which he gave up 10 earned runs in 3.2 innings).

The team's recent success can be attributed to the stability of both the starting rotation and the starting lineup. With Mike Pelfrey's emergence as one of the NL's top pitchers alongside Santana and pleasant surprises provided by journeyman knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and 31-year old Japanese rookie Hisanori Takahashi the rotation has finally started to take shape over the last few weeks. It now appears that the final piece of the puzzle may have fallen in place with the return of lefty Jonathan Niese from the DL who turned in one of the best pitching performances in Mets history in his last outing, tossing a 1-hit, 9-inning shutout where he retired the final 21 batters he faced and struck out 6 compared to 0 walks.

The Mets could be poised to go on a serious roll and some of their slumping bats have begun to heat up including 3B David Wright (who hit two 2-run HR's and a double in Sunday's 11-4 over Baltimore giving him 47 RBIs this season, good for 3rd in the NL) as well as SS Jose Reyes and RF Jeff Francoeur. Hell even LF Jason Bay hit his first HR on the road this season and his first anywhere in nearly a month this weekend. Mix that together with some surprise power from utility-man Chris Carter (who hit a pair of 3-run HR's as a DH this weekend) and the continued success of rookie 1B Ike Davis and the Mets are sporting a simmering recipe for success.

The Indians have struggled so far this season posting a 25-37 record but the Mets cannot afford to look past them as they get ready for a weekend showdown against their cross-town rivals at Yankee Stadium. The Mets took 2 of 3 from the Yankees in Citi Field earlier this year but both teams are playing a different brand of baseball at this point in the season. I get the feeling that this is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Subway Series since 2006 but first the Mets have to take care of business in Cleveland during the week.