The New York Mets had a very rough month of June to say the least. The Mets had problems giving their pitchers run support, and in turn had an 11-15 record for the month of June. During the month of June, New York was also shut out four times and had a losing streak of seven games. This allowed the Washington Nationals to pick up ground, and eventually take the NL East division lead.

July is a new month however, and the Mets have shown that they still have a pulse. New York is playing better baseball and showing toughness by fighting through their offensive struggles. After being swept by the Chicago Cubs, the Mets have won four of their last six games. The Mets handled the NL West by taking two out of three games to both the division leading Los Angeles Dodgers, and the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants. Scoring three runs or more in four out of six games during this road trip can lead people to believe that New York’s offense has picked up slightly. The fact that the Mets took these two series against quality teams, and did so on the road, is very encouraging moving forward.

New York will come back home to play a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting Friday night. This will be their last series before the all star break. It is very important that the Mets use the momentum that has been gained to finish off the first half of the season strong. The Mets need to take at least two out of three games from Arizona. If the Mets can accomplish that, they will have taken the last three series before the break. This is crucial considering how well Washington has been playing, and how brutal the rest of the Mets’ July schedule looks. Right after the break, New York has to go on the road to play the St. Louis Cardinals (who are the best team in baseball) and then their division rival Nationals.

Make no mistakes, the Mets indeed are playing better baseball. However, they need to use this momentum to carry them through the rest of July and take back the NL East.

Barry Holmes is a New York Mets Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @BHO732, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+