Two-thirds of their way through a cross-country road trip, the New York Mets were making headway in their quest for a second consecutive postseason appearance.

With their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the Gateway to the West, the Mets sat six games above .500 (28-22) and leapfrogged over Montreal for second place in the National League East.

Five-and-a-half games separated themselves and the perennial leading horses, the Atlanta Braves, as the end of May approached. The goal was within striking distance. Bobby Valentine‘s group would just need to stick to the plan.

Their final stop before heading home to Queens was in Chavez Ravine to face Davey Johnson‘s Los Angeles Dodgers.

Right-handed slugger Gary Sheffield, veteran first baseman Eric Karros, dynamic outfielder Shawn Green, and a 21-year-old Adrian Beltre led the way offensively for Los Angeles and right-handers Kevin Brown and Chan Ho Park were the cornerstones of the Dodgers’ rotation.

Despite walking six batters, Park held the Mets in check over seven scoreless innings (two hits, six strikeouts) in the first game of the series, with Green’s grand slam off Al Leiter in the sixth inning standing up as the game-winner in a 4-1 Dodgers victory.

The Mets pounced on Eric Gagne – still starting at that point in his career – for two runs over four innings the following day, but Karros’ two-run homer off Bobby Jones in a three-run third for Los Angeles found the Mets behind, 3-2, heading into the sixth.

Edgardo Alfonzo‘s two-out, two-RBI single in the sixth put the Mets ahead, but LA struck back in the bottom half with RBI singles from Geronimo Berroa and Mark Grudzielanek (both top-100 baseball names) to reclaim the lead, 5-4.

After fruitless frames in the seventh and eighth for New York and two scoreless relief innings via Turk Wendell, Mike Piazza led off the ninth with a single, bringing the lead run to the plate in Robin Ventura, who drew a walk from Dodgers’ righty Jeff Shaw.

Todd Zeile‘s RBI single into center field tied the game at five, ending Shaw’s night, but the Mets still had business to tend to.

Kurt Abbott and Melvin Mora drew one-out and two-out walks, respectively, off right-hander Terry Adams, giving the Mets a 6-5 lead and loading the bases for Todd Pratt – who staked the Mets to an insurmountable 10-5 lead with a towering grand slam to left field.

Statement made. As they’d done pretty consistently over the past two seasons, the Mets shrugged off a tough night and came back swinging the following night. Though finishing off the series and road trip with a win would prove elusive in the finale in Los Angeles.

A 2-for-4 night from Alfonzo – complete with his 10th home run of the season – and seven serviceable innings from Mike Hampton would keep New York in the game, but Kevin Brown’s six innings of one-run ball wouldn’t allow the Mets to get too hot.

Alfonzo tied the game at three with a two-out double off Matt Hedges in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough to spark the rest of the roster.

After a wasted opportunity in the top of the ninth (leadoff singles via Ventura and Zeile followed by three consecutive outs), former Mets infielder Kevin Elster sent the Dodger faithful home happy with a walk-off solo homer off Wendell in the bottom of the ninth.

In need of a win to keep pace with both the Braves and Expos, the Mets welcomed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays into town for a three-game interleague set to kick off the month of June.

Left-hander Glendon Rusch cruised through the first three innings – taking a 1-0 on Jay Payton‘s leadoff homer in the third, his third of the season – before Fred McGriff tied things up with an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame.

Pratt notched the Mets’ second inning-leading home run in the top of the fifth to give New York a 2-1 lead, but the Crime Dog struck again in the sixth, taking Rusch deep for a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth, putting Tampa ahead, 3-2.

That lead was short-lived, as, once again, the Mets turned that switch on when they needed to.

Alfonzo and Ventura both reached base with one out in the bottom of the sixth (single and walk, respectively), and Zeile crushed a gapper over the left-center field wall to give the Mets a 5-3 lead.

Pat Mahomes, John Franco, and Armando Benitez combined for three innings of scoreless relief, and the Mets took the first game back home in thrilling fashion.

Al Leiter took the hill the following night and absolutely stifled the Rays, holding Tampa scoreless over 6.2 innings despite walking five (eight strikeouts).

Zeile’s RBI double off future Mets hurler Steve Trachsel in the bottom of the fourth would be the only run scored, as Dennis Cook, Franco, and Benitez shone again, taking the Mets home to their second consecutive win.

Tampa Bay received the advantage of Valentine sitting most of his starters in the Sunday matinee finale, and his team paid dearly for it.

A 15-5 thrashing at the hands (fins?) of the lowly Devil Rays is inconsequential over the course of a 162-game season. But it was a winnable game, and the loss also allowed Montreal to hop over the Mets in the standings.

Middling would not get this team to where they wanted to be. Especially against one of the worst teams in baseball. With the middle-of-the-pack Baltimore Orioles heading into town for another interleague series, the Mets would need to get while the getting was good.