East League: The Nationals are coming

The New York Mets still lead the East League. But the Washington Nationals, the club that was supposed to dominate a weak National League East, finally are being that club. A 10-2 run in the last two weeks has shot the Nationals up the East League standings.

Bryce Harper was the big star for the Washington Nationals the last couple of weeks, hitting six homers during a 12-game stretch. (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Despite cooling off quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, the New York Mets remain the leaders in the East League.

But the New York Yankees are right with them now, and the Washington Nationals are gaining with a 10-2 run from April 28 through May 10. With that streak, the Nationals picked up 3½ games on first place, and now trail the Mets by three games. The Yankees are 1½  game behind the Mets.

The Nationals helped themselves quite a lot by winning three of four from the Mets at CitiField April 20-May 3, including back-to-back 1-0 victories by pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister.

But the real trigger to this has been Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, who hit six homers with five doubles and 17 RBI in those 12 games to go with a .356 batting average and a 1.319 OPS. As a team, the Nats batted .306 with 17 homers and an 852 OPS in those games, averaging 6.0 runs per game.

The Yankees have won 10 of their last 15 in the East League, reducing their deficit to the Mets from three games to 1½ games.

This week will be pretty light in the East League. During the early part of the week, the only league action involves the Yankees at the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays at the Baltimore Orioles. At the end of the week, the only two Eastern teams playing each other will be the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins.

Games of April 27
at Boston 6, Toronto 5.
at New York (AL) 4, Tampa Bay 1.
at Atlanta 8, Washington 4.
New York (NL) 3, at Miami 1.

Games of April 28
Toronto 11, at Boston 8.
at New York (AL) 4, Tampa Bay 2.
Washington 13, at Atlanta 12.
at Miami 4, New York (NL) 3.

Games of April 29
at Boston 5, Toronto 2.
Tampa Bay 3, at New York (AL) 2.
Washington 13, at Atlanta 4.
at Miami 7, New York (NL) 3.

Games of April 30
Washington 8, at New York (NL) 2.

Games of May 1
New York (AL) 3, Boston 2.
at Tampa Bay 2, Baltimore 0.
at Miami 4, Philadelphia 3.
at New York (NL) 4, Washington 0.

Games of May 2
New York (AL) 4, at Boston 2.
Baltimore 4, at Tampa Bay 0.
at Miami 7, Philadelphia 0.
Washington 1, at New York (NL) 0.

Games of May 3
New York (AL) 8, Boston 5.
Baltimore 4, at Tampa Bay 2.
Philadelphia 6, at Miami 2.
Washington 1, at New York (NL) 0.

Games of May 4
Tampa Bay 5, at Boston 1.
at Toronto 3, New York (AL) 1.
Philadelphia 5, at Atlanta 2.
at Washington 6, Miami 4.

Games of May 5
at Boston 2, Tampa Bay 0.
New York (AL) 6, Toronto 3.
at Atlanta 9, Philadelphia 0.
Miami 2, at Washington 1.
at New York (NL) 3, Baltimore 2.

Games of May 6
Tampa Bay 5, at Boston 3.
at Toronto 5, New York (AL) 1.
at Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 5.
at Washington 7, Miami 5.
at New York (NL) 5, Baltimore 1.

Games of May 7
at New York (AL) 4, Baltimore 3.

Games of May 8
at New York (AL) 5, Baltimore 4.
at Toronto 7, Boston 0.
at Philadelphia 3, New York (NL) 1.
at Washington 9, Atlanta 2.

Games of May 9
Baltimore 6, at New York (AL) 2.
at Toronto 7, Boston 1.
New York (NL) 3, at Philadelphia 2.
at Washington 8, Atlanta 6.

Games of May 10
at New York (AL) 6, Baltimore 2.
Boston 6, at Toronto 3.
New York (NL) 7, Philadelphia 4.
at Washington 5, Atlanta 4.

Games of May 11
at Baltimore 5, Toronto 2.
New York (AL) 11, at Tampa Bay 5.

Games of May 12
at Tampa Bay 4, New York (AL) 2.
Toronto 10, at Baltimore 2.