now, don't think i did this research all by myself, the following text is copy-pasted from anothe rmets site. but remember how i have been saying all along that the difference between the mets and phillies this year (and i would guess last year as well) has been 1. late game prowess and 2. converting with RISP? i have said that while our bats have been getting on base more effeciently than the phillies, the phillies are converting in RISP situations, late game situations, and other clutch times and that is whay they have been leading the NL East for most of the year. well, not that any f you were disagreeing with me, i found some stats to evidence my point. take a gander.

"With RISP the Mets are hitting .253/.346/.379 for an OPS of .725. Our split OPS+, sOPS+ is 90. Well below average. 10% worse than the league average to be exact. When you have 5 above average bats in the lineup with Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Wright, Tatis/Church, it’s baffling to be that bad.

In the 1284 PA's with RISP the Mets have 386 RBIs. In the 1132(152 less) PA's with RISP the Phillies have 358 RBIs.

With RISP the Phillies are hitting .270/.376/.462 for an OPS of .838. A sOPS+ of 119. Almost 20% higher than league average.

With 2 outs and a RISP, the Mets have a line of .230/.360/.356 for an OPS of .717. An sOPS+ of 97 which is close to the league average.

With 2 outs and a RISP, the Phillies have a line of .235/.370/.383 for an OPS of .753. An sOPS+ of 107. Again, above average by 7 percent.

...the Phillies are OPSing almost THIRTY(29) percent higher with RISP.

...the Phillies are OPSing TEN percent higher with RISP, 2 outs."

However, i also found some stats that say that may have a littel more to do with luck than we think. The higher your BABIP (Batting average on balls in play), the luckier you have been based on the opposing feilders great/poor play's, bad/good bounces, where the defense is lined up, ball's just barely staying fair/tailing foul, etc. the lower your BABIP, the unluckier you have been with those variables. knowing that, consider this...

"With RISP, the Mets have a BABIP of .272. With RISP, the Phillies have a BABIP of .302.

With RISP, and 2 outs, the Mets have a BABIP of .256. With RISP, and two outs the Phillies have a BABIP of .280.

.300 is around the normal average for BABIP."

still, even with that poor luck, the mets lack of clutch hitting is intolerable and cannot continue if we are to make the playoffs. despite these stats, we are tied with the phillies in the standings, meaning that other than RISP (and bullpen, but that's another matter) we are doing just as well or better than them. i think our starting pitching is far better than theirs, and our bats are doing better in all non-RISP situations. If we can get a little more clutch and can get our bullpen back up to speed, we should be in good shape for the final month and a half, especially considering that we no longer have a gap to close and are currently tied for the lead. obviously, the marlins are still hanging around, but i think (and hope) that they are not as good as the phillies and lack the experience or talent to win the division. just thought i'd throw in my take on the race as it currently stands and what the stats have to say about why it stands where it does.