From JOEL SHERMAN

There were many questions if Ryan Church could handle lefty pitching, since it had been a problem in his career. So far, though, so great.

Remember it is a small sample, but right now among the 18 lefty batters in the majors who have at least 25 plate appearances against southpaw pitching, Church has the second best batting average at .355. Only Pittsburgh’s Nate McLouth (.400) was higher. Church was 11-for-31 with two homers.

For more on the Mets and all of baseball, go to Joel Sherman’s Hardball blog.