MLB

Mets confidential

When the Mets reach the playoffs this season they will fondly recall the last week of May as the launching point.

OK, we’re joking. The Mets are still a flawed team, with too many square pegs in round holes, but the last week has at least created a rare buzz about the club, something that had previously seemed inconceivable on days Matt Harvey doesn’t pitch.

The Mets beat the Yankees four straight games. Who knew it could happen?

Now the Mets are preparing for June buzz. Barring a setback, Zack Wheeler is due to join the team this month, setting in motion the vision general manager Sandy Alderson had when he acquired the stud pitching prospect from the Giants for Carlos Beltran in 2011.

Harvey and Wheeler atop the Mets rotation, with Jon Niese in the middle, could be formidable, but the Mets can’t stop there.

The middle portion of this season is still about trying to discover if Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada (when he returns from the disabled list) have futures in the organization. It’s about discovering if Bobby Parnell can blossom into an elite closer.

The Mets can still contend for a .500 record while creating plenty of buzz around New York. They just won’t have the Yankees to kick around for the rest of the year.

A look at May and what’s next:

MVP: Daniel Murphy

Daniel Murphy got rolling in the middle of the month and has emerged as the most dependable bat in this anemic Mets lineup. He is also the player the Mets want at the plate with the game on the line. Ideally, manager Terry Collins will keep Murphy in the No. 2 hole, but with Tejada on the disabled list there’s a chance Murphy will have to become the leadoff hitter for an extended period. Nobody had bigger hits than Murphy in the Mets’ four-game Subway Series sweep.

LVP: Ike Davis

Davis will have breathing room to turn around his season and avoid a demotion to Las Vegas only if the Mets continue to play reasonably well — last night’s 5-1 loss ended a five-game winning streak. Davis had a horrid May in which he was probably the Least Valuable Player in the major leagues. Maybe the calendar change will jump-start Davis, who was floundering last year in May — he was nearly sent to Triple-A — before resurrecting his season in June.

LOOKING AHEAD

It certainly isn’t a bad thing for the Mets to have five more games against the awful Marlins over the next nine days. Then the Cardinals and Cubs come to Citi Field as part of a nine-game homestand. The key stretch will begin on June 17, when the Mets arrive in Atlanta for a five-game series that includes a doubleheader. The road trip will then extend to Philadelphia and Chicago (White Sox) before the Mets play a makeup game in Colorado on June 27.

TERRY COLLINS’ BIGGEST CHALLENGE

The Mets bullpen has been respectable in recent weeks after a brutal stretch to begin the season. But Collins must somehow avoid burning out Scott Rice, who has emerged as the Mets most dependable setup man. Robert Carson has struggled, leaving Rice as the only lefty who can be trusted in a big spot. LaTroy Hawkins and Brandon Lyon have been decent right-handed options, but the Mets could use reinforcements. Maybe this will be the month the Mets see Frank Francisco. But don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.

5 KEY STATS

2 Home runs hit by John Buck in May after tying a franchise record with nine in April. Buck hit only .212 in May.

8 Hits allowed by Bobby Parnell over 13 innings in May. Parnell had converted all seven of his save opportunities for the month.

9 Quality starts this season by Matt Harvey in 11 appearances. The Mets are 8-3 in games started by Harvey.

12 Two-out RBIs by Daniel Murphy, after getting one last night, which ranked first on the team.

32 Strikeouts by Ike Davis in 81 at-bats in May. That included three games in which he struck out at least three times.

npuma@nypost.com