The Mets, at almost any point this season, had the chance to smother and bury their floundering rivals in the NL East, yet, here we are…
Don’t blink again because the Mets are only four games above .500, having lost seven of their last ten games, with a mere separation of two games in the loss column from the Phillies.
Mets: It Didn’t Need To Be This Way
It needn’t have been this way, as the Mets could have been 7-3 instead of 3-7 in their most recent stretch, a mark that would have at least maintained their lead while the Phillies went 6-4 and the Braves 5-5.
But no, this Mets team seems to perform best when there is a challenge set before them.
Whether it was a series of injuries knocking out key position players earlier in the season or the latest knockout punch to Jacob deGrom that leaves the team with no penciled in for his return date, the Mets, if nothing else, are survivors.
But here we are in August now with 56 games remaining on the Mets schedule that includes back-to-back home and away series against the Dodgers and Giants beginning on August 13 and lasting until August 27.
If we have learned anything, though, about the Mets this season, it’s that they are resilient. Somehow, Acting GM Zack Scott was able to put together a patchwork team, later to be labeled the Bench Mob.
Under the TLC managing of Luis Rojas, the Mets could hold off a still floundering team of Phillies, Braves, and Nationals, but pitching is harder to replace than position players.
The law of averages said It had to happen sometime, and it was two night’s ago that Tylor Megill saw his string of wonder come to an end when his five-inning start against the Marlins produced a single bad pitch that went for a grand-slam home run in a 6-3 loss.
Or, maybe it wasn’t a bad pitch and, instead, it was one of the best Megill threw in the game, and it’s just a sign the team can’t always be lucky – they have to be good.
Last night, the Mets reneged on their decision to bench Michael Conforto, but his 0-3 did nothing to help the Mets, who barely hit their year’s average in runs scored (four).
As these things go, Conforto was not alone as the Mets managed only five hits while going 1-7 with runners in scoring position (RISP), despite facing a team of five no-name Marlin’s pitchers.
Mets: Is It An Anomaly Or A Trend
As we know, there are ups and downs over the arduous six-month MLB season.
But for all the Mets have shown to reach this point, it won’t be enough to withstand the challenge, not so much of winning the division because that’s a must given the Padres hold on the final Wild Card Spot, but in determining how much noise they can make in the playoffs.
With eight games on their schedule with the Phillies and Nationals before the real test begins with the Dodgers and Giants, the Mets need to step it up big-time, even in the face of pitching woes and holes that need to be filled.
There’s no luck in any of this now, and what their rivals do in the meantime should be of little consequence to the Mets’ players in their clubhouse, whoever they are at any moment in time.
It should have already happened, but the Mets have no other choice but to step it up and take control of their destiny…
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
JJ Senior For the last 2 months all I have read were how the Mets were going to run away with the division….now those same Mets fans are throwing in the white flag and joining forces with the Phillies fanbase.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
