While the Mets may rue lost opportunities to move away from the pack in the NL East, there’s only the game played today that matters…
The Mets, more than anything, and despite promising reports we hear about here and there, need to get real about Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard returning this season – because it ain’t gonna happen.
deGrom’s forearm injury, while not in the same class as Syndergaard’s need for surgery, is complex, and the discomfort is felt every day, with or without a baseball in his hand.
According to Beth Sullivan, who wrote in 2019 about a similar injury to Tylor Glasnow, who is still sidelined:
“The forearm is not a very large area as body parts go. However, it is the home of many muscles, tendons, arteries, veins, and nerves, and “That is a lot of anatomical parts that have to work together to allow a baseball pitcher to be able to forcefully and accurately throw a pitch from the mound to the catcher.”
Similarly, with 50 or so games remaining in the regular season, where is the logic, not a wish, and a prayer that says Francisco Lindor will come back to ignite the Mets with numbers that raise him from .228 11HR, and 36 RBI to anywhere near his career numbers.
Ditto Michael Conforto remains mired in a season (.199, 6 HR, 24 RBI) that can’t end soon enough for both the Mets and him before Scott Boras takes him to free agency this winter.
Mets: No Room For Rationalizing
Put all that together with the Phillies, Braves, and Nationals, all of whom were predicted to be above, or at least main rivals of the Mets when the 2021 season began, and who have done their best to hand the NL East to the Mets – where do we begin to rationalize the standing of the Mets today?
The answer is we don’t because we can’t, nor can the Mets afford to do the same.
As Joe Maddon is fond of reminding us, a team is only as good as their record says they are, and if the Mets were any National League division other than the NL East, they’d be an also-ran like the Cubs and Cardinals.
At the same time, though, the same can be said for the Phillies and Braves.
Oddly, after the three-game head-to-head series with the Phillies this weekend, the Mets have only three more with Philadelphia and three with the Braves to close out the regular season.
Put that together with a home-and-away series with the Dodger and Giants that stretches from August 13 to August 27, and it sounds like the time for the Mets to embrace what Luis Rojas tried to do in calling a team meeting to remind his guys…
“Hey guys, this is where we are, and this is what we have (paraphrasing), and your hard work has brought us here, but now it’s crunch time, and who among you will show up…?”
Mets: The Pressure Is Off…
The Mets are fortunate not to have an owner breathing down their neck. Steve Cohen began the season saying he had a three-year plan for the Mets to win it all, and in that sense, making the playoffs can be considered a plus.
Still, when you’ve held the lead in your division since May, not to close the deal when it’s within their grasp is not what the Mets need to take forward into the 2022 season.
Forget deGrom, Syndergaard, take it forward and finish this thing up…
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
John Jet I think you’ve summed up the state of things as we stand on the precipice of a series with the filthies that are our most important of the season. Mets MUST make a stand right here.
Mary Ann Grennen Have to stop waiting for deGrom or Syndergaard to come back. We need to start winning with what we have now. No more excuses.
Vera Foley It’s hard to move away from lost opportunities. They do it every day so it sticks in your gut. Let’s hope today They take advantage of their opportunities. Let’s go Mets!!!
Closing Published Comments And Final Thoughts
With game time less than an hour away, this closes published comments.
Like myself, Mets fans stand waiting for the next man up…
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.
