It’s been quite a month for the New York Mets. The team’s Grimace-fueled rise through the National League standings has slowed after a 4-4 road trip, but with a 44-45 record, the Mets are right in the thick of the race with only six more games left until the All-Star break.
Analyzing the Mets’ trip to Washington and Pittsburgh is a tricky exercise. On the one hand, a .500 road trip did little to gain ground on the other NL contenders. On the other hand, with two extra-inning wins and a blown-save-turned-comeback-win on Sunday, things easily could have been worse.
Overall, Mets fans have to be thrilled to be watching meaningful baseball with more than half the season gone, because a month ago things were looking bleak. The notion that this team could actually be buyers at the trade deadline once seemed impossible, but is now well within the realm of possibility. Let’s look at three lessons we can take away from a .500 road trip that was much more eventful than the record suggests.
1. The Mets have enough fight to stay in the race
There’s a timeline where the Mets went 1-7 on this trip and undid much of the good work from the previous few weeks. This team has more fight than that, though, and the fact that they found a way to eke out a 4-4 record bodes well for their ability to stay in the race through the dog days of summer.
The Mets showed their fight in the first two games of the Nationals series by hanging up 11 runs in extra innings alone, and nearly the entire lineup contributed. J.D. Martinez got the ball rolling with a three-run homer on Monday, then the Mets tacked on what turned out to be three more necessary runs thanks to a Francisco Alvarez triple and a Jose Iglesias two-run shot. Iglesias plated the first extra-inning run a day later with a double to bring home Tyrone Taylor, then the Mets piled on with RBIs from Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos before Pete Alonso blasted a game-sealing homer.
No game was more emblematic of this team’s never-say-die attitude than Sunday’s win over the Pirates to clinch at least a series split. Nimmo gave the Mets the lead with an RBI double in the eighth to break a scoreless tie, but just as quickly, Dedniel Nunez got in trouble and Edwin Diaz gave the lead up in the bottom half of the inning. The Mets could have rolled over and died, but they wore out Pirates closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, forcing the fireballing lefty to throw 40 pitches that culminated in a clutch Francisco Lindor two-RBI single with the bases loaded as the Mets were down to their last out.
Francisco Alvarez showed off his improved plate discipline by leading off with an eight-pitch walk. Harrison Bader then continued his clutch hitting with a single after also working a full count. Chapman seemed to have things back under control after striking out Vientos and Luis Torrens looking, but Iglesias (who always seems to be in the center of every rally) battled for a hard-earned walk, then Lindor dumped a ball into left field to give the Mets the lead. Diaz shook off his rough entrance by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth to seal one of the best and most stressful wins of the season.
If the Mets can continue battling like this at the plate, and fighting until the very last out, they can absolutely stay in the playoff hunt through August and September.
2. Christian Scott deserves a permanent spot in the rotation
Christian Scott has yet to record his first major league win, but I’m telling you now — get your seat on the bandwagon before it fills up. The rookie has really good stuff and a great disposition on the mound, and though the Mets mostly haven’t done him any favors by giving him a whole lot of run support (somewhere in Texas, Jacob deGrom is nodding ruefully in solidarity), he’s consistently done enough to give the team a chance to win.
Scott pitched twice during the recently-completed road trip, his first two starts in the big leagues since late May. He didn’t get the loss on Wednesday, but his performance was a bit rough in the end, as this time the Mets’ bats actually did spot him a 5-0 lead. Scott pitched well through five innings, but came undone in the sixth by giving up a couple of singles and a three-run homer to Luis Garcia Jr.
This is a resilient rookie, though, and he rebounded with a tremendous effort in Pittsburgh on Monday. Other than an Oneil Cruz two-run homer in the fourth (a forgivable offense, to be sure), Scott was outstanding. He threw 53 of his 77 pitches for strikes, and the Cruz homer was the only hit he allowed on the day. He certainly deserved better than getting pulled with two outs in the sixth so that he didn’t exceed Carlos Mendoza’s pitch count limit, only to see the Pirates immediately demolish the Mets’ bullpen to the tune of five runs in the inning, but that doesn’t change the fact that Scott proved that he belongs to be locked into a spot in the rotation going forward.
Christian Scott is going to be an important part of this team for years to come, and if the Mets hope to stay in the playoff race, there aren’t five starters in the organization better equipped to keep them there than he is. He needs to stay in the rotation.
3. The playoffs are out of the question if the Mets don’t get bullpen help at the deadline
Speaking of the playoffs, there’s one glaring deficiency the Mets have, and if they don’t address it, they might as well start booking their October tee times now. The bullpen is in shambles, and only David Stearns can fix it.
The Mets have been unlucky when it comes to relievers this year. Brooks Raley is out for the season and likely part of next year too after undergoing surgery for a UCL strain in his elbow. Drew Smith is out for the year with elbow ligament damage, likely brought about in part because he needed to come in on short notice for Edwin Diaz after the star closer was ejected for having sticky stuff on his hands over two weeks ago.
The Mets have also been without Sean Reid-Foley, who has been suffering from a right shoulder impingement, but the hope is that he’ll be back soon. Still, it’s been a war of attrition for the bullpen, and there simply aren’t enough arms that are either healthy enough or good enough to close out games.
There are always relievers available at the trade deadline, but the Mets won’t be the only team looking to bolster their bullpen. David Stearns needs to thread the needle of adding quality depth to the pen without depleting the farm system that the team has been so careful to cultivate.
Arms that might be available are Tanner Scott of the Marlins (don’t laugh at the possibility of an in-division trade, as the Mets traded David Robertson to Miami last year), Carlos Estevez of the Angels, Michael Kopech of the White Sox, and many others.
Mets fans have felt like Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III this season. “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.” It’s been a roller coaster ride through the season’s first three months, and a strong six-game homestand to segue into the All-Star break could make a world of difference in the rest-of-season outlook. We’ll see what the Mets can do when they take on the Nationals tonight.
Be the first to comment