There was the ugly section of the Mets season that lasted into late Might.
Subsequent got here the meteoric rise over six weeks that fueled postseason desires.
Now meteoric has been changed by mediocrity — or one thing worse — threatening to bury the Mets even earlier than they begin a street journey subsequent week through which they’ll face the Padres and Diamondbacks, each of whom are steering the Nationwide League wild-card race.
Earlier than the Mets fell to 13-13 for the reason that All-Star break with their ugly 7-6 loss to the A’s on Thursday at Citi Area, president of baseball operations David Stearns remained bullish on the group’s postseason possibilities.
The basis of his optimism?
“I believe we’re group,” Stearns stated. “I believe we now have demonstrated that. There have been intervals of this season the place we now have performed like the most effective group in baseball and I believe we’re able to doing that once more.”
They should begin quickly.
The Mets have performed three sequence in opposition to AL West groups over the past two weeks and misplaced all of them, ending 2-7 in opposition to the Angels, Mariners and A’s. Someplace in between, the Mets managed to win a sequence in Colorado.
On their final street journey, offense was the difficulty. Then the Mets returned house and started scoring runs solely to have their pitching betray them. Sound acquainted? The identical theme performed out in Might because the Mets had been free falling to 11 video games beneath .500.
J.D. Martinez, who’s among the many Mets gamers who has struggled to provide for the reason that All-Star break, stated the group took a “who cares?” mentality in resurrecting its season. That subject, he stated, arose once more in a dialogue amongst teammates this week.
“It was a kind of issues [before], ‘Let’s simply go have enjoyable,’ ” Martinez stated. “It’s a kind of issues that snowballed and impulsively we get so far, we make a few trades, we’re in it, and now impulsively it’s a bit of bit extra stress.
“One of many issues we talked about is that ‘who cares?’ mentality. If we win, we win, if we lose, we lose, what does it matter? That’s what obtained us right here and we simply should journey it out till the top of the season.”
Jose Quintana was emblematic of the group’s midseason rise as a pitcher who discovered his groove for a number of weeks and helped carry the rotation. Currently he’s been simply as emblematic of the group’s struggles.
The lefty walked two batters within the fourth inning to load the bases earlier than JJ Bleday neatly tucked a first-pitch slurve into the right-field seats. Grand slam. Quintana had squandered a lot of the five-run lead he was handed and the A’s completed the comeback in opposition to Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett.
All informed, the Mets walked 11 batters and hit one other. It’s who the Mets have been as a pitching workers this season with an NL-leading 479 walks.
“Now we have to dig deep and see what’s happening right here,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated. “After we struggled early within the yr that was one of many major points — the free passes, too many non-competitive pitches.”
The Mets scored 19 runs in three video games, an encouraging signal after almost getting shut out a complete weekend sequence in Seattle, however can they put it collectively for sustained success?
One of many few regular performers has been Mark Vientos, who blasted two homers Thursday and owns a .908 OPS over his final 44 recreations. He batted within the No. 2 gap for the primary time this season as Brandon Nimmo was sidelined by a abdomen virus.
The ailment may function the right reset level for Nimmo, who’s 1-for-21 over his final six video games amid an general stoop for the reason that All-Star break.
Earlier than the Mets started their turnaround this season, Mendoza switched the lineup to maneuver a slumping Francisco Lindor to leadoff, with Nimmo hitting second or third. Now you surprise if Nimmo may profit from a transfer decrease into the order, permitting Vientos to stay second.
Mendoza stated it’s one thing that will probably be thought-about.
Stearns declined to take a position on what number of wins it would take for the Mets to succeed in the postseason. For now, he’s extra all in favour of stringing collectively wins and staying within the race.
“I believe when you get to mid-September, you’re a little extra cognizant of what’s happening round you,” Stearns stated.
The Mets can solely hope that by mid-September any of it can matter.
