During the Mets’ playoff run, we wondered if they would find a way to re-sign Yoenis Cespedes.
After the World Series, we started thinking about more “realistic” center field options for the Mets this off-season: Denard Span, Gerardo Parra, Dexter Fowler.
Silly us.
For one night at least, everything went right in Mets-land.
It’s fun to watch your team score 15 runs on 21 hits in a single night instead of taking a whole week to reach those totals. Imagine if Terry Collins issued that “hit or sit” ultimatum a little bit sooner.
The Mets have a tougher challenge awaiting them today. Zack Greinke hasn’t given up a run since June 13th… but maybe, just maybe, the Mets can be the team to put an end to his scoreless innings streak.
And maybe, just maybe, they can find enough offense on a consistent basis to get their amazing starting rotation to the postseason where anything can happen.
It might take something on the order of a minor miracle, but after games like last night’s it’s easier to believe.
The New York Mets wrapped up the first half of the 2015 baseball season with a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon. Kirk Nieuwenhuis became the 10th player in Mets history to hit three home runs in one game, and he’s the first to do it in the Mets’ home ballpark.
Back during spring training, I think we’d all have agreed that a 47-42 record at the All-Star Break (just two games behind the Washington Nationals in the N.L. East and one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card) would be a successful start to the season.
The 2015 Mets have problems. It’s not clear when (or if) we will see David Wright or Travis d’Arnaud on the field again this year. The team ranks dead last in the National League in runs scored, hits, total bases, and batting average. They’re 14th in on-base percentage and 10th in home runs.
But their starting pitching is good enough to give the Mets a shot to win almost every night and Jeurys Familia has been the team’s MVP after inheriting the closer’s job when Jenrry Mejia was suspended.
It’s painful to watch the Mets waste great pitching performances because they can’t score runs, but it’s fun to watch those great pitching performances.
This may not be the year for the Mets to go all-in at the trade deadline, but the team they have has shown enough promise (and enough problems) that they have to do something to upgrade before the July 31 trade deadline if they expect anyone to believe that the front office cares about winning.
It’s probably asking to much to expect an upgrade over Ruben Tejada at shortstop in the next couple of weeks, but doing something to strengthen the outfield seems like a legitimate goal. Michael Cuddyer‘s been disappointing this year, but for his career he’s been better against lefties. Curtis Granderson is having a great season – against righties. Against lefties, he’s hitting .119. Seems like you’d gain if you could platoon the two veterans and find another left fielder. You’d also be improving a bench that’s been less productive than the Mets starting pitchers at the plate. And that seems like the kind of move you could make with second-tier prospects that don’t fit an immediate need and wouldn’t jeopardize the team’s long-term plans.
If Sandy Alderson stands pat, it’s going to be very demoralizing for the fans… but probably also for the players and manager Terry Collins. July is too early to say “wait until next year” this time.
Dropping three out of four games to the San Francisco Giants this weekend seems to have put an end to any talk of the New York Mets being part of a pennant race in 2014.
I refused to believe in the phantom playoff run while the Mets’ record was under the .500 mark, but they definitely can still play a role in deciding who wins the National League East.
Tonight is the first of 13 games the Mets have left against the Washington Nationals. While I’m loathe to see them help out the Atlanta Braves, I’d love it if the Mets were able to knock Washington out of the playoff picture.
I’m also encouraged by the Mets’ decision to remove Bobby Abreu from the active roster. While the former Phillies star was briefly one of the Mets’ best hitters, he turned out to be completely unsuited to a pinch-hitting role.
I hope that Terry Collins actually plays Kirk Nieuwenhuis so we can find out if he can be a contributor at the major league level now and in 2015. There is no reason to continue to start Chris Young on a regular basis, and little reason to keep him on the roster except to salve Sandy Alderson‘s ego.
Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell and Eric Young Jr. can all play left field. They may or may not hit more than Chris Young did when given regular playing time, but they are all under team control in 2015. Chris Young’s contract mercifully expires at the end of the season and he’ll be left hoping that his agent can find another major league general manager who believes he can return to his 2010 All-Star form.
When I tuned in today’s Mets game and saw that they’d managed just one hit off of Matt Garza in the first four innings and the Cubs had a 1-0 lead, I expected to be writing about another loss today.
This Keystone Cops routine in the fifth by the Mets’ infield did little to change that impression.
Zero runs on three hits after eight innings? Well, at least the Mets are a reassuring constant that you can depend on.
But that script went out the window in the bottom of the ninth inning, thanks to Dale Sveum’s decision to bring Carlos Marmol into the game.
Marlon Byrd homered, and I texted my friend that it would have been nice if he did that back in the sixth inning when he came up with two men on base.
Lucas Duda walked for the 9000th time this year.
John Buck singled, his second hit of the game.
I thought the Mets might have a shot, until I remembered that Omar Quintanilla, Kirk Niewenhuis and the pitcher’s spot were due up next.
When Terry Collins wasted an out by having Quintanilla bunt for Nieuwenhuis and Collin Cowgill, I figured this was probably going to be a “too little, too late” rally.
Maybe they can build on this victory and put together a mini winning streak with Dillon Gee on the mound tomorrow in Atlanta – he did win both of the Mets’ previous June victories. Maybe not.
But today’s game was a reminder that anything can happen and sometimes a team that looked horrible for eight innings can pull things together in the ninth.
PaulHadsall.com 