Did the Mets peak early? How do the roads ahead look? Too many potholes?
The early surge sure felt great. Up more than ten games in the blink of an eye.
How could the Mets build such a big lead, having lost Jake, Scherzer, May, McCann and Tylor? Amd Dom Smith, for that matter.
But everybody else got hot and the Mets won a lot.
Then, Pete got hit on the hand, Lindor slams a finger in a door, Marte got a leg injury, and Nimmo developed a wrist problem. Holderman went on the IL. Reed replaced him and promptly got smacked around.
Bassitt, Carrasco, and Walker sputtered a bit (but Walker was Jake on Sunday, wasn't he, though?).
And the Mets don’t have Jake and Scherzer back yet, although progress in their respective rehabs seems to be promising.
The problem is, after a tough West Coast schedule, the Mets’ last 14 games of June include 7 with the Astros and Brewers (although the Brew Crew has stumbled of late).
7 Games of Ouch.
Austin Powers chimed in, "VERY ouch.... baby."
Thankfully there are also seven games with the Marlins, but that’s still a tough rest-of-June schedule.
The problem with injuries is this:
Scorching Brandon Nimmo hurts his wrist and tries to play through it, and goes 3 for 29. Plummer and Lee have done some nice brief outfield things, but neither of them is a Nimmo. Thankfully, Marte seems to have dodged a leg bullet - boy, is he needed.
Let's hope the finger of Lindor heals with 48 hours off. He was on an absolute RBI tear, but in his last 7 games? No RBIs. Clearly a correlation between whacked finger and zero ribbies. One correlation we want to see reversed rapidly, if not sooner.
The Mets need their main guys healthy, especially as the Braves won 11 straight through Sunday and the Phillies 9 straight through Saturday. The roads were paved oh so smoothly, until the last few weeks.
Now, the pavement is showing some cracks, and hopefully the road crew can speed-repair it in time, so that the Mets’ lead, doesn’t completely evaporate by the end of June, and hopefully Max will be back, and Jake hopefully will be close to being back.
It would be nice to get Jake back in time for the anniversary of when he went down in early July last year. Taking the mound on July 7, 2022 against the Marlins would be nice, since July 7, 2021 is the last time he pitched when it counted in a real game.
Having those two aces healthy and hurling will be quite a booster if and when it happens.
Until then, keep the Steve Cohen road crew on speed dial.
And let's fervently hope, when it comes to wins, there are no supply chain issues. Per Mack, the easier schedule starts in a few weeks, and hopefully those roads will be silky smooth.
FOOTNOTES AND TRIVIA:
Pete Alonso has his own street paving machine - 15 HRs in his last 150 ABs since the weather warmed up and the ball started carrying. 57 RBIs. The entire Detroit team only has 157 RBIs.
He does trail only Cleveland's Jose Ramirez, by 2 RBIs.
Freaky stat: Ramirez has just 17 Ks in 56 games. So few in 2022.
Edwin Diaz is great, huh? That was some trade by Brodie VW.
And some stirrings that Francisco Alvarez could he called up in 2022, as I have been speculating since, well, since spring training. 9 HRs in 14 games says, "and now, the time is near."
12 comments:
Morning Tom.
As of end of games last night, the Mets have the 2nd best record in the league and the best in the National League. That usually gets you in the playoff.
As I outlined earlier this week, the schedule going forward benefits the Mets by having the 5th easiest left for the rest of the season.
As always, inter-division games will make or break playoff team decisions and the Mets will once again have to beat the majority (over.500) of games they have left against both the Braves and Phils.
I can't determine how they play in their other games and, if they won all of them remaining and they somehow pass us at the same time we are playing .600+ ball, so be it. They deserve to win.
Mack, hear ya.
I think it all comes down to, will the Mets be healthy?
If this team is really healthy, they would have been as good as (or perhaps better than) the 1986 team.
especially if Francisco can arrive and add some punch at the catcher position by September. 1986 had Gary Carter, so right now, 1986 catcher is hands-down better.
Tom -
Health has never been a member of our 25-man.
IMO, all of this rest on Jake and Max.
If they return strong, the other three SP positions will look even stronger.
I wonder how the Albies injury affects them overall. But knowing the Bravos they have Chipper Jones 2 waiting in the minors and I also thought, I guess foolishly, that not signing Freddie would hurt them. Anyway we need Jake and Max and health going forward but isn't that BVW trade working out just great! ( I know I know I was dead set against it so I'll eat my words )
A lot of people were also Gary.
It’s going to be a great summer! 90+ wins and the playoffs. WS, Yanks vs Mets?
W
I still can't count out the Dodgers m or Giants.
Will come down to who has the healthiest top 3 rotation pieces..
Yes and then the 98' Yanks oh nooooo. Hey don't the Yanks and Braves have to slow down???
I agree with Mack. Tom lives in fantasy land about that!
-John A
I had mentioned in a comment yesterday that I was not particularly worried about the Braves' hot streak, because they have been beating up teams with poor records - all below .500.
The other thing that I noticed was that the Braves' lineup is not performing like the one we feared last year. Matt Olsen is not a legitimate Freddy Freeman replacement - he is hitting .250 with an OPS just above .800. Albies, who is now hurt, was slashing .244/.289/.403. Even Riley and d'Arnaud are in the .250s. If these guys have to face deGrom, Scherzer, and a rejuvenated Bassitt, I like the Mets chances head-to-head.
Paul, the Braves have had an easy schedule, the Yanks have had an easy schedule, the Mets have had a tough schedule. Stay healthy, and get healthy, and then beat up on people.
I worry about facing the Marlins and then young pitching stuff.
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