Have you ever watched and listened to Mets fans when things are going right? (Yes, I know...who can recall when things were according to plan and schedule?)
They are elated, they are boisterous, they are confident and they are braggarts. The sky is always blue, the grass is always green and there is no end to how things will unfold towards the overall competitive goals. I remember that feeling well in 1986.
Then there are the appreciative type of fans who take every unexpected positive development as cause for celebration. You are so happy when something goes right when up until then the possibility existed for all to go wrong that when it does you are giddy with a step forward.
Then there are the never happy types who believe that everything good that has happened up until now is merely an illusion, and that the collapse in September is inevitable. The only progress to track is how quickly and how far down in the standings the team will sink.
Folks who know me feel I am firmly entrenched in that latter camp, but I would have to disagree. My training as an IT Project Manager taught me to prepare for the worst while things are going well and to reinforce what is working properly because that could change at any moment. That's kind of how I react to the 2022 Mets season.
Yes, there are a great many things that have gone wrong, including injuries that took key folks out of action for longer than anyone had hoped, slumps which everyone felt would be for a series or two rather than the entire season, and luck. There is no way to track nor predict when unexpectedly good things or bad things happen to a team.
Talk to fellow Mets fans right now and the tensions are sky high. Yes, the Braves are within striking distance. Yes, the Phillies are legitimately looking to get into the postseason picture. Yes, the Yankee two-game series is upcoming this week Yes, the Mets lost Luis Guillorme, Eduardo Escobar and Carlos Carrasco to injuries. The jury is still not completely sold on Taijuan Walker's back spasms being a one day thing and not a chronic condition.
Somehow lost in all this tension are some simple facts. Trevor Williams has been a greater boon to this franchise in 2022 than even his former teammate Javier Baez was in 2021. David Peterson is not the second coming of Clayton Kershaw, but an ERA for the entire stay in the 2022 National League season is under 3.50. That is pretty impressive. Brett Baty's defensive game is perhaps a bit unrefined, but his offensive game looks ready for prime time. Not all is as dire as some would have you believe.
Right now the season could unfold in a few different ways. The Mets could hang onto a slim margin of victory, hoist an Eastern Division flag at Citifield and then let the chips fall where they may. The team could go on a rally of sorts that reinforces the teamwork Buck Showalter has worked hard to establish and it strikes fear into the October game participants on the other side of the diamond. Both of these developments would indeed be welcome and positive.
Then there's the third one which no one really wants to ponder. What if the veteran Atlanta Brave magic is indeed back and they surge past the Mets to take the pennant, but the Mets finish well enough to eke into the playoff picture by the skin of their collective teeth? How disastrous would that be for the history of the team and the potential to progress any higher up in October?
Of course, there is the slim prospect of a totally epic collapse in which the club goes face down for the month of September and gets surpassed by everyone from the Braves, the Phillies and a Little League team made up of the misfits unable to make a regular roster.
So what do you like from this club? What don't you like? What do you expect? What do you fear?
I know I am truly appreciative of the view from the top nearly all year long, but I also acknowledge that things happen day by day and you can't bank on a strong start as a sure thing. If they dance into October, fantastic. If they hang on into October, well let's hear it for persistence.
If they falter, don't blame Steve Cohen. Don't blame Billy Eppler. Blame the players, for they would be the ones who failed to get it done, just as you would credit them if everything proceeded as we all hope.
6 comments:
I think Sunday was pivotal. Butto got clobbered, yet the gritty Mets clawed back, and the Banker threw 3 scoreless, while an early Braves lead didn’t hold up. What could easily have been a 2 game lead jumps to 4 games. Mets have lost a mere 36 games…the whole team is good and weathers adversity. 104 win pace…what’s not to like.
So what do you like from this club? At this point, the team appears to have that something extra that championship teams have that allows victories like yesterday’s. I also like their togetherness.
What don't you like? Weak hitting at catcher and third base. Bullpen can be unreliable. Braves are the defending champions until they’re not. Dodgers are significantly superior.
What do you expect?/What do you fear? History will repeat itself.
Question is, are the Dodgers superior if we get Cookie, Walker, Megill, and Smith back to pre-injury form? Gap would, at most, be small. Remember, no jakeuntil August and no Max for several weeks, and the Mets are still somehow on a 104 win pace. One presumes little if any slippage if both are able to pitch every 5th day.
My biggest concern? How many injuries in the first 123 games? Quite a few. How many in the last 39 games? TBD.
Mets fans try to be optimistic, but harbor a deep-rooted fear of collapse that comes from so many seasons that were built up with great hope and then crushed with injuries or external factors causing their drop from contention. We're quick to say, "Oh, no! Here we go again!" and slow to say, "It's all right - they are on the right track".
What I like about this team is that they have shown the ability to rally. It is easy to reference in-game rallies like yesterday with multiple comebacks or the earlier huge multi-run comebacks against St. Louis and Philadelphia. But there is a greater resiliency that drives them to win a large percentage of series, and to minimize losing streaks to a game or two. Until Atlanta recently they had not dropped a series in the NL East. They have been built (Eppler) and nurtured (Showalter) to play as a team and respond to every challenge.
What I don't like is the frailty of the pitching staff. In the pre-season there were many posts that referenced the Mets' ongoing injury problems, and I was hoping that the medical staff could get a handle on what caused frequent injuries. There are always going to be "hurts" in a 162-game season like pulled muscles and collision bruises. What bothers me are two needed pitchers with oblique injuries and back spasms. Those seem like avoidable injuries with appropriate stretching and conditioning routines.
I see blue skies ahead. While the Braves and Phillies bang heads seven times in September, we have one of the weakest-looking batch of opponents ahead. After the upcoming Dodgers series ends on 9/1, we play against losers, losers and losers until a month-end 3 games vs the Braves, by which time the race will be over.
Of course, surprises happen, and the Pirates, Marlins, Nats and others could bite us in the ass. But as long as we can avoid crippling injuries we should roll.
Scherzer and DeGrom are a good start in a short series.With Diaz in the pen I like my chances.
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