Paul Articulates – A sigh of relief

The month of July began with a much-needed six game winning streak.  Much needed is somewhat of an understatement as the very well-paid Mets severely damaged any chances of making the playoffs after a 14-15 record in the month of May and a 7-19 record in the month of June.  There are ten teams with better records at the all-star break than the New York Mets.  Only six of those teams will make the playoff.  The Mets stand 7 games back of the last playoff position and have four teams between them and that last slot.  But enough of the negative.

The Mets gave their fans a huge relief from their depressing June slump with that six game streak.  It included a game where Justin Verlander finally looked like an ace by going 7 innings with no earned runs.  It included Kodai Senga looking like the highly coveted player from the NPL that the Mets were hoping to see with an eight inning gem.  It included the most dramatic comeback victory of the year with Francisco Alvarez hitting a two out, two strike ninth inning blast to tie the game followed by a Mark Canha triple that plated the game winner.

Those six games in six days over good teams looked like what we all expected at the end of spring training: a competitive team full of enthusiasm getting contributions from many different players to get wins.  And there was so much more to come – Alonso and McNeil have not yet emerged from slumps; Quintana and Diaz were still recovering from injury (though Quintana is close).  

I am not here to convince you that this brief burst of competence is an indication that the team has turned it around.  I’m not convinced of that myself.  I am just saying that this fan base really needed that streak.  Thank you Francisco! Thank you Kodai!  It just felt good going to bed without muttering to myself that the baseball gods were being cruel by inhibiting all that talent for so long.

Now it is time for the all-star break.  Time to heal, time to lose those bad habits that were causing an anomaly in the swing or the delivery.  Time for some of us on the east coast to catch up on our sleep after watching those late games all week.

The remaining schedule for the Mets is very difficult.  In fact, it is the third-most difficult schedule in baseball with the combined record of teams in front of us holding a .517 winning percentage.  Only the Rockies and the Nationals will face a tougher set of opponents.  Neither of those teams are ahead of the Mets in the wild card race.  The easy games were behind us in May and the team failed to capitalize.

That does not mean that things will get worse – it just means that the road ahead is difficult, and with only 22 days until the August 1st trade deadline there is a lot to prove if this team wants to stay together.  The pitching must be much more consistent.  Verlander and Senga gave us hope, but Scherzer’s dud yesterday was not what the doctor ordered.  Quintana’s comeback could help, but he is very much an unknown quantity right now coming off an injury following a career-best year.  The bullpen will get a little rest over the break, but that can quickly come undone again if our starters can’t average more than five innings over the next three weeks.

As we roll into the break, I certainly feel better than I did in June.  Time will tell if they can renew the performance and confidence we saw back in April.  I’ll certainly be watching.  Let’s go Mets!