What a difference a day makes! After Wednesday’s disheartening effort against the Braves, the Mets followed it up with their best ninth-inning comeback in over a generation. It may not be possible to have statement games in early May but both of these contests felt significant when they happened. After sweeping a doubleheader on Tuesday, the Mets had a chance to take a four-game series against the Braves after dropping the first game. Instead, they gave away the momentum of the sweep and let the Braves off the hook. It felt like the series in late July last year, when the Mets were in first place and had a chance to bury the Braves, instead they lost the series and the Braves went ahead and were buyers instead of sellers at the deadline.
Then on Thursday, it looked like they were going to give life to the Phillies, too. They were 4-2 against them but it looked like Philadelphia was going to cut that deficit to a single game. Then the Mets came back with the seven-run ninth inning that had to have left the Phillies in shock. In a fan forum, people were calling for the club to fire Joe Girardi. That’s not something any of us expected would happen in early May back when the season began.
Do the Braves have life? Are the Phillies dead in the water?
Which was more significant?
- Thursday against the Phillies (100%, 4 Votes)
- Wednesday against the Braves (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 4
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Neither. Sweeps bury/boosts teams. One game flips affect momentum, but by themselves aren’t season changers.
An early 5-2 lead in the season series may be hard to overcome for the Phils. Cant win the division without beating teams within it.
Definitely the win against the Phillies, and by a long shot. While Name is right one-game outcomes are not typically not game changers, the net positive rules here. Even with a crap loss on Wed, the team walks away with a draw and to this moment have not dropped a series in 2022. The Mets are going to lose games against all division rivals, and that was just one of them. Honestly, I had to go back to the box just to see what happened. The pen just flew off the rails mid game. The Mets has 9 outs to do something. Just not your night.
Last night was different. The Mets snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the last moment. That has 2 impacts: 1. They know this kind of outcome, while rare as hen’s teeth, is in their grasp. This lends value to “Ya gotta believe”. In October, the team can draw from this. 2. The Phillies walk away absolutely broken. From last night they now face M A X imum followed by Bassitt with an energized opponent. They have a continued losing streak, that now looks like its going to lengthen.
The 7 run flip is a net 0 in the math, but I believe the positives well outweigh the negatives in X factor impact.
The amazing comeback hurts the Phillies at least as much as it helps the Mets.
Mets: tremendous morale booster and confidence builder. Helps ensure all players will play hard through nine innings and believe more implicitly in their manager.
Phillies: the opposite. Team morale suffers, doubt creeps in, bullpen suspect, manager suspect, finger pointing, etc. Weakens the inner fiber of the team.
Phillies will get past it, but the Mets will benefit for much longer.
Best part: Marte has arrived… his value made apparent to any “quick-to-doubt”… a quality presence on the team.
It is still May so the Braves still have life. Last year, the Braves were also six games behind on July 28th and they won the World Series.
The Phillies are a flawed and an unbalanced team that didn’t correct their past problems. Their performance, this year and last year, doesn’t warrant them to be thought of as contenders. They are just a middle team, and that is all.
The Phillies win was more significant because of the epic come from behind win that should result into more team building for the Mets.
All extreme comments and pronouncements in early May are premature. I can see the Phils get hot in the summer and win 17 of 20, climb back near the top. They sweep a series in September and all bets are off.
The weakness with the Phillies is their bullpen and their depth. They are one injury away from a severe drop off in production. Harper has been playing hurt, so they are very thin in the OF… I mean, Herrera, really? … between Schwarber and Castellanos, really? Infield not much better.
I’m guessing Realmuto will go down or at least wear out come August.
They will lose more games defensively than a division leader can, so they cannot win the division, imo. Mets and Braves much tighter defensively with arguably better pitching. Good pitching trumps good hitting over 19 games. Mets pitching scary, even to the Braves, who somehow replaced Freddie Freeman but still seem to have lost something in the exchange… gravitas? Like when your big brother goes off to the military…
Agree with all the points made about the damage this caused Philly. To build further, the meltdown created serious doubt about their closer, Knebel. He was really brought in unnecessarily, with Philly still up by 4 runs. Girardi had to hammer in a tack and could have used a ball peen hammer but he pulled out the sledgehammer and it backfired.
This is reminiscent of the Mets loss to the Pirates last year right before the ASB after being up by 5 runs, but this is far more dramatic and hopefully more debilitating to the Phils.
It’s been a great start but 162 is a marathon. That epic comeback adds an excellent vibe, more so for the fans I believe. I will agree with Name on this one.
Hen’s teeth?