The great pitcher and linguist Dizzy Dean told us a long time ago that he’d “rather be lucky than good.” It took a long time to figure out exactly what he meant. Then the 2015 Mets happened. Yes, these Mets. At first flush, you’d think they’ve anything but lucky and in more than a couple of their losses, you’d swear that the Baseball Gods forgot the address of Citi Field – or more accurately put for this year, forgot to follow them when they left, as evidenced by a 15-28 road record.
David Wright has been missing since April 14. Jerry Blevins was hurt on April 19, as was Travis d’Arnaud, who has played only sporadically since then. The bullpen has lost several pieces to injury and suspension. Michael Cuddyer and Juan Lagares are mere shadows of themselves, felled by nagging discomforts severe enough to hamper their play, but not bad enough to warrant any DL time. They’ve had to put up with a seven-game losing streak and an offense that bears that title only grudgingly. They have owners who cannot — or will not — allow the offense to be improved and a general manager who does little else than toe the company line, severely disappointing those of us who expected better from a baseball maverick. And the Mets are two games over .500 and approach the All-Star break three games out of first place in their division and the same number away in the NL Wild Card race.
Whoda thunk…?
If you ask a passionate fan, it doesn’t seem possible. Basically this year, the Mets have been living off the 11-game win streak they fashioned during the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season. As has often been mentioned, you take away that run and the New Yorkers are grappling with the Miami Marlins for third place. At the end of The Streak, the Mets found themselves with a record of 13-3. As anyone who can do the math can figure out, that means they’ve gone 31-39 since — seemingly closer to the “true talent” currently on the roster than their 44-42 overall record would indicate. But still…
Washington – all but handed the NL crown back in March – has dealt with an injury wave of their own and has yet to run off with the NL East. Yes, everyone still cedes them the division, but the Mets have been able to go to-to-toe with them so far and if they can stay close, who knows? As for the Wild Card, every time Chicago or San Francisco seems to get a leg up, the Mets seem to pull out an unlikely win – or four unlikely wins, ala this just-concluded West Coast trip. They were lucky to catch the Giants in a six-game slump and even manage to extend it, while avoiding having to face a legendary October hero. They were lucky to catch the Dodgers in an offensive lull which resulted in a rookie matching the reigning Cy Young Award/MVP winner pitch-for-pitch. They were lucky to catch the weak link of the LA pitching staff in that series’ finale. They’ve been lucky that they do play in the same division as the Marlins and Phillies.
So, for all the moaning we fans do about cruel fate and Dickensian ownership, it could be a hell of a lot worse.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
I want to be positive and optimistic.
But I refuse to believe that the selected good fortune of the schedule in certain matchups makes up for the injury plague.
The concept that the Mets were “lucky” with the schedule over the past six games is laughable.
Let’s see: they faced Kershaw and Greinke in games 1 and 2 … I guess the Mets were lucky they didn’t bring back Kershaw in game 3? Or were they lucky Bolsinger started game 3 over the immortal Carlos Frias? Also, aren’t these opponents “lucky” to be facing the Mets w/o TDA and Wright?
As for SF, I’m sorry: they only have one good pitcher. Somebody else has to pitch the other 4 days. On the other hand, The Mets have four really good pitchers and the Giants managed to avoid 3 of them. Boo hoo.
Editor’s Note: Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that is a violation of our Comment Policy.
You realize that when they played the Cubs last week, they were also mired in a horrible offensive slump that was actually worse than the Mets… and yet they got swept. They faced a crappy Brewers team the week before and lost 2 of 3. And they got swept by the Braves in that weekend series despite having their 3 top guns starting against two rookies and a struggling Teheran.
Why try to discredit a 4-2 road trip?
And now Steven Matz won’t throw for 3 weeks with a partial lat tear.
I think I may have spoken too soon ..
Hey, the great news is that to keep that required 6 man rotation going, Gee should be coming up quickly! Silver lining indeed!!M
You had to jinx us. Now Matz is injured. And just waiting to hear Cuddyer will need knee surgery. I’m amazed he’s stayed healthy this long.
Because he’s been such a valuable cog in the Mets’ offensive juggernaut?
I’m not sure losing Cuddyer would be a great loss.
With the Mets history with pitcher injuries,Matz wont throw a pitch again this year.
Mets fans sure understand the gloom and doom thing pretty well.