Jose Reyes and the Mets’ offense gives fans hope

In the last nine games, the Mets’ offense has sprung to life. Sure, some of that is due to the level of competition, as the Diamondbacks and Padres are two of the worst teams in the league. But in three games against the Giants, who are a playoff team, the Mets have banged out 37 hits. Three players have returned from the DL, which has certainly helped. The recent offensive explosion gives hope that the Mets can muster a September surge to propel them back to the playoffs, if the pitching can pull its weight.

In these nine games, the Mets have scored 49 runs on 91 hits. The score by inning breaks down as follows:

1st – 1
2nd – 6
3rd – 1
4th – 8
5th – 5
6th – 13
7th – 5
8th – 4
9th – 5
11th – 1

We see the team is doing best when it sees the starter for a second time or gets a shot at a team’s middle relievers, as they’ve scored 26 runs in innings four through six. With the return of Jose Reyes, there’s hope he can help with first inning runs, whether combining with Yoenis Cespedes on extra-base hits or manufacturing runs all by himself. Reyes has a .353/.421/.471 line in eight games since returning from the disabled list.

The home run ball remains a big part of the offense, as the Mets have gone deep in eight of nine games and socked 13 homers in this span. But they’ve had relative success with RISP, too. The team has been hovering around the Mendoza line in this split all year. But in the last nine, they are 21-79, for a .266 AVG. The NL bats .254 in these situations.

The Mets’ fundamentals stink. The vast majority of the team cannot bunt. They play mostly station-to-station on the bases. The opposite field hitting essentially is comprised of James Loney. They’re not particularly good at drawing walks. They almost never hit-and-run. Yet with all of these things that they don’t do, we see what the offense is capable of once they stop being the worst team in 45 years with RISP.

And while the team is hitting well in this stretch, it’s not like everyone is on fire. Jay Bruce is batting .182 with a .532 OPS, Curtis Granderson is at .148/.513 and Loney checks in with .174/.348 AVG/OPS marks. With these three usually batting in the top five of the order, it’s impressive how many runs the Mets have put up when they’re performing so poorly.

Everyone remembers last year, when the Mets had the worst offense in baseball and then with the acquisition of Cespedes and competent bench players, combined with the return of guys from the DL, the Mets did a 180 and had the best offense in the league the final two months. We’re going to need a repeat of that scenario to advance to Game 163 here in 2016, as the Mets are 4.5 games behind the Cardinals, the second Wild Card team.

After wrapping up the four-game series against the Giants, the Mets have an off day on Monday and then a three-game set in St. Louis, a chance to gain ground in the Wild Card race.

But it’s also a chance for the Mets to get buried, too. The Cardinals have won five of their last six games and have already taken two of three against the Mets this season. And while the Mets are the worst team in the league with RISP, the Cardinals are one of the best, as their .857 OPS in this split is the second-best in the league and the best if you eliminate the team that plays home games at a mile high.

The Mets’ pitching will need to hold its own, something that has not happened with any regularity this month, as the team has a 5.24 ERA in August. It would help if Steven Matz, who had seemed to turn the corner after a tough middle of the year, does not have to miss any more starts. That would allow Seth Lugo to return to the bullpen. Hopefully Lugo, buoyed by a strong spot start, would combine with the recently returned Jim Henderson to give a shot in the arm for the bullpen, which has been dreadful here lately.

After the set with the Cardinals, the Mets’ remaining out-of-division schedule is extremely favorable, with three games against the Reds and three against the Twins. There’s still seven games against the Marlins and six against the Nationals but 22 of the final 35 games are against teams below .500 this season. And while the Nationals once again own the Mets, New York has had good success against Miami, especially in games where Jose Fernandez doesn’t pitch. And the Marlins will be without Giancarlo Stanton, who had 6 HR in 11 games against the Mets this year and a 1.115 OPS.

When neither the pitching nor offense was performing well, it was easy to turn thoughts to 2017. But as bad as the Mets were playing, no one was running away with the final two playoff spots. And now guys are returning from the DL and the offense seems to be coming alive.

And Mary Lou, she found out how to cope
She rides to heaven on a gyroscope
The Daily News asks her for the dope
She said, “Man, the dope’s that there’s still hope”