It’s up to the Mets’ starters to turn the season around

We’ve seen a glimmer. There’s a faint light emerging a ways down the road and it might not be simply oncoming traffic or reflected glare emanating from the Bronx. There’s a nugget of hope growing that the 2017 season for the Mets might not be a lost cause after all. After coming home from a disastrous road trip – six straight losses in Milwaukee and Arizona – they have reeled off seven wins in their last twelve. While that may not sound like much, you have to start somewhere and if they could have solved Junior Guerra at some point last night – a 7-1 loss to the Brewers at home — they would have had themselves a winning May. Instead, they’ve finished the month 13-14, a damn sight better than their 10-14 April. And yes, they may owe much of their recent relative success to the vagaries of the schedule, but they still had to play at least semi-decent baseball to win. News flash: it starts with the starting pitching. It’s the Mets; did you think it would be otherwise?

In their penultimate game against Milwaukee on May 31 – i.e. last night – the Mets sent Jacob deGrom to the mound to face Guerra. Fresh off two very strong performances, deGrom was looked at to keep the train rolling. Instead, he was terrible, taking 105 pitches to get through four innings. The Brewers whacked him around Citi Field like a rented mule and much of the damage was of his own doing: eight hits and five walks allowed in four innings ain’t gonna do much for your WHIP. But the thing is, last night’s game was the exception that proves the rule. It’s a trite truism that when the starters are going well, they’re going to go deeper into games. That’s been happening over the last two weeks. On May 19, deGrom went seven innings against the Angels at Citi Field, allowing four hits and three walks. A week later in Pittsburgh, he actually made it into the ninth. Two nights after that, Matt Harvey lasted to the seventh for the third time all year and on Memorial Day, Robert Gsellman did the same to begin this home stand. Do you have any idea what a relief that is to the Mets’ relief corps? It’s been well documented that Terry Collins has worn the bullpen down to the nub. Three, four, five relievers almost nightly. This has partially been out of a slavish devotion to matchups and perceived platoon advantages, and partially out of necessity. It’s obvious that the less your starters work, the more your bullpen will be taxed. Now, we all know that correlation does not mean causality, but it’s hard to ignore the timing of the whole thing: the Mets have had more success when their starters have gone deeper into games. If the team is to make any kind of run at a playoff spot, it’s got to begin right there.

As everyone said before the season started, it’s all about the starting pitching; everyone was right, but this wasn’t the way we pictured it.

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