Mets fight inconsistency

On Tuesday night, the Mets had one of their most stunning wins when forever-slumping Jeff Francoeur, who is trying to avoid writing his Mets obituary, hit a game-winning home run off former Met and current Braves closer Billy Wagner to give the Mets a much needed 3-2 win over the first place Atlanta Braves.

Just three nights before, the Mets had celebrated a hard earned victory over the Diamondbacks when Carlos Beltran hit a sac fly to give the Mets a rare walk-off victory.

So, in the span of four days the Mets have enjoyed two hard earned clutch wins. You would think they would be in the middle of a nice winning streak or getting their season turned around. But then you realize the Mets have an aversion to consistency and between those two great wins the Mets sandwiched in an utter stinker (14-1 loss to Arizona on Sunday) followed by a lifeless loss on Monday (4-1 loss to Braves).

So which Met team is going to show up as we hit the stretch run? This continued bout of inconsistency is absolutely maddening.

On many days it looks as though the Mets will finally put their inconsistency behind them, especially when they get a spirited win, only to relapse and play awful baseball.

Here it is August 4 and the Mets are in the middle of their most defining road trip against the two teams ahead of them in the NL East. As of Wednesday the Mets were 6 ½ games back of the Braves and 4 ½ games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Without any addition from the trade market, it’s on the current players to take it upon themselves and erase all the bad memories. They are not out of it just yet. When will urgency light a fire under this team?

After Monday’s loss, it would have been natural to say the Mets were done, but then they go out and tease you and get a late game win. It’s just the Mets M.O., they either can take off or fall back into the pack.

For this trip to be a success, the Mets need to win three out of the next four. While the road has been unkind it’s not out of the realm of possibility. They have to take what happened on Tuesday and have it rollover.

Depending on what happens on Wednesday, the Phillies series is ripe for the taking.

On Tuesday the Phillies placed yet another major offensive contributor in Ryan Howard on the DL. When the Mets go to Philadelphia for their always intense rivalry, the Phillies will now be without Howard, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino making it far less daunting than in previous years. The Mets will throw out their three most trustworthy pitchers in the Philly series when Jon Niese, Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey are scheduled to pitch.

I’m not expecting any miracles with these Mets, but it seems like every time you leave them for dead, they surprise you.

That’s exactly what Francoeur did on Tuesday. Will another surprise be in store for the rest of the week?

You never know, but that’s what inconsistency does. It maddens you. With the Mets, you wouldn’t have it any other way.