Yesterday afternoon, the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 10-3, salvaging the last of a three-game series. The win was their fifteenth in the month of August and clinched a .500 month for them; they hadn’t had a month of break-even-or-better baseball since April. April. April, when they opened the season 17-9…and needed an 11-1 opening run to do it. April seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? A lot of water has passed under the bridge since April.
August didn’t start out so promising. The Mets lost four out of five to Washington and Atlanta to begin the month, the lone bright spot a 3-0 win over the Braves with Zack Wheeler smack dab in the middle of his renaissance as a top pitcher. After that, though, things brightened considerably. They took two-of-three each in series against Cincinnati and Miami. Yes, it was Cincinnati and Miami, but wins are wins, aren’t they? The Miami series should be noted because that was the kickoff of the Mets’ Dog Days’ Slog.
The Mets defeated Cincinnati at home on August 8, Jacob DeGrom tossing six innings of four-hit ball in an 8-0 shutout. They were off the next day before flying to Florida; that was their last day off until today, August 30. After taking two-of-three in Miami, they had to make a stop at “home:” a makeup a game against the Yankees in the Bronx on a Monday night. This was the night deGrom bested Luis Severino in an 8-5 win on national television. This was probably the night deGrom cemented his status as the favorite for the 2018 NL Cy Young Award. But we dare not tarry: the Slog must go on! After splitting two in Baltimore, the Mets hopped the Metroliner up to Philadelphia, for five games over four days. In the opener, game one of a day-night doubleheader, the Mets put an historic number of runs on the board, giving the Phillies a 24-4 shellacking neither side will soon forget. In the 11 games since, Philly has gone 3-8, so the Mets can take some spoiler credit after winning that series three games to two. They came home to take the middle two of a four game set with San Francisco and two out of three from Washington. They then flew to Chicago. You can bet they slept well last night: from Chicago, they flew to the West Coast. All told, they came through the slog pretty well, logging 12 wins in 21 games.
Of course, it’s all meaningless at this point, but for a team this far out of it, that ain’t bad.
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Sure beats last year’s 10-20 month of August.
But whenever I think about bad months of August, I think about 1982, when the Mets went 5-24. To get that bad, you’d have to take this year’s June and add three more losses.
Speaking of that 5-21 June, the Mets are 54-53 without that month.
Right, but that’s a little bit like saying, “Gee, I’d have won the New York Marathon if it weren’t for these 2 broken legs I’ve got!”
I don’t want to pretend that a game over .500 is anything to get excited about. But when thinking about where this particular team stands, I think .500 is a lot closer to reality (without Cespedes) than 15 games under
They are 12th in the NL in run differential. I think they are who they are, a sub .500 team struggling to find identity.
June destroyed the season. A team constructed without speed or any high average hitters has to wait for the long ball. But when Ces, Bruce and Frazier were all on the DL at the same time this team couldn’t score at all.
That Non-June record is actually a significant point to consider….it’s an In-Season Record, not a Roster Expansion Season Record.
It moves you to the question: What are their plans and ability to add to a reasonably competitive team with strong starting Pitching?
That was supposed to be the July 2018 question…shattered and shuttered by the 5-21 june 2018 record.
Are They capable financially?…willing Financially?…are they qualified baseball-wise?
Next……
FAs? Gee,I don’t know, they always get the wrong guys. They signed Swarzak for the BP and passed up Holland,Davis and old friend Addison Reed.
Dump who you can, Bruce. I hope Vargas is Doc Gooden for September, dump him too.
Open the vault for Machado to anchor the infield for 8 years.
So, Madman, I will agree that signing Swarzak was a far superior move than signing either of Davis, Holland, or Reed based on their pay vs production. Swarzak is a bargain.
There is a recipe out there for a 2019 Met playoff team, without mortgaging the future, but I would advise whomever the decision makers will be to not only consider the June record, but to study that performance closely. A quality 2019 team will need to be constructed in a manner that drastically reduces the risk of freefall.