Things are going right for the Mets on a daily basis. Some want to call this nothing but luck. Perhaps they’re right. But all I know is if this is luck, it’s long past due.
Was anyone saying it was luck when they lost three extra inning games in four days? And it’s not like this is ancient history – it happened in this magical second half. But back to the point – has that happened to any other team this year? Last year?
As frustrating as that stretch was, it wasn’t as bad as when they went 4-13 in mid-to-late June, which essentially created the hole that they had to dig out of here after the All-Star break. And in that stretch were back-to-back losses of the walk-off variety against the Phillies. Did anyone call that luck?
In the first one, they had a 4-1 lead in the sixth only to see the game go extras, where they lost when Steve Nogosek gave up an RBI double to Jay Bruce. The next day, they score three runs in the top of the ninth, only to allow five runs in the bottom of the inning to lose, 6-3. That was the game where Edwin Diaz faced six batters, five of them reached base, including homers to Maikel Franco and Jean Segura.
And before that, there were the three straight losses to the Marlins, the team that entered the series 10-31 and riding a seven-game losing streak. What kind of odds could you have gotten on that outcome? But no one was calling that luck.
Bottom line: To paraphrase George Carlin – if you’re going to believe in Angels, you’ve got to believe in Zombies, too.
McNeil, Nimmo and Lowrie are all due back shortly. Here are the roster moves that make sense to me when they come back.
Brandon Nimmo in… Aaron Altherr out
Jeff McNeil in… Rajai Davis out
Jed Lowrie in… Ruben Tejada out
1. Jeff McNeil – 2B
2. Amed Rosario – SS
3. Michael Conforto – RF
4. Pete Alonso – 1B
5. Wilson Ramos – C
6. J.D. Davis – LF
7. Todd Frazier/Jed Lowrie – 3B
8. Brandon Nimmo – CF
Suddenly, a nice and useable core of young positional players…. some of them have Star Cornerstone upside.
These financially controlled position guys enable them to measure and add to future needs—- and to spend money to retain some of the Arms.
They’re also assets as trade pieces
Also, just when I gave up on Juan…. that 0-2 ab that became a Walk——- maybe it took him 2000 at bats, but he may be saving his career
Great comments. Agree 100%, which provides for realistic optimist for 2019 and beyond.
Thoughts…
Where would we be if JD Davis has been played early on rather than Todd Frazier?
I’ve been surprised at Cleveland’s defense.
Rosario is playing w shear joy; hustling and playing complete baseball.
Legares heated up at the right time.
Team has “no surrender” mentality.
Have to say while we rarely get to watch them, I have heard Cleveland’s defense has been subpar for several seasons. Their stellar starting pitching would have even better numbers if they had a defense to back them up. Apart from the gold glovers they have struggled, and probably lost these two games because of it. The Mets on the other hand have played terrific defense since the break, and perhaps this “luck” is really just the result of good fielding
News Flash: Mets DFA Tejada and bring up Flexen! I love this move on both counts! I think Flexen is much better as a reliever and needs the same chance Bashlor got, and Tejada sucks. Always did, always will.
In 2015, I felt the Mets way overachieved with less than a World Series team. Duda at 1B didn’t inspire me. Neither did TDA, neither did Tejada/Flores (Tejada was the chosen one when a crappy pitcher was on the hill), neither did the manager, nor the did the team’s fundamentals. Four years later, while I don’t know if this is a World Series team, I like its balance much more than the 2015 version. Now, every position has a good MLB player who along with a dynamite starting staff and a decent bullpen (can’t believe it all came together) is more of a contender than 2015 was.
I’m reading where Cano is trying to come back and I’m kind of hoping he sits where he’s at because the team is sounder without his stuck-up attitude. His bat isn’t good enough to make up for his immobility and his lack of hustle. I wasn’t moved by his last few at-bats where people wanted to glorify him. The sample was too small, plus I saw the games and the ground balls were sneaking through. He wasn’t killing the ball. The team is better without him, and the faster he can accept that he isn’t a superstar any longer, the faster he can become part of the team instead of looking for his pedestal and pouting if Callaway didn’t shine it enough that day.
Plus Panic is a nice little unobtrusive type of player. He makes the plays at 2nd and he moves runners.