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In high school I actually wrote a term paper titled "What's Wrong With the Mets?" It was 1976 and the Mets were dreadful. The only bright spots they had at that time were the fact that Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman were still toiling with some success and Dave "Kong" Kingman was hitting moon shots out of Shea Stadium. My English teacher who assigned the paper was not at all pleased. But the fact that she was also the advisor to the school newspaper and I was a budding sportswriter and aspiring sportscaster, she gave me a bit of leeway with the subject matter. I was always that obsessed with the Mets.
The Mets’ season has been very up and down. From an 11-game winning streak (still don’t know how they did it) and first place to disastrous road trips that led to a trip below the .500 mark. A late surge before the break brought them back to contending status, riding the success of the young pitching staff. The team has been a virtual bore except for the tuning in to see what the pitchers will do next – even up at the plate.
You know things are getting serious when benches start clearing during a baseball game. It's not everyday you see a basebrawl but then the Phillies have Larry Bowa in their dugout so you can just about bet something is bound to happen. I am just surprised there was no incident the night before when the Mets were hacking their way to hitting a team-record eight home runs...especially with Bowa in the opposing dugout.
The beautiful thing about the game of baseball is that anything can happen on any given day or any given night. It was an unexpected and welcome surprise that, after Mets starters got shelled the first two games in Colorado, along comes Logan Verrett who throws a gem and makes everyone forget that it was supposed to be Matt Harvey out there. And then when you see that the Mets are waltzing into Philadelphia to take on the last place Phillies with Jacob deGrom on the mound, you would think, no, you would truly believe that the Mets would be focusing on the return of their captain David Wright and nothing else.
So much for being the sacrificial lamb. Logan Verritt took Matt Harvey's turn in the rotation and turned in, well, a Matt Harvey-like performance. Verritt overcame some first inning jitters and provided just what the Mets needed by tossing eight innings of one-run ball. Yes...he only yielded a single run over eight innings at Coors Field and that came on a solo shot by Carlos Gonzalez. The Mets hitting cooled off a bit - well they weren't going to score 14 runs every game - but they did score five runs, thanks in large part to Rockies starter David Hale uncorking back to back wild pitches to plate two runs.
The Mets have shown that even a dismal offense, one that ranks last in the National League, can suddenly come to life when visiting Denver. Given the performance of the team over the course of the season, rather than being a mile high in the Rockies, you would think they were quite a bit lower and in the desert because it most certainly has to be a mirage of some sort. If you are a homer, you always love to see your team trounce the opposition. But let's be honest, the Mets have NOT trounced the Rockies even though they have won back to back games by identical scores of 14-9.
After sweeping the Rockies in four games at CitiField just a week ago, the Mets met with the Rockies on their own turf to begin a three-game series at Coors Field. And the Mets showed that they could keep up with the Rockies brand of "Coors Field baseball" better known as good old fashioned Home Run Derby. Well, at least Yoenis Cespedes did. Cespedes had a career night hitting three home runs, including a second inning grand slam, going five for six with seven RBI, five runs scored, and added a stolen base. The game actually resembled a slow pitch softball game as the teams pounded away at each other with the Mets eventually winning 14-9 after blowing an early 7-1 lead.
The Mets are sitting atop the Eastern Division of the National League yet they are far from running away with the division title. In fact, the thought of meeting up with any of the three teams in the Central Division - Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs - is downright scary. The Mets are doing a pretty good job of beating up on the second division teams...but they are struggling against teams with winning records...as evidenced by their sweep of the Rockies followed up, in turn, by getting swept themselves by the Pirates at CitiField. The split with the Orioles in Baltimore not only showcased the Mets strength, it also showcased their weaknesses.
Jacob deGrom throws another gem in the bandbox more commonly known as Oriole Park at Camden Yards...lowering his ERA to 1.98. Curtis Granderson blasted two home runs and had a great catch in the 8th inning.
The fallout from the Mets and Brewers debacle on Wednesday night has been lighting up social media. Carlos Gomez and his teammates were literally tweeting happy thoughts and goodbyes from an airplane in the air while Zack Wheeler was shaking his head in Florida about possibly being traded a second time at the trade deadline and Wilmer Flores was put in the unenviable position of not knowing what everyone else in the world seemed to already know, and left hung out to dry for the entire world to see.
Last week Jose Reyes made headlines saying that he would love to finish his career with the New York Mets. This coming while he was with his third team since leaving the Mets, having been traded for the face of the Colorado Rockies franchise, Troy Tulowitski, just a couple of weeks ago at the trade deadline.
The Mets get another big performance from their starter as Matt Harvey throws eight dominating innings. Juan Lagares has a big game with 3 hits and blows the game open.
The hitting is still not consistent. They have been able to have a big inning here and there but if not for the great starting pitching, they would still be in trouble.
The Mets get another shutout as Jacob deGrom K's 10 and Yoenis Cespedes gets his first HR as Met. Mets are now 10 games over the .500 mark and have Noah Syndergaard on the mound as they go for the four-game sweep of the NL's best hitting team
Mets finally lose after winning 7 straight. Not pretty...except for two Curtis Granderson HRs...Mets K'd 15 times & Ruben Tejada’s double clutch allows go ahead run. Noah Syndergaard had some moments but just didn't have his best stuff and allowed four runs in the first inning.
Alan Karmin is an award-winning journalist and author. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and spent most of his life growing up in the New Jersey suburbs. Alan's family were avid Brooklyn Dodgers fans and when the Dodgers moved west, the Mets became the team to root for. The Mets have always been a true focal point, Alan even wrote a term paper in high school to analyze what was wrong with the Mets. While at the University of Miami, Alan honed his craft covering the, gulp, Yankees during spring trainings in Fort Lauderdale for a local NBC affiliate, as well as the Associated Press and UPI. He broadcasted baseball games for the University of Miami, and spring training games for the Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos. New York Mets Mania is a forum for Alan to write about his favorite team and for baseball fans to chime in and provide their thoughts and ideas about New York's Amazin' Mets.
