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Friday, 04 May 2018 22:00

The Wheels Are Coming Off

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The wheels are coming off. Can the wheels really be coming off when the team is 17-12 and still in second place? Well, if you look at the fact that, take away the nine-game winning streak, the Mets have been less than stellar, the record is truly deceiving. And the Atlanta Braves, the REBUILDING Atlanta Braves, truly embarrassed the Mets in the three-game series at Citifield to move them past the Mets into first place.

And perhaps Sandy Alderson and new manager Mickey Callaway have had enough of the “embarrassments” as the shocking news is that Matt Harvey has been DFA’d (Designated For Assignment) after Harvey rejected a request that he agree to go to the minors to fix himself rather than continue to embarrass himself at the big club…and any other club he seems to be stumbling out of at night where ever he is.

 

So fine, Yoenis Cespedes is finally starting to heat up after spending most of the beginning of the season looking like he was trying to hit a whiffle ball on a windy day. Yes, he has “carried” the team on his back, or rather on his bat, in the past, But it hasn’t been enough. The team is not hitting. They are in a collective slump. Other than Asdrubal Cabrera, the Mets have been awful at the plate. And even though Cespedes is “heating up” he has been striking out at an alarming rate. Jay Bruce had a brief comeback from a slump, but regressed right back into it against the Braves. And after homering in his first game back this season, Michael Conforto looks lost. The only thing saving him was that he was at least walking to get on base, but even that has come to a grinding halt. The outfield was supposed to be where the major production, especially the power, was supposed to come from. But that just hasn’t happened.

 And the team is not pitching well either. Forget about Mr. Harvey’s troubles…even Noah Syndergaard got tattooed in the first inning against the Braves in the first game of the recent series. Jacob deGrom has been sensational, but they haven’t been able to win even when he “gift wraps” a victory for them. The rest of the rotation has been inconsistent, at best, but could be more accurately described as putrid. Fans couldn’t wait for the “Fab Five” to be in the rotation all at the same time. Well, it finally happened, and thanks to Harvey and his attitude, not to mention his horrible performance, it will never be seen again. And for all those who couldn’t wait for the return of Jason Vargas, hope you’re happy. He’s been just as brutal as everyone else vying for a spot in the back end of the rotation.

The team was not as good as the 11-1 record, we all knew that. But are they really any better than the 6-11 record since? If Cespedes, Conforto, and Bruce don’t soon emerge from their funk, and the pitching doesn’t begin to act like the strength it was supposed to be, and the rookie shortstop Amed Rosario doesn’t start to mature quickly and emerge as the elite player he was billed to be, and the catching corps doesn’t start to hit better than the pitchers hit…salt and pepper shaker aside…we could probably expect more of the 6-11 Mets than the 11-1 Mets.

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