I’ve never wanted an All-Star break to come so fast in my life. I want regular baseball to just stop for just a little while so, hopefully, in some miraculous way, the less-than-amazing New York Mets can recuperate and come back to life. There are bone spurs, neck problems and a sore right calf, poor pitching, poor fielding and more (for those of you who may have missed it, Curtis Granderson got scratched from the lineup yesterday before game time against the Nationals).
The Mets have lost 5 out of their last 7 games. They are 40 – 37, just barely holding onto .500. They were swept by the first place Washington Nationals, pushing them now six games out of first place and leaving them struggling for air. The Mets have been beaten, bruised and battered and one can only hope they haven’t been beaten into submission this year and that this is the best we are going to get. I’m going to stay on the side of hopeful for now, but it’s going to take some time to see. Unfortunately, almost half a season into it and we don’t too much time to start staging a comeback. We all know how fast summer goes.
Even Granderson was quoted as saying that the team hasn’t even played half its games yet and who knows what will happen. True dat, Curtis, but the team has a lot of damage control to do before they even start to head up the ladder again.
In last night’s game, pitcher Logan Verrett faced the unstoppable Max Scherzer, who did it again and struck out 20 Mets batters to win the game 4 – 2. Former Mets player Daniel Murphy hit two homeruns off of his former club. Yes, James Loney got the Mets on the board with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to give the team some hope, but like many of the games lately, it was a little too late.
Verrett did pretty well, giving up only 4 hits, but of course the Mets offense couldn’t help him out. After replacing Steven Matz, who is another Mets pitcher with a bone spur, Verrett pitched five solid innings. In an interview Verrett said, “I felt like I kept us in the game and gave us a chance to come back and win it.” Yes, you did.
Mets coach Terry Collins, when asked about the Mets staging a push like last year that got them to the World Series, said “They’re Major League players,” Collins said. “So you’ve got to understand, if they keep mounting adding pressure on themselves, they’re going to continue to struggle.”
Okay, so hear me out – “They’re Major League Players” so if they put pressure on themselves they are going to struggle? How would that work if the upcoming Olympians said that – the more pressure they put on themselves, the more they are going to struggle? Hey Terry, many professional athletes thrive on the pressure to succeed. And actually Collins is giving them an ‘out’ because they are Major League players? Come on Terry. How about, “They are Major League Players, they SHOULD be putting pressure on themselves to do better so they STOP struggling.” I GET IT. It’s a mental game and the pressure creates the struggle, but change it around. Besides, it’s ONLY June and these are athletes who are getting paid millions of dollars. I say up the level of stress and push them to perform.
In tonight’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Steven Matz is supposed to take the field. He’s currently 7 – 3 with a 3.29 ERA and 73 strikeouts. We’ll see if his elbow is still giving him an issue. He’ll face Cubs’ John Lackey who struggled in his last outing, giving up 7 runs in 4-1/3 innings against the Miami Marlins. Curtis Granderson said he’ll be a game time decision, so we’ll see if he will play tonight too.
But in the meantime, hopefully there won’t be much more damage before the July 12th All-Star break. Then, maybe the New York Mets can come back strong again like their ’86 team did or the team of just last year. By the way, what is Cinderella’s fairy godmother doing these days?
