One day at a time is a mantra when it comes to the grind of a 162-game season. And each day this team seems to get a bit more impressive.
Injuries, unexpected COVID IL stints, doubleheaders against a first-class team in 40-degree weather and 25 MPH+ winds; none of it has seemed to have an effect on this group’s focus. That’s huge.
The Mets starting pitching continues to shine and Jacob deGrom hasn’t even thrown a pitch yet. This must be the elite-level pitching depth [insert any random previous Mets GM] was always talking about.
With Tylor Megill’s four earned runs over six innings in the Mets’ Game 1 win over the Giants on Tuesday and Max Scherzer’s seven innings of one-run, one-hit, 10-strikeout ball in a frigid nightcap victory, New York’s rotation woke up Wednesday with a 1.56 ERA and 0.81 WHIP on the young season. Both marks lead the majors by healthy margins.
This team’s lack of timely, productive hits — a glaring area of concern in recent years — appear to have been addressed. The Mets are hitting .277/.390/.436 with runners in scoring position (120 plate appearances) and have gone 17-for-47 with two outs and RISP (.362/.474/.574).
We talked about the possibility of a turnaround in this department over the winter. We certainly didn’t expect the tide to change so dramatically and so quickly, but, hey, we’ll take it.
Image credit: Chris Simon
“Wild one tonight,” Scherzer said after Game 2. “The conditions that we were playing in. The fans out here loving it and providing a good atmosphere for us to play in. For our team to go out there and respond and be able to scratch some runs out against [Logan Webb] provided me some breathing room to continue to operate.”
That they did. And one of 2021’s most maligned Metropolitans led the way. All day.
Francisco Lindor — coming off the worst season of his career after signing the most lucrative contract in Mets history ahead of the year, — tied Game 1 with an RBI double, won Game 1 with an RBI single and added two more hits in the Mets’ Game 2 win.
Through his first 52 plate appearances of the season, Lindor is hitting .310/.442/.619 with 208 wRC+ (10th in MLB) and 0.9 fWAR (sixth). Somebody’s comfortable in his surroundings. Well, as comfortable as you can get in Tuesday’s weather.
“It felt really cold but it felt good to get the W. At the end of the day you want to win as many games as possible and whenever you have the opportunity to win two in a day, you do whatever it takes.”
Lindor repeated an identical message of “last year is last year” when speaking of both the Giants (coming off 104 wins last season) and himself as a player.
“It’s in the past. We’ve gotta focus on what we have in front of our feet. San Francisco is a great team. Just happy we got the Ws today and come back tomorrow and play 27 outs hard.”
We love to hear that. It’s only been 12 games (9-3, best in MLB), but it’s quickly becoming quite apparent: these are not your quintessential, trip-over-the-breeze, it’ll-fall-apart-just-you-wait Mets.
This team is relentless. This team has guile. This team has confidence. This team is developing into a juggernaut. Onward.
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Great Read Timothy!! I am sooooooo Drinkin the “These are not your quintessential, trip-over-the-breeze, it’ll-fall-apart-just-you-wait Mets..” Kool-Aid!! It's become a Spiritual Experience for me to watch our Gifted & Blessed Mets' Men!!